In the introduction, I will tell you that in my childhood I had the good fortune to meet Mrs. Corina del Parral Durán, a lady of refined culture who loved our country in a unique way, and also tried her hand at the musical staff with lyrics for the hall. Esta pena mía. She was the wife of President José María Velasco Ibarra, who died in poverty, an example of an honest politician, of whom my father was the last minister of finance and the only one in the cabinet to whom General Rodríguez Lara proposed to continue, but out of loyalty to Velasco, I do not accept.

The father of modern economics, Scotsman Adam Smith, was born 300 years ago, and his ideas, published in Wealth of nations and in Theory of moral feelings, whose thesis is simple: “People tend to empathize with their peers; to this end, we moderate our behavior and it is the basis of our moral judgments.” In this book, Smith preaches that humans are fundamentally social and that ethics is a social phenomenon, because without society there is no sense of good or evil.

Happy birthday Adam Smith!

During COVID, the world experienced a strong storm in which empathy appeared on the one hand, and neglect on the other, especially in some government services. But when the crisis passed and people started getting vaccinated, I thought that people would be more empathetic because of the suffering they had experienced.

We do not know exactly the economic and psychological effects caused by COVID, but this lack of empathy with others is indicted when we see political disputes and the way they are expressed against them; blockade of the legislative body to the president – ​​who had to determine the death cross –; social protests with material damage promoted by Leonidas Iza; judges’ decisions on the release of criminals; vile comments on social networks; aggressiveness of people in traffic, vaccinations, deaths and everyday insecurity. Things that make us think: what happened to the people in Ecuador?

There is a kind of psychosis that has broken the social pact and makes it difficult to live in society.

We live in incomprehensible situations; for example: appointments or drugs are not available on IESS and surgeries are not scheduled on time. I work in healthcare and a lady threatened to bomb the company if I didn’t pay her back. Bombs go off in business premises, threatening lawsuits for everyone. There is a kind of psychosis that has broken the social pact and makes it difficult to live in society.

With such a background, it is very difficult to establish business strategies and project growth, because in addition to uncertainty, early elections await us, with the challenge of choosing the most ethical and competent couple to manage the country.

During the pandemic, I read and listened to Alexis Valdez Esperanza’s poem on video, the content of which is shocking and from which I extract this passage: “When the storm passes, we will sweat with empathy, for who is here and who is gone.” I am asking you, God, shameful, to do better for us, as you have made us. A new moral order in business, politics and society is necessary for peace, employment and social justice. (OR)