Looked at as a geometric figure, Colombia is unusual because its center is located outside itself We never felt as though we were at the center of the world, and that has been a necessary illusion But now modernity and the twentieth century have thrust upon us the stark reality that we are, in fact, at the center of the world, and it is not a friendly place The great dramas of our time are unfolding all across Colombia The spiritual crisis that causes drug addiction, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, the challenge of immigration, disputes over development, the question of nature and the preservation of the environment—all the major themes of the modern era are central issues for Colombian society we are no longer at the margins of history We are now a society that has an impact on the outside world.