I had big plans for this post. I was going to talk about how I’m done with
standardized testing forever, or how hiking (and really just getting out of MIT
for a while) is wonderful, or how I spent stupid amounts of time in lab this
week, or how I completely killed my presentation (in a good way). This was going to be an action packed
post. But it came time to write it all
down, and I found that I didn’t really feel like writing any of those
things. There are a lot of things I’m
writing this week- I’m drafting the Results section of my ‘thesis’ (in quotes
because it’s a culminating paper, but not technically
a thesis), and I really, really need to get a draft of my Statement of Purpose
down. So when it came time to write
about myself (again) I wasn’t really keen on the idea.
While I was procrastinating, I decided to do my Spanish
homework. This week, we’re going to be
discussing a piece of writing by Eduardo Galeano, an Uruguayan journalist and
writer. The piece is an excerpt from a
larger work, and it’s titled “El Derecho de Soñar”, or “The Right to
Dream”. I really don’t feel like putting
my own words down on paper right now, so instead, I’m going to give you some of
my Spanish homework. I’ll copy the Spanish
below (because works should be read in their original language, if possible)
and then I’ll translate it, which is a portion of my homework for the week (but
you should probably read a professional translation also, if possible, because
I’m not great at translations (There's also a video here of the author reading the piece, if you'd like to listen to it in Spanish)). I’m not
sure how I feel about the entire piece, but parts definitely resonated with
me. There are some very powerful things
that Galeano says, even if they are mildly controversial. And honestly, art should be a little bit
controversial. There’s a great quote by
Cesar Cruz that says, “Art should comfort the disturbed, and disturb the
comfortable”. So, without further ado,
here’s a dose of comfort or disturbance for your week:
El Derecho de Soñar
Eduardo
Galeano
(Patas
arriba: la escuela del mundo al revés, 1998)
Vaya
uno a saber cómo será el mundo más allá del años dos mil. Tenemos una única
certeza si todavía estamos aquí, ya seremos gente del siglo pasado y, peor
todavía, seremos gente del pasado milenio.
Pero
aunque no podemos adivinar el mundo que será, bien podemos imaginar el que
queremos que sea.
El
derecho de soñar no figura entre los 30 derechos humanos que las Naciones
Unidas proclamaron a fines del 1948, pero si no fuera por él, el derecho de
soñar, y por las aguas que da de beber, los demás derechos se morirían de sed.
Así que vamos a delirar, deliremos por un ratito.
El
mundo que está patas arriba se pondrá sobre sus pies.
En las
calles, los automóviles serán pisados por los perros.
El aire
estará limpio de los venenos de las máquinas y no tendrá más contaminación que
la que emana de los miedos humanos y de las humanas pasiones;
La
gente no será manejada por el automóvil, ni será programada por la computadora,
ni será comprada por el supermercado, ni será contemplada por el televisor;
El
televisor dejará de ser el miembro más importante de la familia, y será tratado
como la plancha o el lavarropas;
La
gente trabajará para vivir, en lugar de vivir para trabajar;
En
ningún país irán presos los muchachos que se nieguen a hacer el servicio
militar, sino los que quieran hacerlo;
Los
economistas no llamarán nivel de vida al nivel de consumo, ni llamarán calidad
de vida a la cantidad de cosas;
Los
cocineros no creerán que a las langostas les encanta que las hiervan vivas;
Los
historiadores no creerán que a los países les encanta ser invadidos;
Los
políticos no creerán que a los pobres les encanta comer promesas;
El
mundo ya no estará en guerra contra los pobres, sino contra la pobreza, y la
industria militar no tendrá más remedio que declararse en quiebra por siempre
jamás;
Nadie
morirá de hambre, porque nadie morirá de indigestión;
Los
niños de la calle no serán tratados como si fueran basura, porque no habrá
niños de la calle;
Los
niños ricos no serán tratados como si fueran dinero, porque no habrá niños
ricos;
La
educación no será el privilegio de quienes puedan pagarla; ni la policía será
la maldición de quienes no puedan comprarla;
La
justicia y la libertad, hermanas siamesas condenadas a vivir separadas,
volverán a juntarse, bien pegaditas, espalda contra espalda;
Una
mujer, negra, será presidente de Brasil y otra mujer, negra, será presidente de
los Estados Unidos de América; y una mujer india gobernará Guatemala y otra,
Perú;
En
Argentina, las locas de Plaza de Mayo serán un ejemplo de salud mental, porque
ellas se negaron a olvidar en los tiempos de la amnesia obligatoria;
La
Santa Madre Iglesia corregirá algunas erratas de las piedras de Moisés. El
sexto mandamiento ordenará: "Festejarás el cuerpo".
El
noveno, que desconfía del deseo, lo declarará sagrado.
La
Iglesia también dictará un undécimo mandamiento, que se le había olvidado al
Señor:
"Amarás
a la naturaleza, de la que formas parte".
Todos
los penitentes serán celebrantes, y no habrá noche que no sea vivida como si
fuera la última, ni día que no sea vivido como si fuera el primero.”
The Right to Dream
Eduardo Galeano
(Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World,
1998)
One may want to know what the world will be like after the year two thousand. The only thing we know for certain is that if
we are here, we will then be people of the past century, and worse still,
people of the past millennium.
But even
though we can’t know what the world will be like, we can imagine well what we
want it to be like.
The
right to dream didn’t feature among the 30 human rights that the United Nations
declared at the end of 1948, but if it weren’t for this, the right to dream,
and for the water that it gives them to drink, the other rights would have died
of thirst. So if we’re going to dream,
let’s dream for a bit.
The
world that is upside down will be above its feet.
In the
streets, the cars will be crushed by dogs.
The air
will be clean of the poisons of the machines, and it will not have the
contamination that emanates from the fears of humans and from human passions;
People
won’t be driven by automobile, nor will they be programmed by computers, nor
will they be bought in the supermarket, nor will they be watched by the
television set;
The
television will be cease to be the most important member of the family, and
will be treated like the iron or the washing machine;
People
will work to live, rather than living to work;
In no
country will those who refuse military service be forced to do so, unless they
want to do it;
The
economists will not refer to the standard of life as the standard of
consumption, nor will they refer to quality of life by quantity of goods;
The
cooks will not believe that the lobsters enjoy being boiled alive;
The
historians will not believe that countries enjoy being invaded;
The
politicians won’t believe that the poor enjoy eating promises;
The
world will finally not be at war against the poor, but rather against poverty,
and the military industry will never again need to have a remedy for declaring
bankruptcy;
No one
will die of hunger, because no one will die of indigestion;
The
children in the street won’t be treated as if they were trash, because there
will not be children in the street;
The rich
children will not be treated as if they were money, because there will be no
rich children;
Education
will not be a privilege of those who can pay for it; nor will the police be a curse
for those who cannot buy them;
Justice
and liberty, Siamese twins condemned to live separately, will be together
again, stuck together, back to back;
A woman,
black, will be the president of Brasil, and another woman, black, will be the
president of the United States of America; and an indigenous woman will govern
Guatemala, and another, Peru;
In
Argentina, the crazy ones of the Plaza de Mayo will be an example of mental
health, because they will refuse to be forgotten in times of compulsory
amnesia;
The Holy
Mother Church will correct some of the errors on Moses’ stones. The sixth commandment will order: “Celebrate
your body”.
The
Ninth, which declares desire untrustworthy, will celebrate it.
The
Church will also declare an eleventh commandment, for those who have forgotten
the Father: “Love the natural world, of which you are a part”.
All of
the penitents will be celebrated, and there will not be a night that is lived
like it is not the last, nor a day that is lived as if it were the first.
