It is not finished painting the exteriors of the Doctor Antonio Luaces Iraola Provincial General Teaching Hospital when the public transport stop located one block later ─which also received the benefit of painting─ had several promotions “born” in its columns.

As if it were an easel to display masterpieces, dozens of white sheets printed in black ink announced the upcoming presentation of a popular singer, of the "urban genre." The same announcements were spread throughout the city, turning every column, electric pole, wall without an owner, into a billboard. The disclosure display was excessive because, after all, the concert never took place.

There was no boom boom or blink-blin, and yet the city was left dirty and papered as if a carnival had run over it. As far as I know, no accountability or reparation was demanded from those responsible. It would have been very easy, because the party organizers made sure that we all knew who they were.

At that point, like so many other times, one wonders if what belongs to everyone really belongs to no one. If it's true that there must be an owner for things to last and take care of themselves. And, above all, why the affront to the collective, to the public does not hurt us.

The hospital itself has been the frequent and continuous object of actions that would be classified along the entire line as vandalism and theft. While a part of popular opinion rightly complains about the lengthy time spent investing in this care center, that it seems like an infinite work and that something always needs to be finished, other users take advantage of their mandatory stays to "resolve ” something more than health.

Only admitting this point, we would understand that, even without inaugurating the renovation in the Guardhouse, the filters of various air conditioning equipment, sink faucets, electrical outlets, sanitary services fittings were "lost". The ironies of life, then, are overwhelming: those who care least are those who demand the most.

Let us extrapolate these behaviors to any sector of social and economic life and there will be no shortage of examples. Those at home who wouldn't dare put their feet on the furniture go to the park and end up breaking the benches. Whoever puts ropes and leashes on their portal, later has no qualms about interrupting the sidewalk with construction materials. Those outraged by the inefficient management of Communal Services in the collection of garbage, contribute to the micro-dumps with their waste at any time.

There are countries in which insults to the public are paid not with money or time behind bars, but with service to the community. Of course, it depends on the magnitude of the facts, but it would not be wrong to explore these mechanisms to compensate society for the damage caused.

I say, for example, that those who upholstered the columns of the bus stop with invitations to a concert, repaired their damage by repainting them. I say that whoever breaks a bank, participates in its restoration. I say that the pitfalls of the streets "on their own" should be restored as best as possible by the "picadores".

I say that the garbage is ours and we have to put it in the correct time, form and place (even though it takes a week for Comunales to pick it up afterwards). I say that the hospital lacks medicines (and that is not a secret), but this does not justify theft or carelessness; a patch cord will never become a probe.

What belongs to all of us should matter as much to us as what is individual. In the end, what is the public if not the sum of our individualities, lined up without hierarchies, condensed, amalgamated. The park bench is for everyone. Urban transport (when it returns) will be for everyone.

This country belongs to everyone, not only to those who can afford a reggaeton concert.