Seven Cars for a House

A pastor we worked with in Xela wanted to show me his house one day. I didn't really understand because he lived in housing provided by a missionary, but I went anyway. After arriving I realized that construction had just finished on a rental property. I am a big fan of investing in real estate, and had nothing but praise for him and his decision to think about his future.

He answered the question so I didn't have to ask it. How did he get the money? He explained:

"In the past 10 years I have been given 7 cars by pastors in the States. They come down here on a trip and see that I don't have a car, so they buy one while they're here and give it to me. I drive it for a little while, but after not too much time I sell it. Then the next time a different pastor comes down, he does the same thing and buys me a car. The same scenario has repeated itself, and I have traded those seven cars for this house."

This is, obviously, blatant exploitation of the generosity of Gringos. I don't know whether to blame the pastor for lack of due diligence, the missionary who started the church (and was still paying the pastor's salary) for not giving the pastor the complete picture, or just blame the Guatemalan for everything.

A Culture of Selfishness

Ok, this might be a touchy subject, but once I understood it, I finally had an answer to the WHY question when we get frustrated with things here.

The culture here is selfish. People grow up and live their lives to look out for numero uno. It explains so much. This is so vastly different from the US foundation of Christian values, namely "Love your neighbor as yourself." I'm not exactly sure how the Guatemalans missed it. Maybe some of it is survival instinct.

Selfishness is why the buses rush and put everybody else either behind, or in danger. The driver in his mind is more important than you. For the same reason people skip ahead at stop lights or will blatantly skip you in line at the store.

Selfishness is what causes somebody to get a dog that they can't feed, and then let it run in the street because it would be too much trouble to keep penned up.

Selfishness is why people will borrow money from the Gringo with no intention of paying it back. It is why they will steal from the Gringo with no feelings of remorse.

Selfishness is why a father would rather get drunk than buy his kids shoes or school supplies.

Selfishness is what will keep Guatemala poor and a third world country. If everybody is only working for themselves, there can't be real teamwork, or helping each other move forward.

Selfishness is what happens when God is not in the picture. God is love, and LOVE is what motivates a person to put their own needs/wants aside and do something for somebody else without expectations of reciprocation.