‘A wise word is one which, when spoken to a child, is always understood, even without explanation.’
Miguel de Unamuno
Novelist, poet, philosopher
1864 – 1936
And the world thundered all around us, and then we discovered the enchantment of silence. We are communicators, and that in itself defines the paradox in which we live, because, after all, all human beings are defined by this attribute. We are communication professionals; at this, everything around us slows to a crawl, stunned by the arrogance that accompanies such a categorical assertion. Silence thunders, and, drawing strength from its immensity, we regain our sanity and sense of proportion: we are artisans of words, of channels, of codes. We are artisans of the word in a world that thunders and which very rarely does so in silence.
We have formed a Community of Communicators because we understand that our duty as artisans is to create this new guild; that we must nurture talent without losing our humility; and that whilst the global takes precedence, it is the local that defines us. We have sought each other out almost by feel, and from the shadows the languages that unite us have drawn us forth. We live in a world where more than 700 million people speak Spanish and Portuguese, and it is to that market that we owe our skills and our work.
We are a Community of Communicators brought together to respond to the challenges of tomorrow. We are a network, and each of us is a link in that chain. The ocean does not separate us; it defines an Ibero-American reality that we do not always bear in mind, yet which nonetheless shapes our very reason for being. A bridge of knowledge and connection to be preserved with the care and dedication demanded by all those human creations that elevate and improve humanity.
The world resounds with technological unknowns and, as artisans of the word, it is our task to unravel them and put them at the service of a better world. It is not true what is said—that we have no soul because power pays us—since our duty is to remind the world that without empathy there is no speech. We are committed to the word, to the image, to the concept, to everything that unites us, to everything that binds us together.
Our voice is a thunderclap of understanding because, though we are many, we are each and every one of us. We are Mexico. We are Spain. Portugal. Brazil. the Río de la Plata. Colombia. the American Pacific. Challenges fuel our dreams, which we turn into realities through the pen and the word. We bring them into the digital realm, yet we all know that they are the essence and form of everything we do.