|
It seems that some of my compatriots think that to desire to be a State is for cowards. It hurts me to see the way they strut about with high-falooting words, saying that they are the only courageous birds in the world. If that were the case why don't they show the advantages of making Puerto Rico an independent country? They know that the only examples of Latin American republics are all poor [and they have natural resources galore]. You know, one sad truth is that most of us all Puerto Ricans are dishonest one way or the other. It is very common for us to lie [and I am including myself]. It is very easy for us to free-load. We love the "mango bajito", the easy picking; and when it comes to human relations most of us PR men take advantage of Puerto Rican women; and I have seen and experienced PR women go for guys with bucks instead of what is in the heart. We tend to be violent. Look at the statistics on spousal abuse and passional murders in the Island. And drugs and alcohol abuse are rampant in our culture. And you tell me that all of this will change by becoming an independent country? Just by following Logic alone you will conclude that independence will mean the end of Peace in our Island; that if there is Government corruption now, it will only get worse, and the natural outcome of the absence of peace is War among ourselves. Without the threat of going to Federal Jails for crimes such as terrorism, the violent political forces in the Island (who happen to be mostly of the Independence thinking) who be free to bring in a reign of terror. I have observed of how Columbia has fared and everybody who has ten dollars in their pocket is under the threat of murder and kidnapping there. In my wife's country of El Salvador, once the civil war was over both the right wing paramilitary forces as well as the left wing querrila forces turned to looting, kidnapping, bank robbing and general mayhem; they like us had only "life sentence" for murderers and had to change the law to have "capital punishment" just recently.
And the guys who casually drink coffee after getting up at 11AM want us to become an independent country. Man, it boils me, "me hierve". One friend of mine, who is such a patriot in his own mind, didn't have any qualms about leaving his wife by herself to sell the house, while he went back to PR to start a business [which has not, and will never, become a reality]. This friend of mine didn't even sent a penny to his kids. The girls parents had to send her money so that they could eat. And this scoundrel's son is autistic, so the woman had her hands full. I have observed that people who talk like are just full of words, it is just a front to cover their irresponsible lifestyles; they talk like that because in their irresponsible mind they think that to become an Independent Republic with Peace and Prosperity is as easy as their twisted minds can imagine. And when I say twisted, it is not to downplay their brains, it is that most of them have not grown up to bear responsibility, and as a former teenager without a care in the world I can tell you that there is no limit to what you can desire and dream as long as someone else foots the bill. Even this country, where you and I live, had a civil war because of all the responsibilities of running an Independent country entails. And it will probably have one more in less than a hundred years if the "gringuitos" keep being so grouchy about us Hispanics. Just imagine Puerto Rico, where more than half a million people are of Dominican descent: there will be a blood bath. I wouldn't be surprised that after our PR independence a country like the Dominican Republic went to war with us for mistreating their people, and I tell you that there are more than twice the number of Dominicans in Santo Domingo as Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico.
[To those of you true Puerto Ricans: who wrote "El Jíbaro" and what town in Puerto Rico was he from?]
|