7
P
rince
of
A
sturias
A
wards
1981-2014. S
peeches
Speech XVII
Allow me to begin with the following verse:
If I have assuaged
the pain of one heart
my life has served some purpose.
These lines reflect the sentiment with which I return anew to Asturias, considering that it
expresses not only the spirit with which I attend this ceremony, but also the very essence from
which these Awards arose.
Once more from Oviedo, we pay a tribute of admiration to individuals and institutions that
offer us eminent examples of work well done, humanity and values of love that give insight and
significance to our lives.
A renowned Asturian historian wrote that “communities that forget their great men and their
scientific, literary and political elucidations fall into decay because, with their ingratitude, they lose
their memory, and with memory, science.”
As those who identify with this idea, we should stress that we are on the threshold of the
1898 centennial, a transcendental date in our history that lent its name to a generation —as it was
controversially baptised by Azorín— of intellectuals with exceptional creative capacity. With their
patriotism wounded and anguishing over the events that brought that year to a close, they, like
other disillusioned European intellectuals, wished to reclaim the most recondite and admirable
from the past and to resolutely construct the future.
The debt that we owe to this group of writers, thinkers and artists is indelible: that of the love
for Spain and the sparkling recognition of the diversity that enriches our nation.
The wanderings of the Basque Unamuno through the lands
of Castile, the sensitivity of the gaze with which the Sevillian
Antonio Machado regarded the great plains, the inland
landscapes of Spain brought to life by the Levantine Azorín, the
doleful and fraternal vision of the provinces of Castile and León
—precisely the place I had the honour of travelling through this
spring, which today is moving towards the consolidation of its
progress after difficult secular ordeals— are several examples
of what the year of 1898 brought about. They also serve as a
permanent lesson.
This idea of the harmony of our lands developed by the
Generation of ’98 sheds light on the present because it is necessary
to continue believing in a Spain that dialogues instead of opposes; that listens instead of confronts;
that travels and opens itself fraternally instead of keeping silent and confining itself.
At the heart of those authors’ sentiments, of their despair for what Spain had not been and for
what it could become, of their sharp critique, was the shining example of their work, in which this
inestimable ethical code germinated, which Unamuno referred to as “conscience”, “fellowship”,
“brotherhood”; thanks to which —these are also his words— “we shall find understanding in the
same heart”. These are exquisite concepts that erase differences, melt away anxieties and, finally,
promote peaceful coexistence.
The future that they dreamt of, thanks mainly to their efforts, is now ours. A Spain in tune with
the world; a world in which humanity, at the same time as it journeys into outer space and advances
on a fascinating adventure of exploration and conquest, reclaims new, simpler and deeper values,
“It is necessary to continue believing in a
Spain that dialogues instead of opposes;
that listens instead of confronts; that
travels and opens itself fraternally instead
of keeping silent and confining itself.”
