My mom shared an interesting story with me. Over the long weekend, my parents visited a family in Ensenada. My dad had met the father in a previous visit. She described them as a very loving unit with high values, morals and integrity. She also said that they were incredibly poor. My dad knew this in advance so my mom packed a few toys my nephews donated and clothes to give to them, but she had no idea how bad it was. I’m also sad that she didn’t tell me this in advance, I would have put together a gift basket with a ton of books and goodies as well .
The eldest of 4 children is 14 and every Hispanic/Latino girl knows how exciting it is to be 14–turning 15. I’m certain they can’t afford a quincenera, not many people can, actually. But from what I hear, this is the least of this child’s concerns.
The part of this story that resonates with me the most is that the young girl really values her education. Unfortunately, school is ending for her because there aren’t enough teachers or the district isn’t paying teachers to teach after this summer. This is a region not very far from the U.S. border. It’s really quite disheartening. How is one supposed to lift herself and her family out of poverty if the resources are just not there?
My mom said that she noticed that the studious girl was doing her homework on a notebook so filled that she couldn’t find a clean area to write on. It got me thinking of how many notebooks, pens and pencils we just toss away.
I thought I’d share this story in an attempt to get you to appreciate what you have. This family, like many other families in the area are only a few miles from the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world, a land of grand opportunity.
Yet so many of us are here and take public education, a pencil and piece of paper for granted. We skip school because we just don’t feel like going…we pass right by libraries–never entering them. Poor children look forward to going to school…but they live in a system that has failed to provide the resources that will lift them out of poverty…and soon they will grow into adults and most will repeat this cycle. This is one of the first times in my entire life where I blame the system and not the choices of the individual.
My parents are planning to visit them again soon and you bet I will have a really big box filled with pencils, notebooks, books, etc., not only for this family, but for the neighboring kids as well.
I’m sharing this story so that you can remember that perhaps what you’re going through isn’t so bad. Imagine not being able to send your kids to school because there just isn’t one to send them to. It happens every day, all day long in other parts of the world. But this story hits too close to home. Children and families like this one struggle every day to provide for their kids. They want the same things we all want for ours. They’re just like us…but their struggle is real. There’s no free healthcare like there is here, there’s no free education like there is here. They can’t go to a library and use the internet for free like we can here. There is no book store–no Barnes & Noble where you can just sit and read books and not actually buy them like we have here (and like I have been doing since I discovered the mega book store).
I will leave you with this thought: what do you want out of life? What is getting in your way? Is it out of your control? Why aren’t you where you want to be? Have you not the resources? If you live in this country and are legally here, you have the resources. If you live in this country and are illegally here, you, too have resources. If you can’t succeed for you, do it for the millions and millions of people in the world who actually don’t have much of a choice. I will complain a lot less today and do a lot more. If only for today.
