Everyone for himself

17/10/2022 Nilson Lattari

Foucault was a French philosopher who wrote about the future where everybody would take care of themselves. Basically, if a man knows himself he will develop his life on his own. Who knows, people in pandemic isolation imagined and put this situation into practice: taking care of themselves. And, is it possible in the days after of pandemic different people create a new world?
We watch this world, where people are walking down the streets, wearing masks and putting alcohol on their hands, and fighting against this invisible enemy. This fight is hard but there are human beings helping this little enemy because they don’t take care of themselves. There are a lot of reasons: ignorance, bad education, no empathy, and solidarity. How will they take care of themselves if some of them ignore science? Some people figure out they can take care of themselves because they go to churches where they assume to find God, looking for protection. In these moments, they imagine that they are taking care of their spirits but their bodies are far away.
I wonder and imagine people going back to the streets and crowding places again. People will talk to unknown people, and they will smile but will they think about their behaviour during this pandemic?
Taking care of ourselves is thinking about our behaviour, and figuring out how this pandemic will affect our lives in the future. How many plans were undone, postponed, or lost?
Can we think about plans? Who is or was beside us? What do other people think and what did they think at that time?
Is it possible to take care of yourself and live for yourself? Where is the human solidarity? What does it mean to be politically correct in the depth of our hearts if we don’t pulse at the same time as our minds?
Will we be the same person? When we smile among ourselves, will these smiles be sincere? Will we keep a safe distance from people to take care of our space, with limits? Then, taking care of yourself will be selfish behaviour or will we fight for our survival?
The world won’t be the same because it has been a fight for space. The problem is not a fight for space because people have always looked for space as much as their ambitions. If we occupy the space of others we will turn into selfish people.
Personally, do virtual spaces occupy real spaces? Will we be different people living in this new normal life? If we keep a safe distance from people will this attitude cause distrust among us?
We can say that everyone has to take care of himself because life, in fact, is only one. We are connected to each other and doing things together, and dreaming together to preserve life; our life.
Everyone taking care of himself means much more responsibility. Taking care of yourself, absolutely, is not ignoring others. Taking care of ourselves can also be a way to preserve our space from others. Then, taking care of yourself is a paradox.