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Frying pan or fire?

The population will not forgive politicians if, for party political reasons, they do not come together and make fighting the virus a common cause

Ángel Escalera

Friday, 15 May 2020, 12:54

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They say that when a man had been given a death sentence by a judge, he was asked if he would prefer to die by hanging or being garotted. His answer, which was completely ignored by the insensitive executioner, was: "I want to live!"

Which of course is exactly what we in Spain want, too.

We want to live in peace.

We want to get away from the nightmare we have been experiencing for the past two months because of a health crisis, the likes of which has not been seen in around one hundred years.

We want to get on with our lives again.

We want to work.

We want to earn enough money to enable us to manage financially.

We want things to be normal again.

We want to feel safe.

Since the coronavirus pandemic engulfed us like a wave that never reduces in size, we have been up to our necks in water. And for the more than 25,400 people whose deaths have been confirmed so far, there is no longer a solution.

For the rest of us, hopefully, there will be.

The virus has wreaked havoc in two ways. On one hand, the medical aspect (in the form of deaths and seriously ill patients who have needed to be admitted to hospital) and, on the other, the economy, with workers who have been unable to work and don't know when they will be able to again or, which is even worse, whether they will have jobs to go back to, and businesses which are facing ruin. That's why I said it is a choice between the gallows or the garotte. Between the virus killing you, or dying of hunger.

Although the lockdown has had a result and they have managed to control the spread of infection, the SARS-CoV-2 is still here. It's lurking, waiting for us to drop our guard so it can attack again.

That is something all political parties should be clear about. The population will not forgive them if, for party political reasons, they do not come together and make fighting the virus a common cause.

It is true that the government has made many errors, especially the lack of foresight in providing health workers with the PPE they needed to prevent them becoing infected. It's also the case that Pedro Sánchez lacks empathy and is too proud to be humble and admit his mistakes. But it is no less true that what we need now is for everyone to put their shoulders to the wheel and save Spain.

There will come a time later to demand responsibilities, and then those in power can even be changed, if that is what the Spanish people decide.

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