Erasmo Calzadilla’s Diary

From a very young age my father made the effort to educate me in the revolutionary doctrine. I was clearly on the side of the good guys, those who followed good ideals, and against the bad guys, those who murdered children with bombs, blew up airplanes and did anything for money. I still remember asking my father during every movie that was shown on TV who the good guys were and who were the baddies. My father, who even today still believes that the world is divided like this, did his best to show me on which side of the divide stood each of the characters.

I have taught philosophy at the University of Havana for the last three years and I have learned a lot since that time. In Cuba all majors require one semester of Philosophy and Society, which is one of several social science subjects required, regardless of the career chosen. The explicit purpose of this course is the integral formation of professionals in a country where ideological issues are important in people’s lives.

These parents were incredibly courageous, but their lack of vision caused them, then as now, to destroy with their feet what they built with their hands. Within the walls of their homes, many of them continue to behave as patriarchs of their plantations.

I have a friend who is a teacher, but not a Zen teacher. He is 23 and gives art classes at a primary school in Vieja Linda, a marginal neighborhood on the outskirts of the capital. I don’t know how he manages it, but I think he likes what he does, despite the fact that the furniture in his house looks like the attire of a fakir.