“What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”

-Pedro Arrupe

Friday, March 25, 2011

Open Veins of Latin America (Intro)

1. Do a little research on Hugo Chavez. Find out who he is and what he has done. After doing this, respond to the following question: Why do you think he gave President Obama this book?

I think Hugo Chavez realized President Obama was open to learn about their history. If President Obama gained an understanding of what happened in Latin America, he could step in and right many of the things that are wrong.

2. Galeano writes in his introduction, "[Latin America] continues to exist at the service of others' needs, as a source and reserve of oil and iron, of copper and meat, of fruit and coffee, the raw materials and foods destined for rich countries which profit more from consuming them than Latin American does from producing them." What examples from Guatemala can you provide that would serve as evidence for Galeano's words?

The coffee industry is huge in Guatemala. This has led to the finca system which was a big influence when it came to the civil war. The common worker gets paid enough to barely survive.
The workers get paid next to nothing, the finca owners get paid a little better, then the distributors of their product gets paid a lot more. Here the people working in fields are getting paid next to nothing while the people who sign a few papers get paid millions. It doesn't make sense.

3. Galeano writes on page 7. "Poverty is not written in the stars; underdevelopment is not one of God's mysterious designs." How does Catholic Social Teaching attempt to resolve this issue?

In Catholic Social Teaching they talk of something called, "Dignity of the Human Person." It pretty much means everyone is equal. In the quote above it is saying people aren't destined to live in poverty. If given the right opportunity they will be able to succeed just like anybody else.

4. Galeano finished on page 8, "History is a prophet who looks back: because of what was, and against what was, it announces what will be." What do these words mean? Why are they important?

History is something to look back on and figure out what went right and what went wrong. We can build off of previous events in our history to decide on how we will take our next step.

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