Living in Mexico City as a Canadian has opened my eyes to many, many different things. Some good, some bad, but mainly just how privileged we are as Westerners and how much we love to complain about the small things, myself included.
One specific difference between Canada and Mexico that I am now hyper aware of since living here, is just how much we (Canadians) in particular, tend to blow our own shit up and overthink every. single. little. thing. that happens in our day to day lives. Meanwhile, other people in other parts of the world (in this case, Mexico) have to deal with things like in-your-face shady politicians, extreme poverty in some parts, and a much higher crime rate, yet the amount of times that I have heard a Mexican friend or family member complain about the way things are in this country – zilch. Cero. No pasa nada, as they say.
Here I go complaining, again… ugh.
We (white) Canadians, for the most part — are tone deaf. The thing is, when you are privileged or come from a place of privilege, you have no real idea what it is like to actually struggle, and go up against hardcore things like mass corruption and crime. You go about your day, living your life, with no real thoughts about threats to your safety or livelihood, complaining about first world problems like the internet speed or having to wait in a lineup at Starbucks. For some reason, we as Westerners can’t get enough of sweating the small stuff. It’s exhausting. Oh there I go again!
I recently had an eye opening experience while living in Mexico City which has me taking a second look at myself and my reaction to the event. I will spare the details in efforts not to project a negative tone towards Mexico as a whole; Western news does enough of that for everyone. But it wasn’t a pleasant experience, and the whole thing kinda shook me and made me realize how small I am in this wild and vast City. I know that crime happens everywhere and it’s more blatant in bigger cities, and not just in Mexico either but in countries all over the world. However it is the reaction from those around me towards this particular event that has got me really thinking about the differences between Canadians and Mexicans. When bad shit happens to Mexicans, the overall consensus is “yah, that happened, and it happens more than you’d like to think.”, not because they don’t care about each other or their wellbeing, all the opposite – but because a.) yes, shit happens and b.) Mexicans don’t like to make a bad thing worse by reacting overtly negatively to it the way that most Canadians do. When bad things happen here, people ask “How can we learn from this?”. Mexicans do not make themselves out to be victims, even though many of them have been victimized just by living here. There is no jaw dropping or coddling, no cliché quotes when something negative happens here. The people of Mexico acknowledge that yes, things are not always perfect, but the general consensus is that life goes on and they will make a damn valiant effort to enjoy it to the fullest. As a melancholy Canadian, I find this very, very refreshing. What good does complaining really do about how crappy things are, anyway?
Life lesson no. 1001 as a Canadian living in Mexico.
This all has me thinking back to the general reaction from Canadians to the pandemic. The way that things were handled by most people were questionable, at best, and I felt as a country we dragged it out. To me, it seemed like Canadians were still choosing to lock themselves in their houses pointing fingers at who to blame for what, avoiding their lives, meanwhile the rest of the world were getting on with theirs. We became divided. You didn’t see that happen in Mexico. Partly because much of the population in Mexico didn’t have the luxury of receiving financial support from the government while locking themselves away, many Mexicans had no choice but to continue on, they had to work, to provide for their families regardless of what was happening outside their homes. But thats not all. People of Mexico chose not to see themselves as victims when COVID hit, the country came together instead of growing apart. It seems like people base their lives off of their beliefs up North, pushing their never ending opinions onto others, whereas Mexicans seem to abide by a live and let live policy, and when bad shit happens here they embrace one another, and then they move on. The overall feeling that I get from my Mexican family is that everything will be alright, regardless of what’s happening in the streets or in the government. The overall feeling I get from my Canadian friends & fam is that if shit goes down, it’s every man for themselves. In my opinion (and after all this is just my opinion) there is a fundamental difference in the way that Canadians and Mexicans choose to live and the way they handle the day to day challenges. Personally, I would much rather be where I am, with the people here in Mexico, surrounded by community and strength. I love my country, don’t get me wrong, but in the face of adversity there is comfort in knowing that those around me will find a way to unite and push forward.
I guess the lesson learned here is not to take everything so seriously, and to trust that life goes on despite how hard things may seem at the time. If I take anything away from my time living in Mexico it will be that.
