Costa Rica News – How can I begin to explain to others what Costa Rica means to me?
I think it lies somewhere between Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” and John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
The people live and act free for the most part, yet people are not free; not from hunger, not from poverty, or diseases, not from prostitution or abuse, not from nearly insurmountable barriers to leaving their poor neighborhood and making a better life for their children.
It is a constant struggle to keep the older children in school and learning when they see their families struggling so and they could get a paying job. But all were amazingly well behaved and well learned. They hunger not just for food or better shelter; they inhale learning and treasure every opportunity they are given.
Costa Rica is also about suspending current reality and imagining how it would be to depend on just your own resources and abilities to survive.
They do not fear hard work or even their futures. You can see it in the character of their faces, and in strength shining from their eyes. They have truly lived, worked, struggled and sometimes had great suffering. But they are programmed to be survivors.
Imagine all the people living for today and imagine all the people living in peace. I can now, because I have traveled to Costa Rica.
By Karene A. Nagel, http://qctimes.com/
