Friday, 14 May 2021

 

Social distancing, fucking social distancing!

I´m ashamed of myself and, whether you are interested or not, I´m going to tell you why.

This morning I went to the VI to pass the review of the six years of the Mitsubishi and when I was in the office to deliver the technical data sheet of the vehicle, the driving license and others, I have witnessed a situation that makes me blush morally speaking even though more than eight hours have passed since the event; In fact, I have been reproaching myself for my behaviour, the omission on my part of being able to help a man who, once the papers were presented, could not close the process because his credit card — it is not possible, due to the covid, to pay in cash — didn´t work.

Between me and the troubled taxpayer was another person, but both this person and I remained impassive at the conjunction that presented itself to our friend. We thought that the thing was not going with us.

I don´t know if the person who was in the middle of the queue, that is, in front of me and behind the man who could not pay, it occurred to him, like me, to lend him the credit card and receive in exchange the amount of the inspeção in cash and thus end the annoyance of the moment, but what´s certain is that neither the person who preceded me nor I moved a finger.

Throughout the day I have been blaming myself for not having been more empathetic and having helped the man who would have to make an appointment again and have to travel from his residence to the VI station again. Would he live in town or maybe he would have to travel forty or fifty kilometres to comply with the MOT regulations?

In my view — and I don´t know if you will agree — the cause of my regrettable omission was the obnoxious physical distancing. And no, I´m not referring to the possibility or not of transmitting the virus, but to the detachment of feelings that being physically aloof from people implies.

Let me make clear that between the man who could not use his card and me there would be about 4 or 5 meters, because between him and the man in the middle there was a yellow circle painted on the ground reminding them of the usual two meters of safety distance and another two meters or maybe more between the circle of the second man in the queue and the circle on which I had placed the tip of my shoes.

Eventually, the man left and I began to reproach myself for my unforgivable lack of tact.

I can vouch that the reason I didn't make the slightest attempt to take my wallet out was the fucking distance between his problem and my comfort space: those 4 or 5 meters of separation were enough to cool my feeling of putting myself in his shoes.

So I argue that if there had not been yellow circles on the ground as separation posts and I hadn´t had a person in front of me who served as a ‘protection screen’ and that if I had been a meter or a meter and a half from the man that needed help, I´m inclined to assure you that with my card the fix would have been solved.

So I wonder if sociologists or those who statistically measure any human action — or omission — have found out what is the ideal distance for us to be more generous and less impassive. 

From my Borstal.

LDR

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