TEA WITH AUNT SHEEPLY

“Why do you want to move to Spain? Here you can live much, much better. Her you can afford 3 maids, and a gardener, private school, private health and tennis lessons. You can live in what Europeans would consider a mansion”. The argument was an old one already. My mother, my aunt and my grandmother where having tea in my parents living room. My mother was arguing with my aunt again. My father was gone before it even started. He went to fix something in the house as he usually does when my aunt is around. It’s been years since he last had the patience to withstand even 5 minutes of the woman’s narrow minded, sheep mentality ramble. “Alicia, I don’t care about how many gardeners or maids I can afford here. You can afford to have that many people working for you precisely because there is so much misery that people will almost work for food. I’d rather live in a country where I can safely walk the streets and not have a maid. Don’t you see that the same reality that allows you to have 3 maids and a gardener is the one that can get you killed every time you walk out of your house?” The argument went on and on, with my grandmother siding with my aunt. Not because she thinks that the reality of this country is good, no, but because she doesn’t want to see one of her two daughters leave to a country at the other end of the world. Most Spanish immigrants, like my grandparents, hate to see the new generations, sons and grandsons, leave to the country they once escaped from, because it promises greener pastures. They escaped hunger, civil war, and now, 50 years later, they want to go back? Old folks just don’t understand that. They had to leave everything behind, family, possessions, to give their family a better life. And in those days you just didn’t take a plane, my grand parents had to spend a month in a stinking boat to get here. They all remember that trip, and they just don’t get used to the idea of, thanks to airplanes, being just 24 hours away. For all of them, moving to Spain means that their loved ones are a month worth in a stinking boat away. There are many like my aunt in this country. People that, surprisingly, don’t fear SHTF, but actually look forward to it. It means cheaper workers, cheaper services, and new exploitation opportunities. And I’m not only talking about locals, I’m talking about large international corps. as well. What locals seem to ignore, or simply don’t care, is that you still have to live WITH those that are in a much worse position. Maybe you are incredibly wealthy, yes, but wherever you go you will have to go with an armored car and bodyguards. You wont have freedom, not real one at least. As I said before a number of times, people will surprise you for being incredible resourceful and /or incredibly stupid. Most of the “Herd” will simply sail through life being happy that their favorite soccer team won the finals and that they can go have a couple of beers with their friends. Notice that not much changed since the ancient Roman times, where the emperor claimed that you only have to give the population “circus and wine” to keep them content and under control. People like my aunt, these are the fools that love vacationing in Brazil, and think that Cuba’s communism is the greatest creation right next to sliced bread. They will come back from Cuba in love with the place. Oh! The resorts, the food, so many cheerful people. They seem to forget that if Cubans don’t put a happy face they get executed, and that they have a great time because they are tourists with money that can afford to live like kings. Why don’t they move over there without a penny, and live as Cubans really do? Let’s see if the like pimping their wives and daughters to survive, lets see if the y like living like rats. Of course they don’t. Another issue I want to point out. SHTF such as political crisis or economical collapses take time to settle.

Не будут объявлять День БП. Да, есть события-вехи, вехи истории. Но они занимают время, общество меняется помаленьку, пока новая реальность не вступит в свои права. Через несколько месяцев люди будут говорить о «до и после» события, которое изменило их мир. Для вас это может быть 11 сентября [прим. перев.: август 1998? 1991? 1993? До и после Развала?], а для меня - до и после 1:1 (1 доллар=1 песо) или жизнь до и после кризиса 2001 года. Люди используют это выражение в ежедневных разговорах. «Так вы были на Гавайях? Ого!» «Да, да, но мы ездили до 1:1, теперь нам это не по средствам».

Это время неуверенности, пока люди свыкаются с тем, что мир изменился, занимает время, месяцы и годы, и это МЕДЛЕННЫЙ спад, сползание. Однажды вы начнёте видеть больше попрошаек, проституток, некрашеных домов, машины будут выглядеть более потрёпанными, потому что у людей нет денег их чинить, пока в один прекрасный день вы не скажете себе: «Ого, 6-12 месяцев назад было не так». БП может случиться за секунды, но осмысление занимает месяцы.

Вот почему ваш разум должен быть открыт, пусть глаза смотрят, а уши слушают, чтобы всегда быть впереди стада.