To Begin Again

Nonardo Perea

HAVANA TIMES – When I wrote the post: “Having a little more in Cuba and abroad” a few weeks ago, I did so with the idea of pointing out to some people that what moves the present world is consumerism and the accumulation of products that are probably unnecessary in the life of any human being. In our anxiety to always have a little bit more, we fail to notice that our passage through life is short, and none of what we obtain with such sacrifice can be taken with us to the grave.

I don’t mean to say that I wouldn’t want to have a comfortable stay on the earth. I consider that not only me but every human being that inhabits the planet (and I would also include the seals, the penguins and all the animal species that traveled on Noah’s Arc) should have – and demand of their governments the right to have – the comforts necessary to live well. This is something that our people have never demanded in 54 years of revolution (or involution), perhaps out of fear or lack of unity.

I’m poor like most Cubans, and I don’t feel any shame at saying so. Know why? It’s because when I look around I’ve always found people much poorer than I, and not precisely because they have economic necessities. You can be poor in different ways, whether you live here or in any part of the terrestrial sphere.

There are those who are poor of soul; others poor of heart or of spirit; in short, a countless number of miserable and out of synch people who – knowing that they are of the same human species – view people who have less buying power than they as people who are merely run-of-the-mill.

I am among those who think that to be happy you don’t necessarily have to have all the things I enumerated in that list of priorities. In this life you can be happy with quite little.

It would be enough for us to have whatever we think we need to feel comfortable, and that can vary according to the dreams and desires of each person.

Only a few days ago a woman stopped me in the street to offer me a small leaflet, the type of handout that we call “sueltos” (loose) here, and that are used to promote shows and Reggaetón performers. This time it was a religious flyer and in large letters it said: “Jesus Saves”.

Jesus said:” You must be born again.” John 3:7

Paul says: “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Corinthians 2 5:17

That’s the best, in my opinion: to begin again, be born anew in a world different from ours.