Ana Blandiana

DIMENSIUNI

    IMI AMINTESC finalul unui roman de Wells: Dupa distrugerea fulgeratoare a pamantenilor de catre martienii posesori ai unei invincibile tehnici, in linistea de dupa victorie invadatorii mor unul cate unul ucisi de microbi, mor nu pentru ca n-ar fi stiut cum sa se apere, ci pentru ca nu ştiau impotriva cui. O moarte prin subestimare.
    Am gandit intotdeuna aceasta poveste ca pe o fabula. Mi-a fost intotdeuna teama de lucrurile mici. Dar teama nu este a mea, ci a omenirii. Teama de infim este chiar una dintre dimensiunile progresului, pentru ca ea a putut sa apara numai dupa ce a aparut banuiala ca infimul exista. Primitivul se simtea asigurat in caverne, noi dezinfectam inspaimantati clantele usilor. Dar cate notiuni nu a modificat progresul! Eroii antichitatii luptau cu lei, hidre şi minotauri, eroii moderni lupta impotriva sobolanilor si nu totdeuna inving...
    De mult nu mai traim printe animale si arbori, ci printre amenintatoare molecule si celule. Toti purtam monoclu, obositoare lentile de microscop, dar ce altceva am putea face? Nu ne este dat nici noua, nici omenirii, sa redevenim copii, si nici nu stim daca am dori-o cu adevarat. Koch, descoperitorul unui bacil, este un personaj mai reprezentativ lumii noastre decat Columb, descoperitorul unui continent, şi ne vom inclina mai adânc celui care ne va descrie suprafata altei planete.
     De altfel, antenele intuitiei populare, nu o data surprinzatoare, au atins de mult acesti pereti interiori. Intr-o balada, mustele izvorate din lesul unui balaur sunt mai nocive decat balaurul viu. Vitejia lui Iorgu Iorgovan nu este eliberatoare. Aceasta constiinta naşte proverbiala intelepciune. Poporului nu-i e frica de Dumnezeu, ci de sfinti.
     Ni-e teama de lucrurile mici şi trebuie sa fim constienti de aceasta teama, si trebuie sa ne-o cultivam. Este una dintre armele noastre cele mai puternice. Este emblema evolutiei noastre. Inteligenta poate fi uriasa, prostia este intotdeuna mica. “Marea prostie” nu este decat o metafora: suma prostiilor mici si miliarde. Nu de geniul raului mă tem, ci de micii prosti; nu de marele criminal, ci de insignifiantii viciosi abstracti. Si nu mi-e rusine de aceasta teama, si nu vreau sa renunt la ea. Sa nu uitam: fiarele erau ucise inca din paleolitic, bacilii nu sunt infranti nici acum.

Arnold Weiszembacher

Ana Blandiana

DIMENSIONS

      I REMEMBER the ending of one of Wells’s novels: After the blistering destruction of Earth's inhabitants by the high-tech Martians, in the silence following the victory the invaders die one by one killed by microbes, they die not because they did not know 'how' to defend themselves, but because they did not know against 'who' to protect. A death by underestimation.
      I have always thought about this story as a fable. I have always been afraid of small things. But the fear is not mine, is mankind’s. The fear of the inconsiderable is even one of the dimensions of progress, because it could appear only after the hunch that the inconsiderable exists first came into light. The cavemen felt safe in the caves, we dreadfully disinfect the door handles. But how many concepts hasn’t progress changed! The heroes of antiquity were fighting lions, hydras and Minotaurs, modern day heroes are fighting rats and they don't always win...
      We no longer live among animals and trees, but among menacing molecules and cells. We all wear monocles, tiring microscope lenses, but what else could we do? It is not given to us, nor to mankind, the responsibility to turn ourselves into kids again, and we do not even know if that is what we really want. Koch, the discoverer of a bacillus, is a more representative character to our world than Columbus, the discoverer of a continent, and we will bow ourselves more deeply to the one who will describe the cancer virus – than to the one who will map out the surface of another planet.
     In fact, the antennas of popular intuition, not just once surprising, have far since reached these inner walls. In a ballad, the flies storming out of the dragon’s corpse are more deadly than the dragon when it was alive. The bravery of Iorgu Iorgovan is not liberating. This conscience gives birth to the proverbial wisdom. People are not afraid of God but of saints.
       We fear the small things and we need to be aware of this fear and we need to spread it into ourselves. It is one of the most powerful weapons we possess. It is the coat of arms of our evolution. Wit can be huge, foolishness is always small. ‘The Great Foolishness’ is just a metaphor: the sum of small and billions of nonsense. It is not the genius of evil that I fear but the little dumb ones; not the great criminal but the insignificant vicious abstract ones. And I am not ashamed of this fear and I do not want to give it up. Let us not forget: beasts have been killed ever since the Paleolithic age, the bacilli are not defeated to this day yet.