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FROM
CUBA
Notes
on a crisis
PINAR DEL RÍO, Cuba, August (www.cubanet.org)
- "The Cuban family is in crisis," a
colleague commented several days ago as we were
reflecting on the Cuban family. We realized that
the problem of the family is joined to the misfortunes
we endure.
The divorce rate is rising in an alarming fashion.
Parents, children, brothers and sisters, aunts
and uncles, nephews and nieces are breaking apart,
severing destinies. From a young age, young people
are sent to the schools in the countryside, thanks
to the policy of the state. The eye of the relative
becomes cloudy by the distance. The tutelage is
left adrift. The children are growing up without
the example of home.
Several days ago I learned of the death by suicide
of the daughter of a neighbor. The girl was studying
at a pre-university school in the country far
from the city. She made a decision to kill herself
because she was pregnant. The mother explained
to a neighbor that she knew nothing about her
daughter's pregnancy, and that they barely saw
each other. The frequency of the student's visits
home was every fifteen days. But sometimes she
didn't come home for months. The mother said it
was more convenient to stay at the school due
to the difficulties with transportation.
The crisis of the Cuban family has various angles.
Brothers and sisters are cleaved by a cut of the
sword of personal ambitions. Scarcity reigns supreme
and there are very few who want to share what
they succeed in obtaining.
In the past you hardly arrived at a relative's
home and you were already invited to lunch or
dinner without any words. It was all a ritual
of peace and harmony. Now it's difficult for a
relative to invite you. There is so little that
shame is felt in sharing it. The reality is very
sad.
Cuba struggles in the midst of an absurd system
that doesn't take notice of the tragedy of the
divided family. The cornerstone of any system
is the family. The Cuban leadership ignores it.
Such are things that among the enormous shortages
imposed on us, we are burdened with the punishment
of losing our own. We ponder impotently over the
verses of the holy scriptures: "The children
will deny their parents."
The terrible thing is we can be left without
the shoulder of the relative that supports us.
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