Coin toss...

We have been home this week. It’s Holy Week here…mis-named in my opinion. Semana Santa is supposed to be observed with reverence and reflection of the week leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We live in a Catholic nation and as a result, most religious celebrations are centered around their beliefs and traditions. The following link has some great pictures and brief descriptions of some of the more unusual and interesting local celebrations. If you hold down your control key and click the address, it should take you to the website so you can read about these for yourself. www.vianica.com/go/specials/12-holy-week-nicaragua

We have seen a few signs of the more religious remembrances but due to our location, most of what we’ve seen has been much more secular in nature. This week is a great time of celebration with many businesses closing up, no school and massive amounts of folks head to the beach. This is also a week of parties, many of them involving alcohol…as if driving in Nicaragua wasn’t risky enough as it is…somehow adding alcohol to further impair judgment just doesn’t seem like the smart thing to do. I can understand why so many people want to go to the beach as the temperatures here are now uncomfortably hot…we’re in the time of upper 90s with the humidity climbing. I love the beach and wouldn’t mind getting wet by the waves…but not this week. I prefer to go when it’s basically deserted, like we’ve found it in the past.

There are a few main roads which lead from Managua to the Pacific and one of the major ones happens to be the same road that we take to Los Cedros. The road crew had been working on filling in the majority of the potholes on that road in anticipation of the increase of traffic during Holy Week. Regardless the reason, we’re thrilled that they were doing it as it has shortened our drive time back and forth to Los Cedros.

Even with the road crew patching, the holes aren’t completely filled in so there are still children standing alongside the road with shovels in hand. When they see a car coming, they quickly scoop up a shovelful of dirt and toss it into the hole, holding up one finger, asking to be paid a cordoba (the equivalent of 5 cents). Most folks don’t stop and I suppose I understand why, but most of the time, we do. We usually give the children each 1-2 cords, depending on how much change we have, plus a piece of candy. The majority of the children now look for our car with palms outstretched and smiles already spread.

It’s a hard call to make as to whether to give the kids the cords or not. It’s a poor area and although the kids aren’t really doing much in the way of filling in the holes (after all, if they did, they would put themselves out of a job), they are doing something other than just begging…or at least I’m trying to convince myself that they are. Admittedly, I have been taken to task before about this…and I completely understand the other side of the arguments which say it’s teaching the kids how to ask for money; it’s teaching them they can “earn” money without doing “real” work, it could very well be money misused. I understand all those things and I can’t argue them. I guess my only defense is it could also help buy a few more beans and rice to help fill some empty tummies. We’ve often had children yell “thank you” after us and one little girl flung out her arms and hollered in pretty good English…“I love you”…that was especially heartwarming for two ol’ softies to hear and it was well worth the 10 cents and piece of candy that it cost us. I’ll let God hammer me on this one if it’s not the right thing for us to do.

And when we have change, we’ll probably continue to pass it on…except to three little boys we see who regularly “work” together. We had given money to two of them several times before and although they weren’t overly appreciative, they were friendly enough. But then one day, a third little guy joined the two. He was sitting on the side of the road and not even pretending to toss dirt in to the hole as we pulled up. We gave the two boys who had been working the two cords apiece and immediately, the third one jumped up and asked if he could have some. I hesitated (and should have stuck with that first check in my spirit, but didn’t) but then dug around in the console. I didn’t have any more cordobas, but did have some of the smaller coins, which when added together, made up the same amount that the two other boys received. I gave the change to the third boy and he glanced at it, with a look of disdain on his face. Without even bothering to count the coins, he tossed them in to the weeds. Because there weren’t any cordobas in the batch, he thought the money was without value and tossed it. Mistake. I was shocked at his reaction and told him so…problem was I told him in English! Jim and I decided if he is able to be so choosy as to the configuration of his money, then he obviously isn’t in that much need.

And so we drive by the three boys now and no longer stop. It still pulls at my heart to see those outstretched hands, but we feel it would be wrong to reward that attitude. But…you know, when I think about it, that’s kind of how we all can be sometimes, isn’t it? When we receive something in life that isn’t exactly how we imagined it would be, sometimes, don’t we do the same thing and dismiss it as worthless…without bothering to examine it more closely. And just like that foolish little boy beside the road, we have chosen to be “cut off” from receiving any more. It makes me wonder what I’ve missed out on…and what I don’t want to miss out on in the future.

Maybe we need to try this coin thing again...after all, we serve a God of second chances (more like seventy times seven plus…but who’s counting?) and we should offer no less. Well, God’s done it again…taken me a different direction than where I thought I was heading with this…guess I better restock the console with change and candy for next week.