In JustineIn the first part of his Alexandrian quartet, Lawrence Durrell says of the city in which his characters live: “Virtue is not feigned among us. Nor is vice.” “They are both natural.” When I reread the novel a few days ago, look where I associated that quote with the current moment in our country, where selfish lies and prevaricating behavior are carried out with a superlative naturalness, an impudence that shocks some of us but that many of us approve of. And they even applaud.
There are undoubtedly many virtuous behaviors in today’s Spain. I think of the many people who this summer risk their lives to put out fires, save bathers or help shipwrecked people from canoes. And not only them, all the other professions dedicated, even without so much spectacle, to the common good are also virtuous. That is why our society continues to function reasonably well. Virtue continues to be in the majority.
