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One of my favorite songs of Celia Cruz says, “Alegranse porque nada mas te importa,” which translates as, “Be happy because nothing else matters!”  The melody is quite infectious and strikes the soul like an anthem.  I have been broke before and maybe a little saddened about the situation, but I knew I could rely on the strong voice of Celia Cruz to get me singing and dancing along to her music.  The song is probably an old Cuban classic but I have only heard her sing it.

I have had the great fortune to visit the island of Cuba twice;  once as an emissary of jazz and once as an Episcopal missionary.  While visiting, I could almost feel a sadness in the weight of the humidity but none of them talk about it.  I assume they are not allowed to speak freely to the tourists.  On the other hand, you can also see the pride and determination of the people by the way they walk down the street.

There are many reasons for being broke.  For Cubans, theirs is caused by a dictatorship and a trade embargo with the US.   This is called situational poverty.  They had nothing to do with their predicament (well maybe their ancestors did).

Situational poverty is nothing to be ashamed of, nor any other types of poverty for that matter.  The loss of a parent, a serious accident or illness, or a spouse’s misuse of funds can place you into situational poverty.  The debt or lack of money places you into a lower economic class; but this is generally something that you or your family can overcome in 5-10-20 years.

Being born into poverty is called generational poverty which again is really no fault of yours or your families, as each generation generally only rises to the next economic level.  There are those who are able to climb out of poverty and go right into an upper economic class but this is not common.

As a school teacher, I learned about the strengths and/or skills that come from poverty from a lecture by Ruby Payne.  It was entitled, “Understanding Poverty.”  Since I lost a parent as a child and experienced situational poverty as a youth, I thought I had a fairly good understanding of what it was like.  Also, I have lived and worked in third world countries providing services to the malnourished, illiterate, and destitute.

I was familiar with many hardships faced by the impoverished  but what I learned was empowering; I learned that you can classify poverty into categories and that often no one is to blame.  I also learned that when you are broke, you develop unique skills that the average person wouldn’t know how to do.  For example, she said…Would you know how to move all of your belongings with 24 hours notice if you were facing an eviction or seek shelter every nightfall if you were homeless.  I  do not agree with all of the items Payne addressed in her “hidden rules” but recognized some of them to be true for me.

I wanted to share this insight with you in case you are facing difficult financial times.  Celia Cruz wrote another wildly successful song titled, “La Vida es Un Carnival,” which translates as–Life is a Carnival. She sings how the bad moments are only for a little while and then they will fade away. Unfortunately, life is full of various travesties ranging from the horrendous to the just plain sad.  Therefore, stay strong and be happy because like the song says, nothing else really matters.

Sandra Annette Rogers,

[2] sandra@brokebutnotforlong.org

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