day of the dead

much for the enjoyment of perro, we put up pictures of el enmascarado de plata in our day of the dead altar. in spite of our announcement that the altar was built in honor of the victims of hurricanes wilma and stan in mexico and central america, cantinflas, frida, and diego were also saints of our devotion. but neither the photos of el santo and our much beloved mario moreno nor my posters that read "47 cents is enough to feed one child in southern mexico and central america for one day... 20 dollars is enough to feed one entire family for a week" were enough to touch the hearts of passersby.

in almost 6 hours, we collected about 60+ dollars of donations. and beinecke plaza, where we were located, is one of the most transited areas of yale. the responses did not vary much: "i have no cash on me," i don't have any money," "i forgot my wallet." do these people really think that we believe that? i know that's the usual answer people give to the homeless and beggars. but this is different...

or is it not?

anyway, it still strikes me that most of the money i have collected comes from people in (or with strong links to) developing countries. friends, acquaintances, and passersby from the rich countries either ignored or were indifferent to our request. it's like being in a doha round of negotiations but at a micro level, with regular people and on a random day. so, if the "average" joe in one of the most selective schools in the world, where education levels are amongst the highest one can find anywhere else, and where awareness of the issues in the third world is more than that of the average person from a developed country, what can we expect from the populace? what can we expect from their leaders?

now, it is true that media coverage of these disasters in southern mexico and central america was poor, given that the major news agencies were more worried by the possible effects that "the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the atlantic" might have in florida a couple of days after it hit the caribbean. but do we really need a tsunami-like disaster to agree to donate ONE DOLLAR? have we become this selfish?