November. Late at night I was flying home crossing the European Union from its western border to the eastern one. In the plane, the lights were reduced progressively to the minimum. Most of the passengers are sleeping. I imagine that in their cabin the pilots are almost asleep, and the plane is going on using the automatic mode.
I sit at the window and look into the depth of the night. There is not much to see, but as someone said everywhere you may observe something that may be interesting. Even in the I desert there is a diversity, a multitude of details that can be observed if you are willing to focus enough. It is not my first travel by plane in the middle of the night. But now it seems very different. There are no clouds, we are flying not very high. Below, the cities can hardly be guessed. Their lights, usually impressive, became almost indiscernible, diluted in the blackness of the night. Fewer and fewer illuminated highways. Years ago, we could observe the differences in brightness between the different states and between the cities, something that illustrate the differences between the economies. In the past, going east, the lights of the cities faded, and vice versa, westward, they became more and more powerful, a sign of reaching the prosperity. Today it is quite different, more night and less brightness. It is this a sign of understanding to be a little bit more sustainable or only the influence of the current difficult energy crisis? I would like to assume we have entered a world more inclined to save than to consume.
We are in the middle of November. The winter holidays are starting soon. As a rule, commercially, the sellers try to steal the start attracting any citizens to become a better consumer. But I wonder if there is possible to repeat such behaviors again and again? Will we turn once more to the frantic joy of shopping to confirm a desirable individual and collective opulence or just to simulate it? Or will we gain more wisdom, temperance and understanding of our own condition? What about us and our communities? Crises always give us lessons to be learnt, we just have to be very open mind.
The plane is going to East passing near a crowded city. I am looking in the deep of the night and I am thinking of its inhabitants. They haven’t seen the starry sky above them for a long time. Too much light and only few times to look to the nature. But the sky and the stars were always there and they will remain unchanged. We can discover them if we want. We can dedicate more time to look to the sky. And after to understand the importance to be together with our families, with our friends, making good things for our communities. Less individualism and carelessness!
Sleep well, dear passengers, the crisis solves everything! Really?
