that I have heard many Americans and others from other countries talk so low about their own countries, much how this guy talked about the DR!
Many from the US (many, but not all) keep whinning how the country they grew up in no longer exist, how materialistic their society has become and that it was better when they did not had as much, people who are disgusted with how divided the US has become, etc etc etc.
Many American folks are actually moving out of the US simply because of the political situations there with Bush's ideas and way of governing. A 20-something year old young adult recently commited Suicide in NYC at the World Trade Center area because he has become disenfranchised with the US and why Bush won the election!
Many Americans are screaming that the outflow of jobs, etc is turning the US into a third world country, that neighborhoods that used to be nice a decade ago have gone down the tubes the moment immigrants infiltrated those places!
I have heard of people being sick with the notion that people in the US tend to judge you based on the car you drive, how you look, etc etc etc. I have heard people say that a black person can't even date a white person without having every single pair of eyeballs in the streets starring as if there was something so unbelieveable to see! I have heard many folks who live in the US say that they can't figure out why they are not happy, despite having everything they wanted!
I have heard of people in the US being killed in their own home doorsteps and mothers being killed while watching television because of a lost bullet. I have heard of women being raped, of children being kidnapped (the US now has an Amber Alert system due to the severity of this children kidnapping problem) and the constant fear and threat of a radical terrorist attack anywhere, at any time.
ETC ETC ETC
Why did I post this? Simple, people see what they want to see. Where one person see's misery and hopelessness, others see a utopia and an opportunity.
Remember the old adage, the grass is always greener at the other side of the fence!
Many Dominicans see the faults in Dominican society, but focus on the positives of the U.S. and many Americans see the faults of the U.S. and focus on the positives of the DR!
Everthing is up to interpretation based on one's experiences of life and the world, but one experience is not indicative of the experience others will have.
The fact that you can have a Dominican praise the US and an American depressed at the very same country is a testament to that.
I personally think the DR is a great country. I love it here, I am from here, and I will always live here (unless war breaks some day). And speaking of war, things could have been so much worst here in the DR. At least we are not like Iran or Iraq or North Korea or even Haiti. At least we are not like much of sub-saharan Africa or Palestine. At least we are not like the Balkans or Burhma! At least we are not like the Ukraine or even Sudan and god forbid we ever become like Ethiopia.
Things could have been so much worst, but they are not. All we have to do is stop focusing on what has gone wrong and lets get going in fixing it and moving forward.
An American friend of mine once told me a quote that I have never forgotten.
"what ever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve!"
"Do not expect troubles, as they have a tendency not to disappoint"
There were two poets whom I have forgotten their names, who wrote the following two poems. Read them and then think of the possibilities if the average Dominican was to have that in his/her mind.
Poem #1
I bargained with life for a penny,
And life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening,
When I counted my scanty store.
For life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.
I worked for a menial's hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have willingly paid.
Poem #2
If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don't
If you like to win, but you think you can't,
It is almost certain you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you're lost,
For out in the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow's will--
It's all in the state of mind.
If you think you are outclassed, you are,
You've got to think high to rise,
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!
Why did I share these quotes and poems?
Because we all reach moments of hopelessness and are almost ready to quit in anything that we once had a passion for. Quitting is never good because quitters never win.
Never quit on the dream of a better Dominican Republic and never indulge on the idea that we are doomed to be doomed. Such idea has kept many Dominicans and the Dominican Republic as a whole, in the gutter of nations, not because we deserve to be there, but because too many Dominicans simply believe that we as a nation can't be better.
If you can't change a entire civilizations way of thinking, at least make it your goal to change one mind at a time. Changing one mind is better than none and in the end, you will be glad that you did. Because in the end, your dream will eventually come true.
Never lose hope and please, be much more optimistic in life!
