Here is the question that I have been avoiding while writing this series: How does an entire society, disabled by collective trauma, find healing? I asked this question a lot while in Bogota. I talked to people, watched, observed, listened. One thing stood out above others: the widespread apathy fed by despair of things ever getting better that seems to have paralyzed a lot of Colombians. Now I have only a tiny sample of people I have spoken to and heard from but it still squares with some of my observations.
I mentioned several times in my travel blog that Colombians seem very focussed on their immediate concerns. When they are behind a steering wheel they tend to drive like they're on crack (in Vancouver they drive like they're on Valium). Very little care or attention is given to other drivers or pedestrians. It is every one for him/herself. On the other hand someone from Venezuela who has spent time in Bogota tells me that compared to Venezuelans Colombians are as well mannered as upper class Brits, so it's all relative.
There seems to be in Bogota a very interesting split in people's personalities. Publicly they are often like absolute boors with neither interest nor regard for the comfort, wellbeing or safety of others. They raise their voices in quiet places such as internet cafes and think nothing of bumping into others or jumping ahead in line without so much as a "perdon" or "disculpa." In all fairness however I never saw anyone in Bogota try to move ahead of me in a line (this could be more of a Venezuelan phenomenon). This is simply a public face that appears to be a necessary evil for coping in a hostile or indifferent and very competitive environment.
Up close and personal I have found Colombians to be profoundly different: very gracious, polite, kind, generous, warm, endearing and charming. While coping with equally rude motorists and pedestrians in Bogota I often tried to hold in my mind this image of the lovely up close and personal Colombian. It was actually helpful.
The pressure to get ahead of life, to succ3ed or simply even cope with the daily pressures of life and the limited social infrastructure must be for people who live in Colombia and, worse, in big cities such as Bogota, very difficult and stressful. As well as the fifty years plus of near civil war conditions thanks to FARC and the paramilitaries along with the drug wars of the eighties and nineties, Colombia like many Latin American countries has been historically hobbled by dictatorship, marginal and corrupt versions of democracy, social inequality and centuries of oppressive hierarchy fostered by the Roman Catholic Church, the state and the cultural inheritance of Medieval Spain.
Perhaps we should above all marvel that this country has done so well despite the odds against making real progress. I have noticed that many Colombians are becoming more interested in human rights, democratic and social reform and protecting the environment. Many progressive reforms have been and are being enacted in Bogota thanks to very creative and forward thinking mayors. There appears to be an increase of university education for young Colombians (who outnumber senior citizens by almost ten to one). Also the ready availability of information through the internet and global interconnectedness is helping to create and build a much more savvy and sophisticated society.
I have also touched on the growing number of Colombians, especially among the young, whom, relatively unscathed by the conflict and historical corruption in their country, are forging ahead in life with incredible resilience and energy. They, if anyone in their country, will hold the key to healing the wounds of collective trauma and stress.
So, what is stopping them? It could be, first of all, that this process is already moving forward for them. I do feel concern, however, that many of the younger Colombians I have spoken to seem vastly more interested in securing their own professional and financial future than in really doing much to help the less fortunate and socially and economically marginalized people in their own country. I think there are many reasonable obstacles to this.
There is still the historic legacy of social inequality that never seems to quite go away from Latin American societies. There is too, of course, the current inequality that because of a lack of needed social services and other government funded programs, remains firmly entrenched. As well, attitudes towards the poor are often very slow to change. I did catch some indications of the unjust stereotypes that middle and upper class Colombians appear to hold towards the lower classes: they are lazy, they are irresponsible, they are only interested in partying and getting drunk, they have no ambition. Really what they fail to see or appreciate is the utter desperation to survive and that this in itself is going to hold many people back from improving their lives.
There is also a woeful lack of good progressive mental health and addiction services. If so many Colombians have been affected by widespread violence and threats on their lives then one would ask what kind of help, if any are they getting? There is a widespread belief that I think is a myth that there is very little mental illness in Latin American countries. I would tend to wonder if really what they have is an awful lot of denial. Or it could also be argued that in North America the mental health elite is only too quick and too eager to diagnose and find mental illness where it doesn't necessary exist, and largely for the sake of selling pharmaceuticals. The truth may lie somewhere in between.
Finally, more, much more could be done to encourage many Colombians to change their attitudes, especially towards the less fortunate in their country, to let go of untrue and negative stereotypes, to begin to see them as being human and equal to them. There are obstacles to this, some of them historical and cultural, others for lack of a sound ethical framework or a moral compass. And here is the rub: how does one encourage and help others to acquire a moral compass?
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