I was thinking about the things I've wanted today, and most of them are nothing major. In fact, it's pretty mundane stuff — a lot of first-world problems, if you will.
I wanted to lounge around in bed longer when I woke up this morning. I wanted the paycheck for the freelance project I did for an old client last week to be in my bank account (it wasn't). I wanted to order takeout instead of bothering with cooking (I've got Zaxby's on the way now). I wanted to look out and see that my pool water is blue (I've been fighting a big algae issue). I wanted to catch up on some laundry. I wanted the University of Georgia baseball team to win their College World Series game against the University of Texas tonight. I wanted the slugs to stop eating my sunflower seedlings in my garden.
While some of you may be facing bigger issues at the moment, I know most of your daily list of wants probably resembles mine in one form or another.
But as I was perusing the news today, trying to decide what I wanted to write about, a social media post from a Cuban woman humbled me quite a bit.
Violeta Velázquez Rodríguez voices what millions of Cuban people are thinking — what they want and need right now.
"No one seems to know when the suffering of the average Cuban will end," she begins. "I have never lived through a time as harsh as this. Things are — as the saying goes — 'hurtling downhill without brakes.' With the skyrocketing price of the dollar, food is becoming increasingly unaffordable, and misery grows at the same pace as the Cuban peso loses its value. No one is hitting the brakes. No one empathizes with the suffocation felt by the elderly — who receive a pittance of a pension — or by the professionals keeping the country afloat, whose salaries last only three days."
Velázquez Rodríguez goes on to explain that the Cuban people, like herself, do not want luxury. They want a basic life. According to her list, they specifically want:
- To not have to beg the government for handouts of "three pounds of rice and two of sugar."
- To be able to earn a decent wage.
- To go to a pharmacy and not find it empty.
- To be able to get eight hours of sleep.
- To have electricity for more than four hours a day.
- To have cold water to drink.
- To be able to cook without charcoal.
She goes on to point out that "improvement and negotiations are on the table," most likely referring to the fact that the Donald Trump administration is ready to bring change to the island, but the regime is not willing to play ball.
"It is time to swallow the slogans, change the narrative, and realize that this people deserves to live," she says. "These people are not merely 'resisting'; they are dying — exhausted, hungry, worn down, with physical and mental health at risk every day... It is time to change whatever needs changing. Swallow your pride, your sovereignty, and your 'Homeland or Death' rhetoric, and start making deals — because it is not fair for these people to live like this for even one more day."
Not only did this humble me, but that last paragraph, which is obviously (and bravely) directed at the regime, reminded me of what we hear far too much of in our country today, from people like Zohran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, and the others.
If only their supporters understood that this is what those "leaders" want for them, a list of wants that includes simply being able to drink water and get some sleep.
