The famous quote about the dice being cast originates with Caesar. His decision to cross the Rubicon defied the law. There was no turning back; it was fight and victory or death. Whatever the future emperor said at the time, it has become an expression of the belief that actions are irreversible and that it is wise to be aware of this before taking action.

In 2011, I began organizing exhibitions titled “Amor en Guerras Civiles” (Love in Civil Wars). The signs of an impending war against the citizens—every war is ultimately directed against the citizens of a society—were unmistakable to me. My contribution to this project was “Amazing Citizens.” I wanted to give the citizens a face, because they would once again suffer the most from the war and would once again have to bear the burden of reconstruction.

At the end of the economic miracle years, I asked my grandmother, an actress and author, how the Second World War could have happened. Having been bombed out twice, a single mother with two children, and having stumbled through the war, she had, as always, a concise answer: Victims were offered absolution by being perpetrators.

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes. After three or four generations, memory fades and joining in becomes difficult. Who really wants to look at what others have done wrong, so as not to repeat it themselves?

Nothing is accidental: Newspeak, thought control, the power to define the space for debate. Whether it’s the Rütli Hat or cognitive dissonance, subjugation is the goal.

Sloterdijk’s fragmented society is reflected in his disintegrating circle of friends; there’s no mention of inclusion whatsoever. He even adds: “There is no moral obligation to self-destruction!” That, too, will probably be considered far-right by 2025.

The fact itself is a taboo broken, exclusion instead of debate end of 2025. Halfway there, we are rapidly approaching 2030. In a recent conversation with a friend, I had a remarkable experience. Invited to share my thoughts, I let them flow freely. I spoke about everything I’d seen and heard in recent weeks, all the political upheavals, and the social and economic consequences for my fellow citizens. Parts of Europe are a madhouse. And while some fear the future because they see their privileges dwindling, others fear an undemocratic future—if it hasn’t already begun. Only a few remain active and content.

“I don’t watch television anymore; what good are all these bad news stories to me? I don’t want to hear them.” That was my friend’s response to his invitation to share what was going on inside me and what was on my mind. Was that a prohibition on speaking, a prohibition on thinking? What does friendship mean these days, and what does friendship even mean?

A hiker in Ares del Maestre agreed with me: “What mainland Spain was in the Spanish Civil War, Ukraine is today; back then, they tested all the new weapons and weapon types for the Second World War. Tanks, carpet bombing of towns, and targeted attacks on industry and civilian infrastructure were tested also.” What tanks were then, drones are today. The testing ground is grateful—or not. What comes after this new test?

When the Twin Towers in New York were brought down, we converted the ground floor of CASAdelDRAGON into an exhibition space, driven by contemporary social art and not by money. When the War on Terror was declared, i created a family constellation of the European family as part of an art exhibition in an exhibition space in Rheinbach near Cologne in Germany – with refugees from Syria. When the children were being tested en masse in the classrooms every day, we organized guitar lessons for the older ones, and the younger ones played with the wood by the stove, together, singing and without fear. Now ships are anchored off Venezuela, Gaza lies in ruins, and we continue to work on a social meeting place, a place for members of the human family, an open house of encounter.

We don’t live in the best world, we live in the best possible one. The key is to remain active, to enjoy life. The allure of fear is ever-present, and a wise rejection is called for. It’s not a good idea to turn away from the world and shut ourselves off from its signals. It’s a good idea to receive those signals, whether we like them or not, and to act in such a way that we can look into the eyes of small children without regret, without fear, and without anger. We continue.