Never

Author: Leslie Díaz Monserrat | internet@granma.cu

February 9, 2020

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

Sometimes life is heavy. Problems sit on your shoulders, like a burden trying to sink you. In those moments, some hang up their hopes, sit in a corner of their own life and cover their face with their hands.

They don’t know it, but right then and there they have lost, because there is no sadder defeat than the one that comes after you stop fighting.

That’s why I admire the women in my family so much. I admire my mother and her integrity, that ability to stand up after losses, after the deepest pain, after so many things.

That is why I am proud of my country. This is because we have in our blood the lineage of men and women who never saw an option in the word surrender. Men and women who continue to fight, even when everyday life becomes complex.

I admire people who do not lie in bed and watch their problems devour them. I admire people who are scared out of their wits every day when they wake up.

In the end, that’s what life is all about, imposing oneself, drawing paths, not letting time go by without doing at least one good deed.

Life has the taste of the kisses you give, the warmth of the hugs, the color of the people who love you.

Life is built on the footprints you leave on others every time you help them.

Life is not about piling up things, awards, titles. There is an infinite pleasure in seasoning nostalgia with irreplaceable memories.

Life rewards those beings who do not bend to boredom, those who every morning inject themselves with high doses of energy and go out into the street and open the door of their car to those who wait at the bus stop, and give a medicine to those who need it and share a cup of coffee even with a stranger.

With these people, you can build a country, a family. These are the indispensable, necessary beings, those who never give up.