It's Sunday morning, low-traffic day, as usual, which also means that there are empty spots to park downtown. However, a typical Venezuelan driver decides that in order for him to buy some engine oil he needs to block the road. He stops his car right in the middle of the street (could not catch that moment in the picture, but this was the exact spot).
In Venezuela, as a result of the economic crisis, many people have found ways to procure themselves an income selling just about anything in the streets. One possible advantage of living in this chaotic country is that laws and regulations have been relaxed, partly to allow people to do what the government, despite the constitutional mandates, is unable or unwilling to do. The downside of this is that just about anyone abuses any commonsensical or enacted rule.
So, here I am, leavign home to make some Sunday grocery shopping and the first thing I find is a road-rage scene starring an old man who is calling a young man's attention for having blocked him.
"If there weren't any sport on the roadside, I would understand," the old man yelled. "You could have driven just a couple of meters ahead, park, get your oil, and let the traffic flow," he added.
The man in the car blocking the street kept ignoring the old man. He finished his transaction and the family who sells oil in this part of the street started to make fun of the old man. The woman laughed, her son laughed and her husband laughed too.
There we had a typical Venezuelan family teaching the next generation how breaking any rule is ok and how demanding your rights is a joke.
The worst part of this story is that the man behind this improvised engine oil stablishment is or was (I have not seen him recently wearing the uniform) a national guard.
One has to have the patience of a sloth to live in this country. That kind of idiosyncrasy most Venezuelans feel proud of, that easygoingness, is precisely what makes any significant improvement of our condition nearly impossible. We refuse, as a society, to do what it takes to overcome this barbaric state. One of the most efficient tricks the regime has implemented is to allow (to the extend that they do not represent a threat to their rule) anyone to break the law, corrupt or be corrupted. It's like a venting mechanism that people use to compensate for all they lack.
Millions of children are growing up seeing their parents disrespect their elders, their neighbors, and the law. To fix this is going to take time and uncompromising efforts.
Thanks for stopping by
Seems like a sad situation.
In other news, I read on here somewhere that there was some sort of Venezuelan Blockchain convention or meeting, and part of it was in Cumana. Did you get to attend that?
EDIT: It is Caracas Blockchain Summit and this post talks about it:
https://peakd.com/hive/@hiveio/hive-blockchain-summit-and-the-caracas-blockchain-week-to-bring-a-flurry-of-hive-activities-to-venezuela
The "tour" part is coming to Cumana over the next 3 days.
I also see that stores accepting HBD for payment in your area are doing a steady or increasing volume of business which seems to be a good thing.
Wishing you and yours all the best! :)
Hi, @kenny-crane
How have you been?
Yes, I've read about the Caracas meet. There have been small ones here in Cumaná. I've missed them due to work, but I am gladly surprised the blockchain has been growing so fast and so steadily. There are quite a few places now, from cafes to hardware stores accepting HBDs or Hives. It's just a wonderful thing despite, or probably due to, our conflicting economy.
There are a few "wonderful things" out there which we're glad to see on the positive side of the spectrum to maybe offset a little of all the negative things we come across so often.
I'm fine, been busy with my MetaRobots private metaverse still in testing but I have a nice little group to catch my programming mistakes! And also I made the @tokenfaucet account on here where I give away free tokens. Drop by if you want some! :)
Cool. Don't know much about it, but I can check that out.
That's really sad to hear. I always enjoy reading personal stories like this. There's so many things that the conventional media don't cover and perspective like this helped balance it out.
Thanks. It is sad indeed, especially because social media, which could have become a massive alternative press, has been trivialized mostly by people who could not care less by these seemingly harmless details. We have a motorcycle workshop next door. It was illegally established in an urban area that doe snot allow (legally) that kind of businesses (downtown, not enough room, highly polluting, etc). However, there's not a single instance you can go to denounce this; it does not matter the health of elders is at risk. "Everyone has the right to work," they say. Among the regulars clients of these mechanics are police officers who obviously do not see the problem with an establishment that does not meet any safety requirement, most likely does not pay taxes (not a single doc displayed showing otherwise), and has turned the block into a pigsty.
People got used to live among bad smell, noise, and trash. It got normalized. Whoever notices and complains is a snub.
Muchos estamos claro de la situación política (falta de poder del ciudadano), la marginalidad (que pica y se extiende) e idiosincrasia nefasta (no hay ciudadanía consciente) son los tres pilares del desastre de país que tenemos. El problema es que seguimos apostando por una representatividad que al final nunca nos representa. La democracia tiene que repensarse para que no sea solo eleccionaria y partidista (que ya está decadente) sino personal con ciudadanos empoderados, aunque solo sean tres pelagatos.
While there is a fine line between lawlessness and organization, one where you have to figure out what things make sense to bring forward and what is just oversized government foolishness, it can be challenging transitioning away from some of the foolish stuff of recent mistakes. I hope that Venezuela gets back to a semblance of proper order!