Prince of Asturias Awards 1981–2014. Speeches

10 O viedo | C ampoamor T heatre | which, since 1966, has fostered and promoted the donation of organs, laid down clinical practice guidelines and fostered advances in education and scientific research as well as ensuring compliance with strict ethical standards in these procedures. Here today we wish to highlight two fundamental issues in which these organizations play an essential role: the first of these, the fight against the illegal trafficking of organs. We refuse to accept that such a degrading, cruel practice should continue to exist, against which the only possible stance is to demand solutions and intensify legal actions that put an end to this practice once and for all. The second issue tells a happier story: the recognition of and immense gratitude towards anonymous donors, women andmenwho provide us all with a noble lesson of generosity andmoving altruism. Through their example, they help thousands of people and dignify all human beings. We support both organizations when they insist on the ever urgent need for donations and in their appeal for these to increase. There are still very many people who are waiting for a life-saving transplant. We express our gratitude to the Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf, this year’s Laureate for Literature, for his works, in which the history of Spain has a significant presence. Gratitude for converting his splendid fictional worlds —heirs to the oriental tradition of fables— into a melting pot of cultures: worlds in which the beauty of the stories that are told also draws the attention of readers to the urgency of always siding with peace over and above any differences in race, language or creed. In the art of storytelling, in establishing the ambience surrounding his characters’ lives, all is subtly arranged in defence of the need for coexistence and of respect for others. In his essays, he advocates tolerance and denounces the exclusion born of the use of one’s own identity as a weapon. He also underscores how we all form part of the human adventure, and that the legacy of our forebears must merge with contemporary experiences. For Maalouf, differences must enrich and include, never isolate or exclude. He proclaims the primacy of the values of culture and teaching as a crucial goal for this century which —he states— we have entered without a compass to guide us. Culture to provide us with the intellectual and moral tools that will enable us to know more and develop an inner life that is both more stimulating and thriving. And teaching to comprehend and appreciate the richness of human diversity in a way that translates into harmonious coexistence rather than tensions that beget violence. Because, as he claims, there are no strangers in this century, only travelling companions. On the night of Sunday, 11th July, a thrilled Spain vibrated before an event long dreamed of: overcoming very difficult moments, our Football Squad won the World Championship title fair and square. For this reason, and for having been a great social and moral example through the long trek up to this exceptional summit, it has received the Award for Sports. Until achieving the final splendid triumph, our team displayed the values for which it has justly been praised the world over: drive and determination, absolute fairplay, modesty, as well as a way of playing in which the team aspects of football grew in stature alongside enthusiasm, talent and beauty. A veritable lesson for the hundreds of millions of people who followed the team through those intense days, days of more than just sport and football, days we Spaniards shall never forget. In prior years, I have underlined on this very stage the lofty values that the practice of sports brings with it, especially the stimulus that it represents for young people. So, this year, the model performance of the Spanish Football Squad is also the best gift that all of you —manager, players, technical staff and the Royal Federation— have offered them. Not only have you shown what can be achieved by the noble contest of sports competition, keeping up your resolve and efforts until the last minute of the last match, but you have also reminded young people how, through unity and camaraderie, through nobleness and trust, the stumbling blocks and trials of daily life can be “The path requires our institutions to be strengthened so that they can structure the solutions society seeks and demands.” 22 nd O ctober 2010