I was torn between the Americanness my mom wanted for me and the Mexicanness my father wanted - they were wrestling for cultural influence over me.
Luis Alberto UrreaRead
When I was doing missionary work when I was younger, which started this obsession of mine with the literature of witness, I was a translator for a missionary group, and I spent years in a Tijuana dump. People were really thrown by the fact that the Mexican poor, many of them pureblood indigenous people, seemed happy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the unexpected happiness of the poor, emphasizing the complexity of human emotions across different socio-economic backgrounds.
In this reflection, Luis Alberto Urrea shares his experiences as a missionary translator in a significantly impoverished area of Tijuana. He notes the irony that despite their dire circumstances, the indigenous people he encountered displayed a sense of happiness that surprised many observers. This observation challenges preconceived notions about wealth and happiness, suggesting that joy can exist independently of material conditions, highlighting the resilience of the human spirit and the richness of cultural identity.
Themes
HappinessPovertyHuman SpiritCultureResilience
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about poverty and the complexity of happiness.
More from Luis Alberto Urrea
All quotes →I came to believe the green fuse that drives spring and summer through the world is essentially a literary energy. That the world was more than a place. Life was more than an event. It was all one thing - and that thing was story.
Luis Alberto UrreaRead
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