Mentalidades Colonizadas

I was recently enjoying a beer at La Taberna Lúpulo with some friends, when in the middle of a conversation I made the drunken assertion that “inside of every Belief is a lie.” The conversation was in Spanish, but that single statement was in English. A few seconds later, a woman sitting at the bar asks me why I didn’t say it in Spanish. I responded with “porque no hace el mismo sentido en Español” to which she replied “no puedo con las mentalidades colonizadas como la tuya.”

That comment lit a fire in me that perhaps it shouldn’t have. Sobriety hit me with those words like a ton of bricks. Rather than sending her to the carajo she deserved to go off to, I asked her what she meant. She couldn’t answer me- only say that because I didn’t say it in Spanish, my mind had been colonized. She didn’t know whether or not I was Puerto Rican or an American who speaks Spanish (I’m both), she didn’t know a thing about my background. All she knew was that I made a single statement in English that wouldn’t make sense in Spanish, and that qualified me to have a colonial mindset.

I ignored her the rest of the night, but her words stuck, and I began asking myself, ¿Que define a una mentalidad colonizada? According to the Nobel Laureate at the bar that night, apparently in the context of Puerto Rico 2011 it’s a Puerto Rican who can at times express himself better in English than in Spanish.

That’s not right however, since if one traces history, Spanish is the original language of the colony we live in. Por ende, ser un puertorriqueño que domina el español también causaría a uno tener una mentalidad colonizada. So the language argument is a moot point.

Since then, I’ve begun to read the news (specifically local politicians) and pay more attention to what people have to say. Accuse me of being presentaó, but this issue was important to me. I needed to know, so that I could correct la Einstein later on.

What I’ve discovered is that the colonized mindset is most obvious in those who either insist on doing things in the way the colonizer does them, or in a way they would approve, perhaps as a way of seeking their approval. They do this without regard of whether there is a better way. They do this with a lot of lip service to appear loyal, but end up doing a half assed job. And in official duties, they won’t proceed without the approval of the colonizer.

I thought to myself, I’ve always done things my own way, and if it happens to coincide with how others do it, that’s great. And if not, even better. In the event which created this post, it just happened that I did it my own way.

So to the girl at La Taberna Lúpulo, you were wrong. Just like the statement which brought me to this thought process; there’s a lie in your belief.

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