Happiness is Cuba’s Path

By Jorge Dalton

HAVANA TIMES — With the death of Fidel Castro, in the face of such tension… and especially in the face of so much silliness, it is impossible to make out our island’s future. Amid so many blind passions, I’m driven to call for peace among us. Because if I don’t, I’ll consider myself riffraff, a comfortable and miserable spectator who doesn’t give a crap about the fact that Cubans are bleeding to death in the dark and thorny sea that divides us.

I’ve had the opportunity to understand different people on both shores and I know how much pain and resentment there is. My feelings of reconciliation have of course brought me bitterness, a lack of understanding, sadness, social exclusion, marginalization and even exile, but I continue on firm in my belief that it is something that has been worth fighting for.

The future is something that we Cubans haven’t known how to determine or discern because we were too stuck in the past. In the middle of this battlefield of ideas and disagreements, insults and impositions, time has been passing us by and we’re getting older, leaving us fewer opportunities to begin to build this future that depends solely and exclusively on the Cuban people, here and abroad, people from the only Cuba that has ever existed on the face of the earth, as there isn’t another one my brothers and sisters: THERE IS JUST ONE CUBA!!!

In spite of this and in the midst of such uncertainty, believe me when I say I continue to have the same hopeful dream that Cubans will stop hating each other and that we will have the skill and wisdom to steer the nation, for the sake of a better Cuba which is for every Cuban and the well-being of all Cubans, for our children and grandchildren’s sake.

Let’s leave behind our philosophy of hate, authoritarianism and separation once and for all. Somebody once wrote: “Hate is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die” and that has unfortunately been a philosophy that has eaten away at us to the core.

Let’s cast out this hate before it’s too late, let’s prevent hate from becoming a signature that defines us in a world that is becoming more and more inhuman, violent and unequal. I would like to repeat the wise words of Cuban writer Eliseo Alberto Diego (Lichi) which were written in 2004. As you can see, time is flying by and it’s been several years now since he wrote this. Lichi passed away in 2011 and he left me this thought and ideals as my inheritance.

“Santeros´ drums, doctors’ wisdom, politicians’ impartiality and the most clearheaded dissidents, Catholic priests’ masses and, even, Andean shamans’ spells, all want the same thing: that our divided Cuba doesn’t suffer too much.

“Every Cuban needs to wake up: some from a heroic dream, others from an extremely long nightmare. And it’s already been said by somebody: there is no path to happiness, happiness is the path. If we need to dream, we need to dream with our eyes open, my father wrote when he woke up one day from his afternoon nap.

“I’m going to add my confused creed to this cause: I believe in the piety of patience, I believe in the union and communion of Cubans on the island and in exile: all of our options will cross this two-track bridge without fail, one of understanding and the other of resentment.

“Let’s meet in Cuba, embrace each other, helping one another will be our best defense and shield, even though it might seem like an act of weakness to the Trojans and a bold gesture to the Tyrians. I believe, I wish, I suppose that we deserve a century of peace, a time of peace, a little while in peace after so much war. And I, who doesn’t believe in anything much, ask for this.”

Jorge Dalton: herido_desombras@yahoo.es