Colombia: a war for all Colombians

After reading this book,  I began to reflect what it is to be from this country. This book made me realize all of the absurdities, all of the consequences of being from a country with an ongoing internal conflict and an inequality rate that's on the roof. I identified with this book immensely not only for all the stories the author tells about everyday life in Colombia, but also what it is to be Colombian in other countries. After browsing my memory of the times i've traveled and the past year I lived in Switzerland, I agree with the author that being Colombian is a struggle. Certainly, it's more of a struggle for more people than others and I am lucky (or we at CNG are lucky) to be of the ones least affected, but it is undebatable that in Colombia everyone, regardless of social class or how much money you have, is a victim.

I myself can recall so many instances where the fact of being Colombian creates a struggle in my life. For example, the fact that my mom doesn't let me walk to school even though it's really close because they might steal all my stuff is a struggle. The fact that for many years my parents couldn't go to several places in Colombia because they might get kidnapped is a struggle. In 2004, my uncle was traveling through a road away from the city. He got stopped by the FARC, and when he tried to escape, several men hidden in the bushes all began shooting at my uncle's car. He managed to get out of the car with no injuries, but he had to run and hide in the forest so he didn't get killed. He spent the night in the forest and the next day he was safe and sound. But just listening to that cold blood story is a struggle. My grandfather owned a big finca in Los Llanos. My mother and my uncles would go there every vacation when they were kids. Many childhood memories of my mom are in that place. When my mom was 18, in 1985, my grandfather was notified that the FARC had seized the Finca and that they would not be able to go there ever again. My grandfather died in 1993 and never returned to the finca. This year, 29 years later, my family went to the finca for the first time in almost three decades. It was very hard to see the ruins of what once the house where my mother spent entire summers.

In Switzerland, I got to see the reputation my country has abroad. When people asked where I was from, and I said Colombia, there were two things that would cross everyone's mind: cocaine and Pablo Escobar. Yes, people are very ignorant (some people didn't even know Pablo Escobar has been dead for more than 20 years, but if my country has that reputation, there's a reason why. That reason is the struggle that affects every Colombian rich and poor every day. The thing that saves all of us from hating our country is our happy people and our rich culture. But for someone who was lived abroad most of their life, like the author if this book, it is not surprising Colombia is worst than hell.

Respect is the Key

FARC? Violence? What is that?

The author of The Colombian War describes coming back to Colombia as an experience where she is once again afraid of what she had forgotten when she left to the United States. Not only the news give her fear, but also her family member. Everyone tells her to be careful when going out on the street or more importantly, when leaving the city. This is the main reason she has such a hard time adapting to Colombia. She doesn't like the fact that you have you have to be in a state of alert the whole time.

The author's experience reminds me of what I experienced when I came to live in Colombia from the United States when I was five years old. I was a little kid. I certainly didn't truly understand the situation the country was going through. The only thing I knew was that there were some bad guys called guerrilleros that were very dangerous. Here in Bogota, my apartment building happened to be close to a forest that could be seen from the window of my room. At night, I would be scared that they would appear and do something bad to me. Of course, my mother would tell me that they lived in the jungle far away, and that they couldn't get where we were because our army was fighting them so that we could be safe. She was right! There was absolutely no risk that the FARC would reach Bogota and kill us. The army was actively fighting them in the jungle. But I had the mind of a little kid that just came from living in the US. The forest just made me scared. And the news my parents watched didn't help. It is a different situation when you are an adult. You know specifically which situations get you in danger and you think with a greater amount of logic. But for me it was the first time I was having a relatively realistic fear at night. Usually kids are afraid of the monster under the bed. The monster under the bed doesn't exist. Children are used to hear their parents tell them that what they fear is not real. But in my case, the FARC did exist. It was something real and for me as a little kid realizing it was something real made me even more scared of it. The only guarantee that I would be safe was my parent's reassurance that the FARC wouldn't get where I lived. 

At the time I arrived to live in Bogota in 2002, the daughter of the President of Colombia was a student at CNG. Not just taking into account that she was the daughter of the President, but also Colombia's situation at the time, it's not hard to believe that CNG looked like a military base. Seeing so many soldiers and people with guns all the time made me scared. I wasn't used to that. It took me some time to realize that those people I was so scared of were actually protecting the school from the FARC.  

Raised in a Different World

Colombia is a country that has always been characterized by its strikingly high social inequality. The gap between the rich and the poor is one of the highest in the world. This certainly means that being raised as an upper class child here is totally different than being raised as a middle or lower class child. There are many reasons for this which the author tells us and that me as a Colombian was able to connect and identify really well.

The author describes really well how the upper class society in this country works. In Barranquilla, se went to the American school there, the Karl Parrish School. She and her friends spoke the best English of anyone in Barranquilla, which was an instant sign of a high socioeconomic status. As in any unequal society, people from the American school would be called spoiled and too American. I can totally identify myself with this, being a student at CNG. Wearing the navy blue hoody with the CNG letters is more than just a uniform. It is a tag, a tag that indicates a high socioeconomic status. CNG is one of the most expensive schools in Colombia (if not the most expensive), CNG students speak the best English in the country, CNG students go to Miami and Europe in their vacations, CNG students are members of Bogota's most exclusive clubs, CNG students only eat American candy, and have all the commodities many kids in Colombia don't have. CNG students have the "you can hit me but my daddy will sue you" attitude. This why we are called spoiled, just how the author describes in Barranquilla.

Another thing that is characteristic of Colombia's upper class that the author describes really well is Miami. Miami is where all of Latin America's affluent people go to during their vacations to tan in the beach and spend hours in huge malls buying all their clothes. As she very well mentions, then people like to show off their Miami-bought clothes here in Bogota. That is another tag for status here in Colombia.

Apparently the author grew in a different situation than the rest of the people which today allows her to see the situation in the country from a different point of view.

Looking into a Mirror

I think the title of this post is self-explanatory. My Colombian War, as far as I have read, tells the audience what it is like to be Colombian. That is the reason I say reading this book is like looking into a mirror. I find it very interesting how the author is projecting what it is to be Colombians, but explained in such a way so that it is easy to understand by any foreigner that has never visited or knows nothing about Colombia. 

I always felt identified with many of the things the author mentions in the daily life of being Colombian. Things such as always being suspiciously questioned in airports of the US and Europe just for holding a Colombian passport and doing long lines at embassies to get visas are things that I myself have experienced, so its very easy for me to understand what the author is trying to say. The author mentions the impact Pablo Escobar had in Colombian society. She mentions he blew up an Avianca plane going from Bogota to Cali. My grandfather was supposed to be on that flight but he missed the plane. He was very lucky. I also liked how she "Americanized" some Colombian elements, such as saying that the River Magdalena is the Mississippi of Colombia and that the departamentos are the states of Colombia. She also mentions the characteristics of different Colombian people which I totally felt identified with, such as the lazy costeños, the proud paisas, the agressive santanderianos, and the well-dressed and haughty cachacos. Myself being a chachaco, I understood the stereotypes my city has in the country, like being the nevera (the fridge) and for being overly haughty. Something very important about being Colombian that I liked that the author emphasized was political ideology. It sounds strange, but in Colombia, politics run in through your veins, you are born with it. You are what your family is. It is considered rebellious to be a of a different political ideology than the rest of your family. This quote from page 15 pretty much sums up what it's like growing up in this complicated country:

"Growing up Colombian, one soon learns that identity is defined by two things: region and political orientation."

Into a New World

During the final two chapters of this narrative, Douglass, for the first time in his life, has the opportunity to see the other side of the world to which he has been hidden since he was born. Before he enters this life-changing transition, he does see some improvement in his life, even as a slave. 

While working William Freeland, he has a totally different experience than what he lived before. Douglass described Freeland as an owner that expects hard work but is fair at the same time, thing that Douglass enjoys: "He worked us hard, but from sunrise to sunset. He required a good deal of work to be done, but gave us good tools to work with...My treatment, while in this employment, was heavenly, compared with what I experienced at the hands of Mr. Edward Covey." (83) This clearly shows the readers that the respect of human dignity, even with the hardest work is essential for our own well being, and that is the main difference between Covey and Freeland. Anyone reading through this chapter would be astonished with Douglass' immense will to give despite nothing has ever been given to him. I think that is the reflection of his own well being while working with Freeland, but most importantly, it teaches us a lesson. The act of giving, despite what has been given to us, will bring great personal satisfaction. Douglass' holds a school for free colored men, which at a point had forty students. It's remarkable that Douglass chose to do this knowing it was forbidden by the law, however, this fear was overcome by his perseverance. At the end of the day, it made him happy to help the members of his community: "They were great days to my soul. The work of instructing my dear fellow-slaves was the sweetest engagement with which I was ever blessed (85)."

Moving into the final chapter, it is clear that Douglass' will for freedom surpasses any well being he is experiencing at the moment. After one failed escaping attempt, Douglass is sent to work in Baltimore, where he asks his owner to seek employment, with the condition that he must give his salary to his owner, even though he thinks he should stay with the money. After some time, he is allowed to stay with part of the money. After lots of planning, he finally escapes to New York City: "How I did so, what means I adopted, what direction I travelled, and by what mode of conveyance, I must leave unexplained, for the reasons before mentioned. (105)". 

Blog Entry 2

As I read through chapters three and four, I began to realize something I did not have clear in my mind before I began reading this book. That is, that there is no more accurate description of slavery than a autobiography of someone who lived it purely and entirely. Not even the best school textbooks can give us a more clear image of how slavery was at the time because the people who wrote those can't describe the experiences fresh in their mind. As the book progresses, it submerges us into the world of slavery without any sugarcoating. This is the real thing.

Ever since I was taught about slavery, I was told that slaves were mercilessly beaten and forced to work in the fields under the blazing sun. In other words, it was mainly focused on the physical abuse that owners would do to their slaves. The book does describe these abuses very graphically and I could have no better image of this after reading this book. However, I had never been so aware about the psychological distress these slaves were at all times. For example, Douglass says that Austin Gore, his owner at the time, had a garden full of fruits that slaves were not allowed to go to. Slaves were not fed properly and the garden was an easy source of food slaves could have resorted to in cases of extreme hunger, which I assume was the case most of the time. Gore had the garden surrounded by a fence with tar so that slaves that went through it would end up with their bodies stained and therefore get caught. I can't imagine being in such a situation in which I would have to choose between eating and getting beaten up or not get beaten up but be extremely hungry doing hard physical labor under the hot sun.

When Douglass talks about the fence that surrounds the garden, I was immediately reminded of the movie The Boy in the Striped Pijamas. The hungry slaves seeing food right in front of them but not being able to have it is a similar situation which happens in the movie. The young Jewish boy is hungry and has no method of entertainment while right at the other side of the fence the German boy is basically a spoiled brat that gets everything he wants. The feeling the Jewish boy felt in the movie must have been similar to the feeling the slaves felt when the say they couldn't eat the food that was right in front of them.

Blog Entry 3

As Chapter 10 begins, it came as a huge impact for me that Douglass is actually looking forward to stop working with Auld. The surprise to me was the reason behind Douglass being happy to go to live with a person that had such a reputation. I always knew, of course, that slaves received brutal treatment, more brutal than what we could ever imagine. But I never thought this treatment would get to the point were the slaves were not fed properly. Food is a basic human need, and in order to keep a human being alive, no matter how brutally you treat them, the person needs to be fed. So adding up to the current treatment he was receiving, he was now hungry. However, now that he is moving, he is happy that we will be in a place that will feed him well, despite the bad treatment he very well knows he will have while there. Unfortunately for Douglass, this glory doesn't last long. As I continued reading through the chapter, I was not able to believe the person Douglass becomes when he begins working with Covey.

As Douglass described Covey's behavior and the way he punish slaves, it seemed to me that Covey was mentally ill. No other owner he had worked with before had these types of behavior. For example, one time he didn't comply with his orders, Covey actually ripped off Douglass' clothes and whipped him unlike any other time: "Upon this he rushed at me with the fierceness of a tiger, tore off my clothes, and lashed me till he had worn out his switches, cutting me so savagely as to leave the marks visible for a long time after." (Pg. 68). Covey knew why Douglass had not been able to do his job properly with the oxen and he still recurred to beating him in such a dehumanizing manner. It is true that all owners would beat their slaves for no good reasons, but there seems to be such a rage and anger in Covey that I didn't perceive in his past owners. Shortly after this Douglass states that he would be brutally beaten on a weekly basis just for being awkward: "During the first six months of that year, scarce a week passed without his whipping me. My awkwardness was almost always his excuse for whipping me." Douglass also describes how Covey would spy on his own slaves to catch them not doing their work properly and have an excuse to beat them up.

Edward Covey instantly reminds me of a character of the famous series Game of Thrones, Joffrey. He is just so full of himself just because he becomes King at a very young age. He would treat everyone brutally just for the fact that he was king and everyone else was inferior to him. He even beat his own mother on one occasion. This is just like Covey's behavior. Beating up his slaves just for the fact that they are black and according to the time's mentality, inferior to him.

The treatment Douglass receives during his stay with Covey eventually hits very hard on Douglass. The person that once had hope and energy was now gone. He says how the work was beginning to seem impossible for him to do, and how he would often end up with blood all over his body after he was beaten. As I read the chapter, I would say I also lost hope just as he did, but was then really surprised when he finally rises up against his owner in such a brave manner. I believe this chapter is just one more demonstration of how slavery is such an efficient tool at degrading the human being in the most cruel and disgusting way.

Blog Entry 1

Reading chapter 1 of this book was emotionally quite strong. It reminded me of the courage it required at that time to escape to the north and once you get there to actually speak in public against slavery. It was a taboo at that time to do such thing. I connected this to the people of North Korea who have to escape their brutal treatment and go to the South where they can live a free life. These people risk their lives when they do this, just like the slaves at that time. They are risking loosing their families forever and can also get severely tortured if they get caught.

After that, Douglass describes very graphically how his aunt would get beaten by her owner. He describes how she would scream in pain and bleed, and how that just made her owner even more hungry for that poor woman's agony. He tells us how hard it was for him to see someone suffer in such a way and not be able to do anything. I connected this when m great grandmother died of cancer. She was 93 and had a tumor in her pancreas. Pancreatic cancer is the most painful cancer of all cancers. The tumor would cause her excruciating pain that wouldn't go away with anything. On her last days in the hospital, it was very hard for me to see her suffer in pain so much and not be able to do anything to relieve it.