[With or without COVID: a Tale on Human Vulnerability].

Abstract

The crisis of COVID-19 leaves us a teaching in the form of reminiscence. We do not learn anything new from it, but it reminds us of something we knew and forgot. It shows us in a new light our vulnerability, the impossibility of protecting ourselves perfectly through prediction and control. The sciences do not predict with certainty and the technologies do not manage to have everything under control, although the former and the latter have many other and worthwhile functions. Ideologies do not see the future, no matter how much they pretend to do so. However, we are not without reliable guidance in deciding our actions. This orientation must be sought in being, not in the future. It is fidelity to our common human nature that must advise us. It is the full realization of our personal being, of our peculiar vocation, that guides us. So, the means for self-realization consists in the development of a virtuous character. The same character that has mitigated the ravages of the pandemic, given that, to some degree, it was already present in many of our fellow citizens. The same that would have alleviated the suffering even more if it had been available in more people and to a greater degree.