I am often asked, with some incomprehension and almost with pity, why I am proud to be from the neighborhood, and today I want to explain it.
For me, being from the neighborhood is a way of life, an attitude, a feeling of belonging and solidarity. Being from the neighborhood is recognizing that no one is a foreigner, that everyone has a place, that we treat our fellow citizens as equals because we are not above anyone, nor are we better than anyone, we are just one more.
Being from the neighborhood is living in a mythical, perfect territory, the one I want to recover because it refers us to values such as honor, loyalty, and simplicity. A space where you can be happy. The neighborhood identifies us, roots us, and treats us all equally. Being from the neighborhood means that you know the neighbors, that you interact with them, converse, argue, make peace, laugh, and cry.
Being from the neighborhood is living in a place where there are small businesses, where you greet Antoñito, the one from the oil and vinegar store, by his first name, Amelia, the butcher who with her modest resources has been able to save and has sent three children to study abroad, Frasquito, the lifelong baker who was already there when you were born, Ana, the one from the fruit shop, who had a traumatic adolescence because of a bad, abusive boyfriend, but who has rebuilt her life... And when you get home and you have forgotten to buy lentils to make the stew, you send your son for a moment to the store downstairs and you will pay him tomorrow. And having coffee in a bar where, as soon as you walk in the door, they are already preparing it for you because they also know how you like it.
It means worrying if you don't see that elderly neighbor you greet daily and he hasn't shown any signs of life for two days, and finding out if he is okay or if he needs something. Being from the neighborhood is letting your children go out to play in the street with their sandwich and with the neighbors' children. Knowing that if you need something, there will always be someone who will help you.
Being from the neighborhood is being from all the neighborhoods and living in a place where there is life. It is something honorable.
They ask me, with some incomprehension, why I am proud to be from the neighborhood, and it is a poorly posed question, the answer is why don't you want to be from the neighborhood, if it is something wonderful.
Abigail González is a Culture Councilor for the Canarian Coalition in the Arrecife City Council... And from the neighborhood.