By Lien Estrada
HAVANA TIMES – I returned to the luthier’s house to pick up my guitar, which he said could be fixed. He has varnished it, lowered the strings a bit because they were, according to him, too high, and has inserted a screw on the side of the arm that joins the body because it was clearly detached; this detachment could be the reason why the instrument couldn’t tune, and as you know, an instrument that can’t be tuned, can’t be played.
I trust the solutions he promises me because in Cuba, everything can turn into a miracle. For example, in any guitar program, it is said that once the union between the arm and the body is damaged, there is no possible repair, and you must buy a new guitar. And there are many cases like this. But on this island, we are experts in patching things up over and over again to extend the useful life of the things that accompany us or that we need.
For this reason, I happily returned to the luthier’s place and paid him with gratitude for the service provided. Perhaps due to carelessness, excitement, or whatever it was, I didn’t check anything exactly at the moment I should have. This is a fatal trait in my context because guarantees are few or nonexistent. At home, I realize that the original fingerboard of the instrument is no longer there; it has been replaced by another of no better quality, of course, and the strings, indeed, are much lower, but they still do not tune. Separately it is achieved, with chords it is not, which means that I still haven’t resolved the problem.
I complain. I have to complain. Because the issue is not only the my guitar experience. This adds to a long list, such as the repair of the laptop which, according to the technician, the problem was the microchip. It was bought and the “repair” paid for and the computer stopped working after two days. It’s the case when I took the frames to the state optical service to have them fitted with prescription lenses, and they returned them to me with the prescription, but without their nose pads (someone must have loved them).
You comment on this with your families and friends and similar events pour down. With the shoes you give to the cobbler, with the seamstress, the locksmith, the jeweler, the meals you have made and put the ingredients in, and they barely meet half of your expectations. Until you get the opinion of those who choose not to try any repair. To live with the resignation that whatever breaks, discard it, and try to get a new one through contacts abroad.
Another idea is that no, not everyone has those contacts, and wanting to get new things through unofficial channels is also risky because they swear to you that it is, and then nothing comes of it. The solution is to always go to friends of friends who esteem you, have a true emotional bond, and are convinced that they will respect you in the end regarding the equipment when repairing it. You won’t ask for discounts, just quality work, with guarantees.
The conflict arises when not everyone has that friend at the dentist’s, in gastronomic centers, schools, hospitals, in all the centers that a society generates for its proper functioning. There is the eternal optimist who encourages you and suggests relying on the friend of a friend of a friend… But without references, don’t make any efforts, because it’s useless; inevitably, you will lose.
So, one wonders, how to maintain a good mood, self-esteem, aspire to mental health, have a balanced life… if wherever we look, there is corruption in this socialist land? How to regenerate ourselves as human beings in a society where challenges multiply from the economic, social, political, cultural spheres? Will that constant, persistent, daily wear and tear not bring terrible consequences for everyone, even for those who do not attach much importance to it?
When the Government is called upon, as it is in so many ways, to create a viable economic project to address the current chaotic situation, it is not precisely a counterrevolutionary cry, or one oriented by Yankee imperialism. It is an imperative reality that overwhelms us beyond what is conceivable, and a solution has to emerge as soon as possible. Building hotels and exporting doctors and other professionals cannot be the only alternative because it has not been that. Unless it is only benefiting the leadership of the Communist Party of the country, and that seems sufficient to them.
A radical change is imperative in the country. And that’s what has been talked about for a long time. I hope it will be understood soon.
Read more from the diary of Lien Estrada here.
