Perhaps that is why the local elections that are taking place are always becoming yet another mechanical ritual: the state is complained about, politicians are accused of incompetence, but the same comfortable silence is maintained between bites.

We live in a country where the future of young people seems mortgaged to absurd rents, precarious jobs and salaries that are not enough to dream of children. But when you talk about it, you do not mean it. Jokes, memes, and passing indignation are released on social networks, and the next minute, we return to silence. You do not debate at home, you do not debate at the table, you do not even debate in public space without fear of judgment or cancellation. And then we are amazed when the extremes grow, offering easy solutions to a society that prefers shortcuts to reflection.

The mirror of our levity is everywhere. In the registry offices and city councils that drag out basic processes for years, in the counters where only certain tickets are served per day, and in the digitization sites that look more like black holes. And when we are asked for useless papers, ridiculous signatures, and certificates without a legal basis, most of us swallow and comply. It complies because it is simpler to obey illegal demands than to resort to courts that never decide on time. And so, with the passivity of domesticated citizens, we feed the machine of inefficiency.

Curiously, we demand courage from politicians, we demand modernization from the State, and we demand change from local authorities. But we forget to demand of ourselves the courage to speak, to debate, to counteract the silence that begins at home. After all, how can we expect a modern Administration if we cannot even discuss the obvious at the table? How can we demand transparency when we accept endless queues and impossible appointments as if they were a natural part of life? How can we expect democratic dialogue if we are afraid even to give an opinion at a family dinner?

Portugal lives immersed between two silences: social silence, which generates apathetic citizens, and administrative silence, which paralyzes the State. And the two feed each other. The citizen who does not protest is used to filling out useless papers. The state that does not function is used to deal with citizens who bow their heads.

On the eve of yet another local election, perhaps a simple exercise would be worthwhile: looking in the mirror. Not to laugh at the politician we do not like, but to face our own complacency. Because the truth is that democracy is not exhausted in the vote and the State does not reform itself.

The future requires dialogue, it requires conscious action, it demands that we talk about it at the table, even if it spoils dinner. It demands that we not accept a state of past centuries as if it were an inevitable destiny. The future demands that we be able to break the cycle of silence and levity. And that, dear Portuguese, does not depend only on who we elect. It depends, first and foremost, on us.