It has been a long while since my
friend Cheito showed his smiling face. I have to say he was missed but, with
all that has been going on, the call to him (knowing this call would be a long one…) kept being put away to
later…
I
guess he guessed this much, for the first thing he said when I picked up the
phone (yes, I saw the ID, but couldn’t
bring myself to ignore him) was:
-“Yo
man, juat’s goin’on?”… “Yu don’t like me no more, or juat?”
If
you don’t know Cheíto, he’s a simple, solid guy. Raised in the streets of Cuba
and then in their counterparts of Hialeah, where he, Cachita (his wife) and Felicita (his now 17 year old princess) live. When
they first came to the US via a small boat, they managed to get into an
“effishens” (efficiency apartment) built
into the garage of a relative’s house. These “apartments” are usually built
without the blessing of the city’s building authority or its codes, and outside
the vigilance of any of its inspectors. Their quality wavers… from so-so to
outright bad. But they offer a relatively cheap shelter in time of need. Eventually,
they “made it” as a working family and bought a small condo apt, overlooking
the Hialeah Canal … For the time, place and circumstances, not bad.
I
knew he was not happy -and very probably mad- about the long-time silence so,
right away I played dirty on him and hit him where it counts…
-
“Hey Cheíto… how’s our beautiful princess?” … “How’s she doing in school?”
I
could hear the change in his mood and the smile come to his face. He took a
little while to come back and he sounded a little worried when he spoke.
-
“Man, I’n worried Rafa” “Yu knoe mi Princesa is in hi-school, an’ reddy to go
to College in 2 yiars”
- “I
think that’s great!!” – “What’s your worry?”, I asked.
-
“Well… I’n not shur what they are tiichin’ them.” -“Yu knoe how we talk when we are eatin’”
… “it’s our time together.” He said.
Trying
to make him feel better, I said to him – “Well, it’s good you take the time to
talk as a family”.
Then
he said -“Rafa, yu knoe I’n just a working guy and not a school man” … -“Sum o’da thins she says I
don’t knoe nuthin’ about” … Before I had a chance to ask, he continued… -“yesterday,
she ask me if I knoe why she has to conpete in runnin’ against boys at her
school”. He continued… -“When I din’t annser, she tol’ me this is sonbody who
was a boy an’ now says she’sa girl…” – “I’n confused Rafa.” –“Back hom’ a boy’s
a boy an’ a girl is a girl, like my little princess”… - “not the saim here?”
I
didn’t say anything to Cheíto, trying to rake my brains to come up with
something that might sound somewhat logical… It is very difficult to explain this whole
shift in mores and culture (I will not say for better
or worse…) to someone who still truly believes that out-of-wedlock children
will be marked by society and that girls should get to their wedding night as
virgins.
- “Well,
my friend,” I said, trying to offer a degree of solace, “for most people in our country
boys are still boys and girls are still girls”. “But” I continued, “there are
groups who say that it is the right of everyone, including minors, to choose if
they want to be considered a man or a woman, and that others have to accept
their decision”.
- “Juat
you mean?” –“Yu mean if a boy now sais he
a she, dat’s OK?” –“An’ if now-she guants to compete agains’ my princesa, dat’s
OK too?” – “Dat no fair man … she still got a he-body and will win every taim.”
… - “Juats the use my girl practicin’ an’ practicin’?” … - “He-she always
be stronger’n faster.”
-“Well”,
I said, -“they have their rights and we have to respect those rights, according
to our constitution” and to those who
use it as a reference whenever it is convenient and who would like to dismantle
it whenever it’s not convenient to their wants, I thought to myself.
-“Yu
knoe … “ he said after a little while … -“I guess it OK about rights an’all
dat.” But, he continued, - “what’bout the rights of my princesa?” “To a fair
competition?” … “To her own rights doin’ what she work so hard to do again’ other
girls who work so hard too?” … - “She ha’ no rights?” … “Where
do the other people rights stop an’ my princesa’s rights start?”
I
could add nothing, so I just said – “I agree with you 100% my friend.”
Once
again, Cheíto’s simple, but far from shallow, street philosophy makes total
sense and I really have nothing to say to him or to his cry for help in understanding. What can
I say? Perhaps all these folks who spout, yell and scream about “their” rights,
should take into consideration the rights of others, who don’t
agree with them. Just because there is disagreement doesn’t mean they lose
their rights.
And I fully agree with my
friend Cheíto. Your (or anyone’s)
rights end where mine begin.
Be
Well … Be Back!!!
Final Notes:
· Pray
for those who are
fighting an illness which may take them away from their loved ones… Every
request is heard, and counts!!
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