A noteworthy ending

"Who in the world manages to keep themselves upright, while overwhelmed by fear? This was asked by Athena in the Eumenides of Aeschylus, when she founded the Areopagus, the ancient Athenian court reserved for the most serious crimes. by Stefano Lavorini

We have had proof of this in these unexpected and difficult times, both personally and collectively. Individuals, companies, organizations had to respect new rules, noting that anything can happen, in spite of rocky and hardened convictions that were considered indisputable: we were all forced to sharpen our gaze to broaden our horizons, even at the price of discovering our limits.

All of us were in fact called upon to adapt, taking note of uncomfortable truths, perhaps first ignoring them, then attacking them and, finally, saying that they were already in the air and we knew them.

As you can read in this issue in the article "Cosmetics: themes of the future", we live in a sort of "Tolkienian" middle ground - between virtual and real. According to the experts, in fact, the pandemic has only anticipated some long-expected trends, of which the interpreter is WeCosmoprof, the modular platform organized by BolognaFiere Cosmoprof.
The digital event, complementary to the actual exhibition experience, did not claim to replace tout court the value of interpersonal relationship and the possibility to test a new product, a texture or a "live" fragrance. However, it has achieved the goal of keeping producers, retailers and buyers in touch in this delicate historical phase, strengthening the foundations of a rebirth of the cosmetics industry as a whole.

On the other hand, this is a common feeling among many exhibition organizers, who have had to reschedule events, find alternative solutions and make painful choices.
This was also stressed by Richard Clemens, Managing Director of the VDMA Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association, on the occasion of the announcement (alas) made on 3 December by Messe Düsseldorf, which announced the decision to cancel the interpack and components 2021 trade fairs, due to the limitations imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic: «For the sector, personal meetings and live experience - especially of complex technology - remain extremely important. This makes a direct market confrontation possible, ideas are born as well as new leads and networks. With online formats the results in this form are only partially achieved. We look forward to the success of interpack 2023, at which the industry can meet again in Düsseldorf».

Fortunately, as the famous Italian singer-songwriter Francesco De Gregori sings "... something remains, between the light and dark pages...". In the moment, in fact, of triumph of the digital as much in the field of production and commerce as in that of information, it seems to grasp the signals of a new awareness.
Just as meetings, conventions and virtual fairs cannot replace in-presence encounters, likewise information on the web cannot replace information on paper.
Reading a magazine is in fact an experience that is not nourished by speed, but by duration, depth and richness. It is a reading that opens to delays, rhythms of the mind and emotions rather than shortcuts.

I am truly convinced of this, just as I believe that the law of the market is not as inescapable and irrevocable as the law of gravity.
On the other hand, as someone has well written: "There was always more in the world than man could see, walked they ever so slowly; they will see it no better for going fast».