La Sala (the room) as cultural bridge

I went to an informal meeting of single Mexican American immigrant men who work in the fields near Pescadero, CA called LA Sala (the room) intended for socializing and sharing social resources.  I did this because I sometimes volunteer at Puente de LA Costa Sur in Pescadero, and la Sala is one of the things they told me about that I could use as a cultural observation.

Many of the 15 plus Mexican and central American single men who looked to be from about late twenties to late fifties are laborers that were bussed from the fields to the community church.  I found the meeting to be very welcoming warm, and full of a very positive energy.   The volunteers served traditional Mexican food to the immigrant laborers. One of the volunteers gave me a quick lesson on cultural and personal sensitivity, urging me strongly not to interview any of the men because many of them are intimidated by educated white men ad many have only a grammar school education and many have no formal education at all they are all pretty much illiterate to the point of not recognizing their own names. I was moved by how evocative, emotionally expressive the non-verbal communication was. It was a beautiful thing to see all this expressive open, vast happiness. Some of the men where quiet and some of the men were loud and boisterous but I could clearly see the emotions of each clearly expressed both in the talker and the receptive audience members.  

I only talked to a friend of mine in the group named Gabriel. We talked for a while. He kept saying things like thanks to god, and god willing. He rarely gives himself any credit. Gabriel is an incredibly humble man, who does a lot for many, many people. I learned a significant amount of information over a brief conversation and the whole time I observed him, the whole two hours I was there, he was quite abundantly and easily observably happy.

The part of the conversation that I will hold onto for a long time is our brief talk about work. I spoke of my observation that these men who had no material wealth what so ever to speak of, some of whom lived under tarps or in tents, seemed to be so effusively and tangibly happy. Gabriel said because they have work, since they have work they have each other, and they have life.” Talk about a revealing comment.  Its hard for me to believe this perspective, I am trying to be more receptive to all the non-materialistic perspectives, and I do believe that the best thing in life aren’t things, but to have next to nothing and celebrate life so abundantly is hard for me to integrate into my schema of gratitude in my daily living.

I learned a great lesson in cultural and personal sensitivity that not everyone has the basic privilege of a formal elementary school education, and I was reminded of the usefulness of nonverbal communication especially in terms of expressing emotion. Maybe we should all be give so much gracias a la vida, be so grateful for our work and for our lives.  This is a profound interculrutal bridge, we can all celebrate with each other or at least celebrate ourselves.