I was driving home tonight after my last class, it was around ten. The traffic was awful, as it is almost every day now. At almost any hour. It was raining...since last night. I felt so tired and just wanted to be home, and then, I noticed my car's tank was empty. I thought: "God!- at this time and hour I can't fill it up"... I felt terrified and that made me feel stupid. But the truth is, it isn't stupid: people get killed everyday over cell phones and laptops, at day and at night. And that is just unacceptable. I want to be free. Shouldn't the criminals be captive and the honest people be free? It seems like it works the other way around this days... it shouldn't.
Guatemala. General elections. September 9th, 2007.
Polls indicate that the two leading candidates are the left-wing candidate Álvaro Colom (UNE) with around 21 per cent, followed by the right-wing Gral. Otto Pérez Molina (PP), with aprox. 12 per cent.
I don't even know how to explain how ridiculous this is. Just watch the videos. You'll get it.
Mmm...justice. It's such a beautiful word to hear and it even feels good to say it, but what does it really mean? It's a very vague concept. Justice isn't universal. Maybe in some matters it is (or at least it should be), but no...not really.
I don't know how to live day by day- I mean... like everyone, I struggle to be happy, to have a productive life, to follow whatever lifestyle feels right in the search of happiness. Small things, beautiful moments...make me believe -for a few seconds- that life is simple, and that it should be that way. But when I open my eyes to the world, to my country, all of that seems stupid and I feel selfish.
I can't (and I don't think anyone can) understand justice. I don't understand rights either. Sometimes it seems like they're contradictory. I don't think the world would be better off without them though. We need them, even if they're not perfect. Everyone has rights, right? Some rights you're born with and some you acquire. It seems logical that the first are more important than the second...but then again, not true. "Every human life is worth the same": NOT- it should, but in real life, it doesn't. We see it everywhere, everyday. Money, that's what really defines your life's worth. Your money, your nationality, your ethnic identity, your religion, your political views, your sexual orientation...
Guatemala is a country of contrast. It's been like this for centuries. Maybe since always. The human, social and civic rights of peasants and indigenous people have been walked on for so long that it has become "normal" to the eyes of millions of witnesses. I include myself.
When I saw this video on youtube I was able to finally place images to a very common event in my country. Evictions. It's a very complex subject...even my own dad has had to evict people from my family's property and I feel somehow guilty and very confused at the same time. If a land belongs to someone, that's it. Right? But it hasn't always belonged to that someone. It had to be bought. From who? Who owned it before?
I think the major actor to blame is the government. Politicians (not all of them, but sadly a lot of them) are corrupt and want power not to help people, not to help the country, but to help themselves get rich (or richer).
A lot of mistakes have been done, a lot of land was sold without considering the people who had been working and living from that land. Who's to say they don't have the right to own that land? What are you supposed to do when you have nowhere to live? No land to work? No way to feed your family?
Those are things the government should think of before selling the land and granting mining exploitation licenses to big national or international companies. There's nothing wrong with mining when it's done the right way. No corruption, respecting safety measures, no polluting, no violating labour and human rights, etc... but isn't the government supposed to protect its people and make sure everything's done the right way?
Those Guatemalans who are poor , ignorant, peasants, indigenous (mayas, xinkas, garifunas...) and socially excluded (gay, prostitutes, beggars, etc.) are completely defenseless. They're alone. Completely alone.
There's a lot of work to do. Guatemala will be a more equal, safe and properous country when we learn to work together... for us.
Realizing it's you facing the whole world,
understanding you're alone even if you're not,
and feeling strong enough to handle it
is the greatest gift of all.
Filósofo educador, novelista, poeta y pintor nacido en Calcuta en 1861. Premio Nobel de Literatura 1913.
Algunos de sus pensamientos me parecen reflejo de mi alma. Si tan sólo pudieramos actuar siempre acorde a las verdades que nuestros corazones guardan...sufriríamos muchísimo menos.
"No fue el martillo el que dejó perfectas estas piedras,
sino el agua, con su dulzura, su danza, y su canción. Donde la dureza sólo consigue destruir,
la suavidad consigue esculpir"
"No pida yo nunca estar libre de peligros,
sino valor para afrontarlos.
No quiera yo que se apaguen mis dolores,
sino que sepa dominarlos mi corazón.
No busque yo amigos por el campo de batalla de la
vida, sino fuerza en mí.
No anhele yo, con afán temeroso, ser salvado, sino
esperanza de conquistar, paciente, mi libertad.
¡No sea yo tan cobarde, Señor, que quiera tu
misericordia en mi triunfo, sino tu mano apretada
en mi fracaso!"
"Si acaso piensas en mí, te cantaré cuando el anochecer
lluvioso suelta sus sombras por el río, arrastrando, lento,
su luz vaga hacia el ocaso; cuando lo que queda del día
es ya demasiado poco para trabajar o jugar.
Te sentarás sola en el balcón que da al Sur, y yo me
pondré a cantarte en el cuarto oscuro. El olor de las hojas
mojadas entrará por la ventana, en el crepúsculo creciente,
y los vientos tormentosos clamorearán en los cocoteros.
Traerán la lámpara encendida al cuarto, y entonces
me iré yo. Y tú, quizá, entonces, escucharás la noche, y
oirás mi canción cuando esté yo callado"
""¡He perdido mi gotita de rocío!", dice la flor al cielo del amanecer, que ha perdido todas sus estrellas"
"Si lloras por haber perdido el sol, las lágrimas no te dejaran ver las estrellas"
"Lo perfecto adquiere belleza por amor a lo imperfecto"
"El amor es una celda, pero con sus puertas abiertas"
"Leemos mal el mundo y luego decimos que nos engaña"
"El hacha del leñador pidió al árbol su mango, y el árbol se lo dió"
I read in some book something that I really liked. It went something like this-
"The Wiseman said:
I have to tell you something, something that's going to be hard for you to understand and accept. I wanted to painted in colors and decorate it with flowers of sweet smell and promises of love, but that would make to sense to you right now. You are going to die. I don't know when, it could be today, tomorrow or in 50 years, but you will die. There's no margin of error. It is certain, and there is nothing you can do about it. It will happen, whether you accept it or not. So...think wisely about what you're going to do today, and tomorrow, and the rest of your days..."
Sadly, hearing about Palestinian suffering isn't something new, but amazingly enough, their situation has worsened in the last few weeks.
Yes, the Israel-Palestine Conflict is incredibly complicated, but definitely fixable. If only more "real" political will was put in to solving it definitely, people could actually do something with their lives. I mean something other than surviving (and what for?) and growing hate and resentment in their suffering hearts.
It's not about taking sides. It's about starting to build, and very importantly, about stopping the destruction. All sorts of destruction.
INTERPAL is a non-political, non-profit making British charity that focuses solely on the provision of relief and development aid to the poor and needy of Palestine the world over, primarily in Palestine and the refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon.
Last Wednesday, according to CNN, there was an earthquake in Guatemala. "The CNN report was based on the information granted by US Geological Services by which the movement had an intensity of 6.8 on the Richter scale, but the national register reported 5.4, over 100 times less".
Luckily, it wasn't an earthquake, it was a tremor. There were no victims or considerable material damage. THANK GOD!!!
People abroad panicked (of course). It's great to know it was a "false alarm"!!!
