Though I had plenty of opportunity as an adult to learn about struggle, perseverance, the value of hard work, and what I can achieve, it wasn’t always like that. In fact as a child living in poverty in a third world country, in the middle of a brutal civil war, I didn’t know any better. That is the way things were; to me they were normal.
I was born in a small town in the western region of Guatemala Central America. When I was growing up, Guatemala was a nation held fast in the grip of war and brutality. The Guatemalan Civil War ran from many years. The government forces of Guatemala have since been condemned for committing genocide against the Mayan population of Guatemala during the civil war and for widespread human rights violations against civilians. The war claimed the lives of 200,000 people before its end. It had begun before I was born, and I was well into my twenties before it ended.
Although my family was never directly involved in the fighting, we couldn’t escape the effects of what was going on around us. All of us—my childhood friends and I—knew of someone who had been kidnapped, tortured, or killed. Bodies were found on a daily basis in or near my hometown; lLooking back I think, gosh those were pretty crazy times.
Remembering these times, I now realize how blessed and lucky I am of having been able to escape and become the man I am today. But back then, my young mind didn’t compute the horror nor had an idea that things could be better, for me. It was the way it had always been; I didn’t know any better.
As I got older, I learned of the possibilities. I expanded my experiences, first thru reading, later thru traveling and meeting all sorts of people that fundamentally changed my mindset. I learned that there were so many other things that I could do with my life, and started to question my reality and why things had to be this way, for myself. I wasn’t thinking why is the war going on? Why are we poor? Why are we being punished? Instead, I was thinking, it doesn’t have this way, for me; what can I do about it?
As an adult, I now realize that things don’t have to be this way or that way. But unless I understand and be aware of the possibilities, the normal thing to do is to get stuck doing what we have been doing for ever. In fact, it is the easiest thing to do. You see that with kids in rough neighborhoods, the way they have been living is the way it has always been. The dreaded status quo is a very comfortable place to be until it isn’t or until you expand your mind and realize that it doesn’t have to be this way.
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A few months ago I was talking to a friend, fond of a particular presidential candidate. He said this country is not the same in which I grew up with, that is why I am mad. I agreed with him, but he was looking to go back in time and live in a world that isn’t anymore. Things change, people change, governments change.
As soon as we see that change is part of our lives, it is easier to look for the possibilities and change the assumptions that we make about the future. As soon as we expand our minds and see that it doesn’t have to be this way, we are in fact thinking “what am I going to do about this?” and that is when we start looking to challenge the status quo and begin to see the possibilities.
It doesn’t have to be this way, what are you going to do it?
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