Well, this is it, folks: we´re in September now, and it´s time to get to work.
It´s time to get back to the routine (not monotony), or rather, to create a new routine, as every year is different, even if it only changes a little (and in our case, this year, it´s changing a lot, let´s see how it goes).
También es buen momento para pasar página y empezar nuevos proyectos. Muchos aprovechan la vuelta al cole para apuntarse al gimnasio o empezar a aprender algo nuevo, y eso bien lo saben las empresas publicitarias… (Por cierto, yo hace mucho que no veo ya la tele convencional, pero hace años recuerdo que en septiembre solía haber un montón de anuncios de coleccionables por fascículos, ¿seguirán todavía de moda? ¿O será ya cosa del pasado? ¿Habrá aún quien los compre?)
A few days ago, I was listening to ads on the radio, and this comic strip from Mafalda popped into my head:
Here´s the translation: there are four frames:
- Mafalda switches off her TV set (¡click!) while saying: ¡"Use", "Buy", "Drink", "Eat", "Try"!… ¡EEEEEEEH!… ¿Qué creen que somos?
- She sits back down and frowns, thinking: And what are we?
- Silently, she switches the TV on again (¡click!), and sits back down.
- Watching TV again, she thinks: Damn them, they know that we still don´t know.
What do you think? What I love about Mafalda´s comic strips, and all of Quino´s work in general, is that their themes and messages are still very relevant in today´s world, over forty or fifty years after their publication. Times change, of course, and there are a few details that reveal the passing of time, but generally speaking, they have aged surprisingly well.
O quizá no tan sorprendentemente, porque en el fondo, las personas no cambiamos tanto, y hay muchísimos patrones que se repiten… Así como a Mafalda y sus amigos les costaba creer que sus padres hubieran crecido sin televisión, a nuestros hijos ahora les cuesta imaginarse cómo crecimos nosotros sin internet ni teléfonos móviles, y a la siguiente generación le costará concebir la vida sin inteligencia artificial.
What Quino was able to do brilliantly is to capture human nature in a humorous way, with all its paradoxes and contradictions. With reflections that appear to be simple but turn out to be really powerful. One day, I´ll bring you more of his comic strips so that we can reflect on them together.
But let´s get back to today´s topic: why did I choose this particular strip? Because if we don´t know who we are or what we want, we let ourselves be influenced a lot more easily by other people´s interests. And that, eventually, takes its toll.
If we don´t set and define our own goals, we end up working for the goals of others. It´s that simple.
Seneca explained it this way:
There is no favourable wind for the sailor who doesn’t know where to go
And Gary Lew said it this way (I have this one in a fridge magnet):
This is your world. Shape it, or someone else will.
What about you? How would you like to shape your world, starting now in September? What do you want to achieve this school year?