Dr. August Corominas
August Corominas, Professor of Human Physiology at the University of Murcia and the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Emeritus Academician of the Royal European Academy of Doctors (READ), shares with the academic community the article «Conscience and Omission: the Misery of the Ruler», a reflection on the management of the DANA by the Valencian regional government, which ultimately led to the resignation of its president, Carlos Mazón. The academic has recently published in this outlet the articles «The Secret of Longevity in the ‘Blue Zones’», «Beware of Falls, Night and Day», «The Good Life and the Life Well Lived», «Biological Life and Quantum Life», «Smart Hospitals», «Cosmonautics and Space Medicine», «Abuse and Its Management», «Quantum Biology», «The Black Man of Banyoles (Bushman or Hottentot)», «Polydactyly», «Adolescence, a Critical Age of Human Life», «Sirens, the Illusion of Sailors and Seafarers», «Biblical Diet: Pure and Impure Foods», «Rare Diseases», «The Starving in Gaza», «Sexology in Adolescence and in Somatopause (Andropause and Menopause)», «Cyberattacks, Cyberwarfare and Cybersecurity», «Refugees», «Human Evil», and «Geostrategy of Rare Earths». He is also the author of one of the chapters of the book «Vitality in Aging. If You Wish, You Can Live More Years in Good Health», published by the Royal Corporation with the support of Vichy Catalán.
Conscience and Omission: the Misery of the Ruler
The conscience of a ruler who, by omission, was responsible for a catastrophe that claimed 229 lives should be an unbearable burden. It was not. The DANA—that eruption of water and fury—found an unprotected territory and an absent political management. Nature warned, experts raised the alarm, and yet the response was late, confused, negligent.
The Valencian leader, far from assuming his duty, lied. While the water swept away lives and homes, he was dining in company at «El Ventorro», indifferent to the drama unfolding. Water and fire: humanity’s natural enemies. Both require foresight, coordination, and leadership. Here there was neither one nor the other.
A year later, the town still bears pain, anger, and resilience. Families do not forget; the wounds of the mud remain open. During those fatal minutes—fifty minutes without any news of him—something more than control of the emergency was lost: the dignity of command was lost.
Where was he? What was he doing? We can imagine it. The moral misery of a ruler is measured not only by what he does, but by what he fails to do while others die. And yet there he was, at the state funeral, with a grave expression and hollow words, standing before the coffins of his victims.
The water declared war without an enemy. And the ruler, by omission, betrayed his own people.
