In my opinion, the continuous brightness of the sun is not a sign of vitality or progress. Constant light lulls the spirit and nurtures illusions. True character is forged under the weight of gray skies, in the density of heavy clouds, in the harsh wind that lashes, in the rain that purifies, and in the storm that awakens. The gray sky does not signify decadence but rather discipline, order, and perseverance — virtues without which no society can endure.
Sigmund Freud taught that melancholy, far from being merely an illness, can represent a state of consciousness more lucid than artificial euphoria. The same is true of civilizations. When they allow themselves to be seduced by endless festivities and ephemeral symbols, they drift away from reality. When they embrace the sobriety of gray days, they preserve the vigilance of the spirit and remain prepared to face the demands of destiny.
History teaches that the moments of greatest human greatness were not born from comfort but from the harshness of time. The Roman Empire was not built upon festivities, but upon discipline and fidelity; Medieval Christendom did not survive through frivolities, but through tradition and continuity. The communities that flourished were those that knew how to cultivate discipline, fidelity, and cultural continuity. Contemporary society, fascinated by the glitter of multicolor and fleeting trends, replaces substance with ornament, tradition with cultural deviation, and permanence with fragmentation.
The rainbow, elevated to the banner of imported ideologies, has become a symbol of society’s disfigurement.
Disfigurement, because it breaks the natural transmission of values between generations, interrupts moral inheritance, and introduces an inversion of order. Where once the family reigned as the foundation, now dissolving experimentalism takes root; where fidelity once prevailed, frivolity now proliferates; where tradition once existed, dispersion now reigns.
The danger does not lie only in the symbols themselves, but in the spirit they spread. The obsession with fleeting colors inevitably leads to decadence, for it habituates people to superficiality. Instead of strengthening the deep roots, it exalts the passing flower. Instead of consolidating moral unity, it multiplies false identities that divide. It is the silent rupture of cultural continuity.
The storm, unlike the sun, purifies. The rain cleanses, the wind disperses, the thunder awakens. So too does society need storms that bring it back to what is essential. It needs discipline, cohesion, and fidelity to timeless principles that do not yield to transient fashions. True freedom does not consist in living at the whim of illusions but in ordering existence according to truth and inherited wisdom.
In my opinion, contemporary society needs fewer rainbows and more gray skies. It needs fewer cultural disfigurements and greater moral continuity. It needs less exaltation of ephemeral promises and deeper roots in eternal values. Constant brightness soothes but does not strengthen. Artificial colors seduce but do not edify. Cold, shadow, and rain remind us that human destiny is fulfilled through sacrifice, courage, and fidelity to what endures.
Let the gray sky not be seen as a sign of despair but as a call to lucidity. Let the cultural storm we face be understood not as a threat but as purification. Let society find its course again — not through submission to multicolored banners that represent moral disfigurement, but through the firmness of discipline, the honor of tradition, and fidelity to the enduring heritage of civilization. Only thus, in the sobriety of the gray sky, can we prepare for the dawn of a new human greatness.
César DePaço
Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Honorary Consul of Portugal (2014–2020)
Founder and CEO, Summit Nutritionals International Inc.
President, DePaço Foundation
Unwavering Defender of Law Enforcement and Conservative Principles
Source: LusoAmericano