Yamile sent me a very asserted post over at CaDs Online today that got me to think a lot about the state of my country… I suggest you read it when you have the chance to do so, since my fellow blogger sums up the point quite nicely, wrapped around a Rambo knife of truth: Panama, as a society, is fucked. I wish I could just translate what CaDs said but instead I’ll just tell you what I think about this whole thing: the only way a society can rid itself of what makes it ill is to fight it from the inside. This “Juega Vivo” culture is inherent in every society, something as certain as death and taxes. There’s no really definitive way of describing it without me going on some tirade on a Panamanian’s capacity to be a royal dick and there’s even less of a term or definition in english that could put you non-spanish speakers in the loop… let’s see. It’s a “me-first” type of culture. Our attitude is always of looking out for number one, of seeing what I can get out of any given situation and if I have to screw over someone to get to that which I want then so be it. You see it in every aspect of Panamanian society; that’s why there are so many ridiculous traffic jams, why the government is near impossible to deal with, and why there’s so much distrust and double-crossing in Panama. It’s a snowball effect that began God-knows-when and it’s managed to roll itself down the hill for years up to the point where you have to stab back just so that you’re not completely overtaken by people who think they’re smarter than you. I’m sure you’ve heard of this occurrence in wherever you are at the moment but I think Panama is the only country in the history of the universe where stuff like this is so much the norm that I sometimes feel like I’m living in a satire of what my country really is, which is a blooming, beautiful place where everyone is hard working and we’re the most technologically and socially advanced member in Latin America… and in may aspects I believe I’m right, but it’s just that one little thing that gets in the way of Panama becoming what it truly is deep inside… a country that we would like to live in.

I’ll spare you the lecture on how great Panama is because a) there are others in the blogosphere already doing that for me and b) I don’t think you’re here reading my heap just so I let this issue off the hook easily. I believe you could sum up “Juega Vivo” culture with the numerous posts I’ve written in the Panama Tourist Guide section of the site. If you read those post and see how we as Panamanians operate you’ll notice how lazy, party-loving and get-rich-quick we tend to be. This attitude has become a part of who we are, and we’re internationally known for it. It’s hard to outsmart a Panamanian (that knows what he’s doing, mind you), so imagine what it must be like when you’re in a country full of them! I used to have this magic cell phone, for example… people who know back from high school might remember it but those who know me from a couple of years back until now probably don’t so here goes: what is Movistar right now used to be Bellsouth wireless communications… I have a friend back from my days doing black-op moderating in the Latinol forums that I met through there and had an operator job inside the Bellsouth wireless network built in Panama. To this day I can’t really explain what it was that he did for that company exactly but I know it was a position that allowed him to see the configuration of the accounts inside the network (think of “accounts” as phone numbers of the people subscribed to the service) and he offered me this sweet-ass deal: my cell phone account, a number I forget at this time, was in the Bellsouth network, and because of that he could get in there and change my minutes plan (when I first took it out I had this 150 minute deal) so that the network wouldn’t be able to see the calls I make and only the ones I received.

Infinite minutes, ladies and gentlemen.

I juiced the hell out of that phone the next few years until I lost the phone at a party and had to cancel the phone just in case someone stole it. After that I had to get a new number (the one I have to this day) and came back to the mortal land of cell phone calls, capped at 250 minutes. Considering that there were months where I’d tally over 1,200 minutes in calls made to all over the country, that cap was downright crazy. I managed to deal with the cap and it’s the one I have today but for the love of Marley, man… the point I’m trying to make with this is that Panama works like this: if you need something done, the first thing you do is take a look at your address book and see who you know. A good Panamanian has a friend for everything. A lawyer, a doctor, someone with a beach house, a rich fellow that doesn’t mind spending a few extra bucks on you, a stripper/whore, a traffic cop, someone from the government, and so on and so forth. It’s all about how well conected you are when it comes to Panama. The funny thing is that even though Panama is so small and, by logic, building a solid social network should be a piece of cake you still have certain groups of people that don’t mingle with others and other forms of segregation that, when you think about it, it’s pretty ridiculous considering we live in a country that’s essentially a really big town. I commented on CaDs’ post at his blog and the point I made over there is the same one I want to tell you here and now: This poisonous culture, one we’ve been both victims and executioners of, is so embedded in our society that it’s become somewhat of its backbone… it’s so inherent that getting rid of it completely will require many generations to pass. It sounds like a very daunting task and worthy of giving up on the country and setting sails for other, more forgiving latitudes, but if we want the country to change its attitude then we have to start from within. Panama has everything going for it; it’s the people who shoot everything to hell with their “me-first” attitude, and for the looks of it there’s a lot of work to do. It’s going to be hard, too; it’s bad enough that when in traffic you have to drive offensively because if not you’ll never get anywhere in Panama City for you to start being polite in the hopes that other drivers will follow suit. It’s easy to sink back in, I’ll admit. The effort has got to be made, though…for the sake of the country’s prospects in the form of progress, both in industrialism as in its own society, we’ll have to suck it up and fight the stronger, wilder wave of ignorance we’ve got to stand against. If you have children, please make them the best people they can be. Teach them so that they’re strong, noble and with great hearts and minds… not scoundrels. Panamanians have scoundrels hidden deep inside them and there’s nothing we can do about them.. we’re just going to have to keep that part of ourselves in check, for the sake of our future generations.

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