Honoring The Lessons of Poverty
"Poverty & Slums Bogota, Colombia" by C64-92 is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Awhile back, I was blessed enough to have the opportunity to visit my Mom’s village. During that visit, I was able to see my uncle, who still lives next door to my grandma’s house. It had been awhile, since I last visited, so it was great for my family to see where my mom came from and to be able to picture where I used to run around. It was wonderful to have an in-depth conversation with my tío (uncle).
My uncle has a unique perspective because he spent time working here. While we were talking, he said something fascinating,
“You get these guys that go over, then come back with trucks and all kinds of things. They act like they have money, but they return in debt up (endeudados) to their eyeballs.”
In my opinion, this is the opposite side of the immigrant experience that I admire. The behavior that I admire is the hard-working, grinding work ethic of individuals that take whatever work is necessary to provide for themselves, while being able to send money home to their family and offering no excuses. Coming over here to make a lot of money but pissing it away is not admirable.
This behavior isn’t just exclusive to immigrants. I can think of professional athletes. Instantly, the ESPN documentary, Broke comes to mind. Per the documentary’s website, some of the causes for going broke include freeloaders and showing off. Perhaps they may have never learned proper money management. However, I think that there is also the subconscious insecurity from feeling like they have to show off to compensate for their background and constantly trying to remind the world that may not truly care about their measure of fame that they have achieved. The paradox is that, once the money is gone, not only is the individual painfully reminded of the poverty that they tried to escape but the cold, unfeeling world that they tried to impress is there to observe their downfall.
Awhile back, I saw a really great YouTube video featuring the actor, Denzel Washington. I couldn’t find the video but I remember him saying how there are people that fall into the trap of buying “stuff” to impress people that they don’t really like. When I heard this, I thought to myself, “How sad it is to live a life, where you unknowingly buy ‘stuff’ to try to impress people!” The sad part is that there are a lot of people that live to impress others, while not adequately taking care of themselves but have yet to realize this.
When I think of people that have truly transcended poverty, a few qualities come to mind: focusing on covering important, necessary expenses; putting some money away (whether to send to family, for their own rainy day or to one day open a business); taking whatever job is necessary to provide an income; taking pride in whatever work that they do, and never losing sense of their why. For the people that keep these things in mind, then I feel that there is hope for them.
I remember all of the times that I visited my grandma’s ranchito. She never had a lot but always had something for us and others, though I know that my parents pitched in. The food might not have been fancy, but it was of that soul-nourishing variety that remains imprinted in my psyche. I am motivated not by shame of these origins but by pride in the qualities that these origins instilled in me. Considering that my means are more than anything that my abuelita (grandma) ever had, the best way that I can honor these lessons is to make something out of the cumulative sacrifices of my abuelita and others, who brought me to where I am.