Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Life of Guatemala


Rigoberta Menchus 'The Family' story put me in my place.  After reading her background and history, I realized that there is nothing for me to complain about.  I have everything compared to what her and her family had...which was not much.  When she was talking about her grandmother having to give away her father, it was SO heartbreaking! I'm sure her grandmother didn't want to give away her eldest son but that was the best choice for her whole family.  This whole situation reminded me of the Modest Proposal.  Giving away your children to make money or so your kids wouldn't go hungry.  I'm glad they rekindled and be together before her father had to go into the military.

Another thing to be thankful for is how much we get paid at minimum wage.  I looked up how much centavos were worth in dollars and I found out that 100 centavos= $1.  ladino families settled in their spots.
That is outrageous!!! Rigoberta was saying that her father used to work in a monastery and used to get paid thirty to forty centavos a day.  That means he didn't even get paid half a dollar to eat and live.  If you think of getting paid that much these days...I CAN'T EVEN.  The Guatemalans couldn't make the means to afford a house and stay there.  They were all pretty much in debt and was forced to leave town because

I have SO MUCH to be thankful for.  I have a roof over my head, more than enough to eat every day and extra luxurious things that I enjoy.  Im lucky enough to have parents that support me to live every day.  Guatemalans suffered and went through many hardships.  If I didn't take this class I honestly wouldn't have ever read about Guatemala and all the difficult times they went through.

Count your blessings!

8 comments:

  1. I couldn't believe the wages either, how do these people make it?! What a tremendous amount of perseverance.

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  2. I did not realize how little a centavo was worth... It is so crazy how little they made for doing so much work!

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  3. I feel like a lot of people had the same reaction of how much they have to be thankful for after reading this; I know I did!

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  4. It is interesting how so many of our readings / assignments have related to each other -- Rigoberta, Modest Proposal etc...

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  5. I didn't even make the Modest Proposal connection, that's a good point. Rigoberta's story was really eye opening, I'm glad it made you appreciative of your life too, it did the same for me

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  6. I too would have been someone completely oblivious to the situation in Guatemala were it not for this class, and to be honest, I'm still oblivious to the conditions in most of the world. Stories like this help me open my eyes to the reality of life. It's not always pretty and nice, often the way we think of it here.

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  7. You're so right, we have so much to be thankful for. This reading really gave me perspective on how blessed I am to live the life I have

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  8. I looked up how many centavos would be equivalent to a US dollar bill as well. I don't know how a family could survive on that!

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