Fifty words to learn how to live in a new world

The desire to turn the page after almost two years of Covid is great. Equally is the desire to delete everything, reset. Doing so, however, would not only be unfair - especially towards the many who have suffered as a result of the pandemic - but also wrong because we need to remember in order to better build the future in a world that promises to be more and more different from the current one. which we lived up to two years ago. This is the central theme around which the interesting essay "Grammar of the new world" revolves (Lupetti, 2021, pp. 288) in which the journalist Filippo Poletti offers a reading of the epochal turning point we are experiencing through fifty keywords and as many facts news related to them.

We then ask Filippo Poletti to explain first of all why he considers Covid the bearer of an epochal change:

“Because it has changed our life and the way we work. It was not and is not 'only' a tragic, indeed a very tragic health emergency with more than 260 million sick people worldwide and over five million deaths to date. The coronavirus was and is a universal revolution. The coronavirus has represented and represents, in fact, a change, as radical as the first, second, third and fourth industrial revolution. Let's think, for example, of how the coronavirus made us rediscover the importance of collaboration between people. On the labor front, the pandemic has accelerated the spread of smart working: if in 2019 there were half a million remote workers, by 2020 they exceeded the figure of 6 million. I was and am convinced that remote work, where possible, can represent a legacy of the new world launched in 2020: as in all things, the middle way, a little in presence and a little remote, is the solution. in my opinion optimal ".

How did you come up with the choice of words that make up your book?

“It was born following the media and social media. The book 'Grammar of the new world' presents almost 400 notes in which I report the sources of the stories presented. In fact, each of the 50 words is associated with a life experience. From this point of view, the volume is intended to be a testimony for today and tomorrow: that is, it intends to contribute to bringing order to collective memory. The 50 words are proposed alphabetically: starting with the A of Aurora and ending with the U of humanity. As the psychoanalyst Luigi Ballerini wrote in the afterword, the pages of the book want to be an antidote against repression. In the face of something as unpleasant as the coronavirus, the temptation to be removed is very strong. Removal coincides with 'I don't want to think about it', 'let's leave it alone', 'let's finish it here'. As Freud taught us, however, what is removed returns, accompanied in addition by a sanction. Word after word my book intends to be a help to pass from the emotion of what we have lived and are experiencing to judgment ".

Which of the words in your grammar are you particularly attached to?

“The A of Aurora, one of the most beautiful stories of the coronavirus times. This is the story of Aurora Maria Perottino, born on 24 March 2020 in Moncenisio. After years in which the second smallest municipality in Italy, as well as the smallest municipality in Piedmont, did not see a filled cradle, mother Jonida gave birth to this baby girl. The country celebrated and a part of Italy, reading the news, saw the light shine in the tunnel of the pandemic ".

Which one describes well the present moment we are living?

"Distrust. Physical distancing has sown the fear of being infected. What I am telling in my book is the sudden loss of etiquette. Crossing each other to go shopping or to the pharmacy, we feared and are afraid of getting too close to each other. The hope is that this book can help rationalize this fear and open ourselves up to others, in compliance with safety regulations ”.

What lesson must the pandemic leave us?

“The great philosopher Salvatore Veca says it well in the premise-testament to the 'Grammar of the new world', his last writing before his death which unfortunately occurred on 7 October 2021. Men are not the masters of the universe: the world is not ours. The slogan 'one humanity, one planet' must be integrated with the reflection that 'we are not alone'. This is the lesson of the pandemic: we belong to the living community. And in this community there is only room for the perspective of radical ecology and social justice ”.