Modesty Above All Else Means Saying No In Order To Say Yes

modesty above all else juanofwords

¡¿Pero para que van a gastar tanto dinero?!

Pero si aquí hay comida.

Acabo de poner un arroz y frijoles.

Nombre van a gastar bastante y a mi ni me gusta la comida en esos restaurantes.  

El arroz siempre esta bien seco.

¿Para que vamos a comer arroz seco?

Para comer arroz seco mejor aqui ponemos una olla de frijoles.

Con unos nopalitos y un hevito.

Yo me voy a echar unos nopalitos bien ricos.

¡Ay! Pero van a gastar mucho dinero.

Bueno… pero yo no voy a comer.

It’s not that my mother doesn’t appreciate the gestures.  She does.  Only that she’s from a generation that was taught modesty is better than arrogance.  That it is always better to give than to receive.  That when there is only one last tortilla left and more than one mouth to feed you always say you’re not hungry no matter how much your tripas may be gruñendo-ing.  That’s what she has always done.  Always putting all of us ahead of her own needs and/or desires.

Eventually though we always convince her.  One other thing you should know about my mother, you see, is that she can’t ever say no to her children… much less to her grandchildren.

2 thoughts on “Modesty Above All Else Means Saying No In Order To Say Yes

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *