Yesterday, when filming for our documentary, I had a moment of realization. It was when I was talking to Cesario's wife, Juana. Although our languages were different, I tried asking her about their economic situation and if their income was enough for all the basic expenses such as food, water and health. Juana kept saying that it was enough, that they had survived with this income for many years. But, as I had the opportunity to look at their house, clothes, means of transportation and they all seemed to prove her wrong. Luckily, Cleida came in when noticing that we weren't able to communicate that well and she started translating what I was trying to say in Quechua for Juana to understand. I saw how her facial expressions started to change, I realized she didn't understand me at all and now she was explaining to Cleida about their situation. "It's not that their income is enough for all of the expenses, but they are used to this. They have conformed to what they have," Cleida told me. Conformity was the word that stood out to me when hearing this explanation. What is conformity? It has more than one meaning, but the one I will be talking about is the acceptance of your actions and/or possessions without complaining. I believe we all have a different life style and we conform to it. For example, many families have a house and a good education. They have had this life style for many years and they cannot imagine themselves without these two "basic" possessions. On the other hand, there are hundreds of families out there that cannot afford either a house nor a good education. But, in both scenarios, they have conformed to what they have and after many generations it becomes normal. This is exactly what happened to Cesario and his family. They are used to living with limited amounts of food, so some months they can eat and some they cannot. They are also used to living without any health insurance, without education for their kids, and without a stable means of transportation. Comparing their life style to mine, these are all extremely important and a need. But for them, these are more like luxuries; things they can dream about but can't have it. That's why when I asked Juana if their income was enough, she said yes, because for them their life style allows them to survive. This realization really made me think about how we perceive things. We all have a different perspective on what is necessary for a pleasing life style, right? For some it might be a grain of rice, a house, a family, a car, education, or 1 million dollars. So what is actually necessary? This is something that no one can answer. There is not a right or wrong answer. In my opinion, having a family is the biggest necessity we have, caring so much about them that all the material things become insignificant, such as having a house or an education. My opinion was changed by this realization, I've always thought that these are necessities but they are actually all luxuries. The only thing we do need is people that care for us to push us to accomplishing our goals and being happy, a family. So, from now on I am going to value my parents and my brothers and sisters even more but also value all the luxuries I have and enjoy them because there are so many families that have no access to them. And I encourage you to do so as well because we are extremely lucky to have everything we do.
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Yesterday, as I arrived to my house — after being in a gymkhana for the entire day — I received a message from a friend inviting me to a SAAC party in his house. There was a part of me that wanted to go, to see all my friends and have a good time. On the other hand, I was so tired from the gymkhana and I had so much homework to do. So I decided to stay home. And later at night, when I was thinking of my decision, I realised that I haven’t been going out with my friends for a long time, since the end of last year. But why? I stayed until late at night thinking about this, trying to find the answer to as why this was happening. And finally I found it, time. When I was a little girl, the first thing I would do when coming from school was to go out and play with my neighbours. I spent the whole afternoon running around and having a great time in my neighbourhood. But as I grew up, this free time I had in the afternoons kept decreasing and decreasing until today, where it has completely disappeared. You are probably thinking that I need to manage my time effectively to solve this, and yes you are right in one aspect. I have been working on this for the last two years and I’ve actually found some free space in some days. The problem is, I’ve kept adding more activities in these spaces. And now that I’ve realised this, it is extremely difficult for me to “delete” them from my daily routines; they have become part of me. All the activities that make up my daily routines aren’t just activities, they are very important to me but I guess everything has its pros and cons. For example, doing my Meninas workshop. It takes up a lot of my time; researching, planning and doing it. It also means I can’t go out on Fridays or stay at a friend’s house because I need to wake up very early and prepare everything. But I am willing to do these sacrifices because I love doing my workshop, I enjoy it every time. Another example is being part of the SBG. I’ve never been happier to be part of such an incredible group and being the voice of students but this also means I have to attend meetings on Mondays and Fridays during lunch, which restrains me from seeing my friends in school as well. Like these two, there are many other activities I have on my weekly calendar that have the same effect; they keep subtracting more hours from my free time. With this realisation, I am now having second thoughts about a decision I was completely sure about: running for high school president. As I mentioned before, the SBG has become a huge part of me, I honestly can’t imagine another high school year without being part of this amazing and unique group. Being president of the whole student body has always been my ultimate goal, something I’ve been preparing for since many years ago. On the other hand, it is going to be my last year in school, the last year to be with my whole grade, to go out with them and probably my last year in Peru. Both are very significant for me and now I fear I won’t have the time for both. Thus, what now? How am I going to choose between these two? At the moment, I cannot make a final decision. The only thing I am certain about is that they are both extremely important to me and it wouldn’t be easy to let go. However, maybe I need to see it from a different perspective, maybe I could try to fit one activity with the other to make it work; such as doing more SBG activities to share with my whole grade. Maybe I could give up some of my sleep hours to at least see them on a Saturday night. Or maybe I will need to give up my dreams to enjoy my last year with all of my friends. Right now, I honestly don’t know what the best decision is but what I do know is that I’ll try everything to make my last year, the best of all. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
March 2017
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