2020 sees the launch of the final stamp issue commemorating the 500th anniversary of the creation of the Portuguese Postal Service.
This was a year when, alongside this momentous celebration, we also were surprised by the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Never, in recent memory – perhaps with the exception of the great conflicts of the last century – has the world been affected in such a way, so deeply, and in so many aspects of its day-to-day functioning.
And what emerges as the most powerful of these aspects is the human factor, the way that so many people were uprooted from their usual activities to be involved, not always voluntarily, in a muddle of fear and caution, of new rules and obligations, for the common good.
All governments appealed to the civic duty of their citizens to adhere to the measures against COVID-19, not just to protect themselves but also to protect others.
Even so, certain activities cannot and should not be stopped. First and foremost, those linked to public or private healthcare; security forces; all those involved in supply chains for a wide variety of goods; factories, agricultural production, transport, communications, etc. And, naturally, the postal service as well.
In its 500 years of public service, hundreds of thousands of employees, from one generation to the next, have contributed to the history of the Portuguese Post, and today those working in CTT have shown the country and its people that they can be relied upon in this emergency.
This stamp issue is therefore a tribute to these postal workers, a tribute that can obviously be applied to others, to all those in other areas of activity who, in Portugal and the rest of the world, never stopped working so that the world could keep turning.
History tends to remember the great figures, the kings and princes, heads of state and generals – as we have done in several stamp issues – but armies are made up of soldiers. These are our soldiers.
We hope that this stamp issue can be seen as a memorial that values the human side of the Portuguese postal service, in its social dimension and in its closeness to all our citizens.
