A Beautiful Thought.

Recently I read somewhere in FB a short recounting of a chance meeting…

I wish I could think of who posted it to give the appropriate credit, but I can’t. Yet, the message really stayed with me and I wish this could become part of my mind frame, of my thought process.

How often have you met, perchance or intentionally, with someone you know and on parting utter a simple “be well” or “glad to see you” or worse yet… “Yes, we have to get together for lunch sometime…” knowing this will never come to pass… We have learned to behave in a routinely manner, a manner which takes little effort on our part to just “carry on” and present a civilized front, allowing us to get through the day or, in the end, to get through the routine of our lives.

Perhaps this is the reason that, when something comes across our senses, something different enough to rate a dissonant chord, we (I) pay attention. And sometimes, this something is impacting enough to stay with us, to maybe even effect a little change in our hearts.

This is a recounting of a chance goodbye heard in an airport; as a younger, yet middle aged woman, was leaving and an older lady was staying behind. As they were saying their very heartfelt goodbyes, the older lady kept telling the younger one “I wish you enough…”  “I wish you enough”. The younger woman, with moist eyes, repeated the same back to whom turned out to be her mother… “I wish you enough…”

After the pair parted, our interlocutor, his (or her) curiosity level at a high point… approached the older lady and said… “I couldn’t help but hearing your goodbye…” “What does –I wish you enough- mean?”

The older lady explained that she was approaching the end of her life tenure and this would probably be the last time she and her daughter would be together, for she lived overseas and it was too expensive to come back to visit. As for the “I wish you enough”, this was a catch phrase of a small “wish poem” that was part of the family’s tradition and lore… This is what the complete “I wish you enough…” would read:

"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright…

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more…

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive...

I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger…

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting…

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess...

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye."

A lifetime of wishes in a few lines… Something to think about in this frenzied world of ours…

I wish you all enough…

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!!
• Follow us on Twitter … @RJAsPandora
• Any comments please send to otherboxp@yahoo.com

Promises Made… Promises Broken…

As a follow up to the last entry (many responses to that one) this is a word and picture testament to what a misguided and power hungry government can do to those it is supposed to serve.

Children learning to worship the leader

Even though I was barely a 13 year old youngster when the current government took what would turn out to be an unrelenting hold of my country –Cuba- I remember that many held the hope this would be a change for the good. A change on the political front, because on the overall economic front the structure was working pretty well. At least, that is what independent stats show for the times.

Nothing to do and all the time to do it in

I remember a bearded leader who came from the mountains surrounded by priests and bodyguards and who, in what turned out to be his MO, sent others ahead to make sure the way was clear so as not to expose himself to any unforeseen dangers or threats. As a good demagogue, he has been a “leader” with words, not in action. But then, it is a lot easier to look back than to see what is in front of your nose.

Housing gone bad

Many promises were made; promises of a Utopian society, where all would share and all would have. Promises of a country where there would be no distinctive social classes and all would have an opportunity. Promises of an educational system where all would learn in order to collaborate with the structure and produce more on behalf of all. Promises of a society where all would have freedom of choice and expression… Promises… promises…

A country that exports medical care
often has little for its own.

And as all political promises are wont to be, these turned out to just that: empty words which when promulgated over more than a half a century of neglect, totalitarianism, censure and mismanagement, have created a society of apathy and hopelessness; a society where the system will not allow that promised freedom of speech, of thought, of personal growth. On one front, it delivered: all share an equal lack of goods and opportunities, although not the party favorites who have all they could possibly want.

Some inequalities just have no price

There are two Cubas: the one that is marketed through the awesome marketing machinery of the government and which promotes the awe and congratulatory posing of fools who don't care to delve any deeper than they have to and the other one, where the common citizen has to carry out a daily struggle just to survive the day; where houses and buildings are falling down in disrepair for lack of material, where there is no hope in a system that does not allow for this concept to exist … and where all can read and write but only what the government allows them to.

There are those who will not give up
even in the face of despair.

This is reality; this is what the socialist utopia looks like after half a century of missed opportunities, all in search of the personal empowerment of their leaders and because of unbridled greed of money and total control.

There is really no system which can be called perfect. When it comes to governing people there will always be those for whom there is never enough done. But a regime which fails to deliver on any of its promises or worse, on any of its responsibilities, can only lead to the destruction of those who are unfortunate enough to be under its power and control.

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!!
• Follow us on Twitter … @RJAsPandora
• Any comments please send to otherboxp@yahoo.com