What is a Colombian?

A few days ago the Colombian Constitutional Court issued a sentence which is by far more a reason for joy than anguish*. It does not matter if we believe the current presidency to be the best or worst in our country’s history, neither does it matter if we believe a group of judges have or don’t have the right to invalidate what appears to be the “people’s voice”, nor does it matter if the sentence jeopardizes the policies put in place by our current government. What matters is that there are people reminding us our long term future can not be held hostage by not following the rules of the game. What matters is the strength of the foundations on which our society has been built, foundations which will set us free. What matters is our constitution, a framework that was built twenty years ago, and for which many of us fought and for which many of us died. What matters are the foundations that will let us build our country, because Colombia is not what our parents made of it, it is what we can make of it for our children.

It is not without reason that Colombians have come up consistently on top of the list of the happiest people on earth. It is ironic. It is an irony since are problems are deep and well known: lack of opportunities, an appalling gap between rich and poor, social inequality, lack of safety, underdeveloped infrastructure, etc. But it is not without reason because there is a strong common ground amongst our people that we can use to build a better future. We are headstrong and believe in our future, we always “smile in the face of the storm’, we try and try and try, we have fun even when there are no excuses for it, we honestly believe that out there, somewhere, there is something better for each of us. However, is disconcerting how at the same time we despair and believe we have to ignore the rules or our opportunity won’t come, how we always think our neighbor is just waiting for an opportunity to take advantage of us; how we believe we can offer a hand but must take full advantage of any offered one.

But how is this related to the sentence of the courts? Everything and Nothing. Nothing, because in Colombia we believe the government and its institutions are a different world, that they do not reflect our way of being; but also Everything because that is not true. The government is made up of people like any of us, people that will behave the same way we do every day. And that government is just another face of our reality, another image of our society. An image that tends to show the negatives rather than the positives, a face sometimes full of shame. But, at last, a government institution has told us the rules need to be followed if we want a future, that we cannot short-sell our long term future for short term gain, especially silly short term gain; that our future belong to all of us not only some cheaters of the system, that if we really want to do something important we must do it properly. The court reminded us we are forgetting what it means to be Colombian: being Colombian is not being a cheater of the system, being Colombian is making our way forward regardless of the obstacles, being Colombian is to cherish the values of our ancestors: the sanctity of our families, the fundamental importance of our work and our duty to be decent and responsible. Because believing ourselves happy is a characteristic of the majority, a majority that knows those values are there in spite of appearances. Now, our job is to rescue those values.

*As I believe most people won’t know, the Colombian Constitutional Court has declared unconstitutional the ability of an individual to become president for the third time. And, as surprising as it may be, it was because it made the People and bureaucrats follow the established rules.