Yair Lapid
צילום: בן קלמר
What about the future?
Op-ed: Yair Lapid says that Israelis are mostly concerned about the past and present
These days, I spend most of my time lecturing to Israelis from different strata of society and from different communities nationwide. While doing this I discovered an interesting phenomenon: Israelis show interest in many different things, yet are bored by the exact same issues.
There are two issues that the moment I start to talk about them, I see my listeners growing tired and their eyes fogging up – the environment and their pensions.
If you ask them, they of course say that these are very important issues that should be considered, yet while doing this their heads sink heavily and their eyelids turn into lead.
Waking up too late
I have tried to figure out why is it that these two subjects prompt such overwhelming boredom, and I reached the conclusion that the only thing they have in common is the fact that they pertain to the future.Dealing with the environment is, as defined by sociologist Manuel Castells, an act of solidarity with the future, and I believe that every responsible person must know what’s going on with his pension fund, as his future hinges on it.
However, Israelis are so preoccupied with the present and past that they have no patience for tomorrow.
My grave fear is that on the day the future arrives – and the future always arrives eventually – all the people falling asleep in front of me will discover that we again woke up too late.
