These last few weeks I repeat over and over again a phrase that has been with me for years: “In the end, the forms are the background.” Before, it served me to warn the pseudoprogress that undervaluing, criminalizing and ridiculing forms would not bring us freedom but more aggressiveness and mediocrity. Now, the saying takes on a sad reproachful tone, like when the worst of omens ends up coming true. And in these I was, sunk in a world in which I only expect the worst from the human species, when once again jacinda ardern He came back, without her knowing it, to my rescue…
The New Zealand Prime Minister, accompanied by his Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin, He was in the middle of a press conference when a journalist asked if they were meeting because they were women, having a similar age and other similarities… Faced with the macho attack, Ardern demonstrated why she is one of the great references in female leadership. “It is curious that John Key (former prime minister) has never been asked the same thing when he was meeting with Barack Obama,” he mused aloud. But although her comment obviously shocked her, the president smiled. Do you know those apparently innocent and warm feminine smiles that reveal the stupidity and malice of the other in such a subtle (elegant) way? Well, that same one. Yes, man (I’m referring to men because I don’t need to explain it to most women, it’s already practically innate to them), they are those smiles with which one surprises oneself knowing that she is well above (serene) external aggressions. They are those smiles that are not erased, but are accentuated and come to say a “I’m sorry, kid, you can’t hurt me.” That same smile as the senator Elizabeth Warren she “escaped” when in a debate in the Democratic primaries (where the candidates were mostly men equal to or older than her) the moderator made reference to her age: “if she wins, she would be the oldest president.” Funny, fine, fast and ironic, Warren replied: “Well, it would also be the youngest.” Exactly, those are the smiles that reposition the ignorant in an instant and remind us that leadership can have other, more intelligent forms (away from shouting, insults and constant confrontation).
In your answer, Ardern also added a battery of data that supported the socioeconomic relations between the two countries. Next, it was the turn of the Finnish woman who finished off the issue: “We meet because we are prime ministers.” They both laughed with the complicity of having won the battle without having to change their posture (or their humor).
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Already during the confinement, the New Zealander became worldwide popular for the mantra that she repeated to her fellow citizens in each of her appearances: “Be strong, be kind.” But in addition to requiring the population to remember the power of tenderness; The socialist had been applying the recipe for a long time and setting an example. For example, in one of the toughest episodes that she has been able to deal with as president, when in 2019 her country suffered the biggest attack in her history. Ardern then fled from the old pattern of “if you get hit, hit.” We saw the prime minister in the mosques where the attack took place covered with a hijab (paying his respects also with his aesthetics to the majority of the Muslim victims) and embracing with his eyes closed (sincere feeling) to the survivors of the supremacist massacre. He began his speech in Parliament with a greeting in Arabic (‘salam aleikum’, peace be with you) and promised and encouraged that no one ever mention the name of the murderer so as not to give it any relevance. He also asked that the images of the attack and the hate manifesto written by the murderer not be published or shared. Given the supposed concern and willingness to help that he offered her donald trump through a tweet; The New Zealander only asked for “sympathy and love for all Muslim communities.”
Because in the end, the forms are the background. And if we yearn other more civilized and empathetic ways and behaviors of relating to each other, It may be effective to start practicing and emulating Ardern’s smile: “be strong, be kind & rdquor ;.