Seria Lo Correcto?/Would It Be Right?

Original Spanish Version (English Translation Below)
Autor: Colibri Libre
Hay una típica frase “nunca sabes lo que tienes hasta que lo pierdes”, y a ahora que estoy a miles de millas de mi país, he conocido lo que he pedido. En nuestro país nadie nos dice la importancia de tu cultura, y tampoco hay una perspectiva a nivel global.

Mi país es El Salvador. Si has oído de él seguramente es solo su mala reputación, su violencia, y su corrupción. Cuando vine a Estados Unidos llegue hasta sentir pena cuando me preguntaban de dónde venía y de qué país era. Luego me di cuenta de su valor y de toda su belleza y cosas buena. Al saber todo eso, sentí pena conmigo misma, por una vez odiar mi pais.

El Salvador, un país verde con sus montañas y sus volcanes latentes. Unas playas con arena fina que son más que disfrutables. Esa humilde época de la corta de café donde almorzábamos con frijolitos y un huevo en torta. En esa calor y hambre era todo un manjar. Eso era vida y mientras descansábamos sentados bajo la sombra de algún árbol. Me pregunto si esas personas que van al Starbucks, saben cómo luce un árbol de café y su fruto. Me pregunto si valoran todo el trabajo y el proceso para que el café llegue ahí hasta sus manos. Entenderan la mano de obra barata que se le paga a esas personas? Donde migajas es la paga de una persona que ha cortado cienes de libras de ceresas de cafe. Pero bueno, espero que un dia entenderan que el proceso de tener una taza de café es bien largo, duro, y basado en la inequidad y injusticia.

Cómo olvidar los árboles de mango cuando luchábamos para poder cortar uno del árbol. O los naranjos!!! Cómo olvidar esos paisajes detrás de mi casa. No necesitábamos viajar tanto para poder ir a una zona verde. Pero lastimosamente no lo apreciamos porque no sabemos lo que tenemos. No hablemos de ríos, libre de darse un chapuzón. Y a la hora de comer donde todos estábamos reunidos.

En la clase de Estudios Sociales nunca entendí de la conquista de América. Pensaba que era algo bueno. No entendía mi identidad esta basada un una historia dolorosa y llena de sangre. Cuando mis maestros me decían sobre los conquistadores que vinieron a saquear todo, matar a mucha gente indígena y a obligarlos a olvidar su cultura yo no creía, porque eso estaba en los libros. Ahora que estoy en Estados Unidos entiendo eso perfectamente porque eso paso aqui tambien con su gente indigena.

Pero lo mas poderoso que he aprendido y entendido es que para crecer sanamente, tienes que estar sujeto y apoyado muy bien a tus raíces y así elevarte como un árbol saludable para dar buenos frutos. Pero aún así debemos cultivar y seguir enseñando que nuestra cultura es algo que le tenemos que tener orgullo.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Would It Be Right?
Author: Colibri Libre
There is a typical phrase "you never know what you have until you lose it", and now that I am thousands of miles from my country, I have come to know what I have lost. In our country, no one tells us the importance of your culture, nor is there a global perspective.

My country is El Salvador. If you have heard of it, it is surely only its bad reputation, its violence, and its corruption. When I came to the United States, I even felt sorry when people asked me where I came from and what country I was from. Then I realized its value and all its beauty and good things. Knowing all that, I felt sorry for myself, for once hating my country.

El Salvador, a green country with its mountains and dormant volcanoes. With beaches with fine sand that are more than enjoyable. That humble season of picking coffee cherries where we had lunch with frijolitos and an egg inside a bread. In that heat and hunger was a delicacy. That was life, and while we were resting we were sitting under the shade of some trees. I wonder if those people who go to Starbucks know what a coffee tree looks like and its fruit. I wonder if they value all the work and the process so that the coffee gets there up to their hands. Do they understand the cheap labor that is paid to these people? Where crumbs is the pay of a person who has picked hundreds of pounds of coffee. But hey, I hope one day  they will understand that the process of having a cup of coffee is long, hard, and based on inequity and injustice.

How to forget mango trees when we were fighting to be able to cut one from the tree. Or the orange trees!!! How to forget those landscapes behind my house. We did not need to travel so much to be able to go to a green area. But unfortunately we do not appreciate it because we do not know what we have. Let's not talk about rivers, free to take a dip. And at lunchtime we were all together.

In the Social Studies class I never understood the conquest of America. I thought it was a good thing. I did not understand my identity is based on a painful history and full of blood. When my teachers told me about the conquistadores who came to loot everything, kill many indigenous people, and force them to forget their culture I did not believe, because that was in the books. Now that I am in the United States, I understand that perfectly because that happened here also with its indigenous people.

But the most powerful thing I have learned and understood is that to grow healthy, you have to be grounded and supported very well to your roots and thus raise yourself as a healthy tree to bear good fruit. But still we must cultivate and continue teaching that our culture is something that we have to have pride in.