The Poor Give

“The poor give even when they have nothing.” The other night I had a short conversation with my host padre that made me step back and think for a moment. We were discussing the Christmas traditions of “posadas” where the town goes around to various houses to sing and the family gives the group punch, tamales and decorates their house with lights and other various decorations. As he describes this lovely tradition he mentions how although the people in the pueblo don’t have much, they’ll continue to give to their neighbors and family regardless. He then went on to say that when he used to go into houses to repair electronics, in the houses of rich families they wouldn’t even offer the workers a glass of water during a whole day’s work whereas in the poorer houses they would immediately offer water, a little bit of bread, tortillas or whatever snacks they had available.
Why is that? Have you ever found that to be true?
I instantly started thinking about the differences between Guatemalans and Americans. Here, whenever my host brother or sister receives a tiny little snack from the store, they immediately share with me. There’s no sense of “this is mine, don’t touch”. Today I went to the store with my eight year old host sister and as we walked out the door she said, “oh wait”, ran back into the house and came out with a halls cough drop (which I assumed she was munching on one too as candy). Then later, we played cards and she got piece of fried tortilla and sat down, then instantly got up and got one for me without me even saying that I wanted one! It was so great, just very welcoming, loving and even though I didn’t need a Halls or a piece of fried tortilla I felt cared for. Compare this to situations in our own families, friends or people in general. “Get it yourself”, “that’s mine!”, “get your own”. I can already hear the children screaming this to their siblings, friends and even parents.
I also think about how people have welcomed me into their homes. As a guest, I receive the best of what they have. The first Sunday that I was in my pueblo, we went to my host padre’s mother’s house and she spent all day cooking an extremely special typical dish that also had a good amount of meat (aka expensive to cook). She lived in a small home with two rooms and an outdoor kitchen with only firewood to cook with (literally over the stove on her knees). I was served first and I was given more to eat after I finished despite politely declining. It’s been like that here ever since. Clearly, people always want to give a good first impression, but it’s incredibly humbling to see how people bend over backwards to accommodate guests. It makes me think about how I can become a more giving person as well. I mean, if my host family can offer me the best of what they have when all they have is so little, surely we can all do the same.