Criticize the parties and the politicians but please leave Jordi Sabaté alone

In two days it will be four years since I published my first article about an excellent person whom I admire.

'¡Viva la vida!' The exclamation of an ALS patient that moved Penélope Cruz
Sánchez rejects giving 38 million to ALS patients while wasting 92 million on advertising

At that time, Jordi Sabaté Pons was very little known. When I decided to make his case known on this blog, it was because he suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative and incurable disease that entails great expenses for patients and their families, and four years ago Jordi asked the Spanish government for help to have a decent life and not be pushed towards euthanasia. It took a long time for them to finally pay attention to him.

Today Jordi is already famous and he meets with very well-known people (what each of us thinks of these people is our problem). In addition, he has achieved the dream for which he has fought so hard: the approval of the ALS Law to help patients like him, with the support of all parties. It is something that deserves to be celebrated in a country where political discussions always divide us on very important issues.

Incomprehensibly, after achieving this goal with so much effort, Jordi is receiving a lot of criticism for taking a photo with the president of the government, Pedro Sánchez. Logically, Jordi is hurt and has expressed it as such. As you know, my opinion of Sánchez is terrible, but it would never occur to me to criticize Jordi for seeking everyone's support for the ALS Law, even the support of people and parties that have been blocking this law for a long time, as is the case of the PSOE. Those who should be criticized are those who blocked this law, not Jordi. He has enough to do with suffering from this terrible disease.

For years, Jordi has been showing that he is a person who loves and celebrates life. A great person who deserves admiration. Jordi Sabaté does not deserve criticism. What he deserves is a monument for what he has achieved for ALS patients with so much effort and tenacity. If you want to criticize someone, criticize the parties and politicians, focus your complaints on them for what they did or did not do in the process of drafting the ALS Law, but please leave Jordi alone. It is tremendously unfair that now, when he has the most to celebrate, certain messages that should be addressed to politicians and parties are directed against him.

Besides, I think that sometimes we go too far with politics. And I say this in the first person because I am the first to recognize my responsibility in this regard. We are so immersed in the political struggle that we forget that people like Jordi only have one side: that of life. From that bed, with an electronic voice that expresses what his vocal cords can no longer pronounce, Jordi has been celebrating life for years and giving us a lesson in humanity.

As a Christian, I know that Christ can be where I least expect him: in a poor person asking for help, in a person who suffers from loneliness and who no one listens to, in someone who suffers from violence and no one comes to their aid, and also in a sick person who is bedridden and asks for support to be able to lead a dignified life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Jordi, for celebrating life as you do, and congratulations on your success with the ALS Law. You have all my admiration.

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Photo: Jordi Sabaté Pons.