When people discuss the potential breakup of Spain, the speaker’s underlying message often sounds like this: Spain is breaking up for the benefit of a few. It reveals a tendency to treat the nation as if it were a toy owned by others. That stance hints at a form of adult life that remains childlike in its impulses. After the holiday of Twelfth Night, the house seems empty of toys, not from malice but from a simple curiosity to see what hides inside. The thrill is in discovering the mechanism rather than merely playing with things. The wind-up toys and their internal gears invite exploration, and the engine of one toy becomes the power source for another device, perhaps a fan or another clever contraption. In that sense, toys were transformed, not simply discarded. Maybe what Spain is doing mirrors that same transformation: reshaping itself to avoid total disintegration. Yet when parents watched with soft sadness as the dolls with bellies turned into funeral pyres, the blame was always cast outward. The other side stood as the perpetual scapegoat.
Meanwhile, weekends brought gathering games that the family could share on Saturday afternoons. These were not merely games of luck or chance; they demanded calm focus and collective effort. It wasn’t about beating Parcheesi or La Oca through luck alone, but about facing the challenge together. These were, in essence, intellectual pursuits that required strategy and conversation. So when babies cried, or a miniature robot began its slow march across the tiled floor, the family settled around the table and tapped on a glass, letting the moment become a quiet, deliberate ritual.
Spain, too, is listening to the chatter on radio, on television, and in bars. There is a sense that the country is already stretched thin. It would be useful if leaders treated political life like a game of Palé, a board game where negotiation stands at the center of every move. In that playful frame, players bargain with one another, with reality, with luck, and with themselves. Negotiations that involve many parties inherently carry the possibility of a constructive outcome. Perhaps this leads to a realization that cities can hardly be bought or sold merely as imaginary assets. The point is not that Spain is being sold, corrupted, or driven toward bankruptcy. Even if the ship shows signs of damage or is on the market, certain voices retain influence and votes. The bigger takeaway is that governance, at its core, involves negotiating with multiple realities, not simply chasing short-term gains.