By José Dominiguez, December 12, 2019 — My mom’s name was Luz and she had an only younger sister named Julia.
Julia was a widow who made a living renting rooms to students at the capital city of Chihuahua. We were living in the city of Juarez but the most important schools were in the capital city, so my father decided to send me to study secondary school at a very traditional Catholic school. In those days I was 12 years old. As soon as I arrived at my new “home,” I noticed that my aunt was not my mother, that my residence was a small room that I shared with my brother Victor. But that’s “pecata minuta.” The main thing [was] that I was spoiled and my aunt had no heart, time, or patience to pamper my umbilical cord. So I adapted to my reality to survive as Darwin stated wisely. There was no problem with the food that was super plain and scarce. There was not a problem with the use of the bathroom. I only had to use much less water and [have] less time to please my physiological needs.
The real new condition was to face my intelligent and belligerent aunt day-to-day. She always insisted vividly that we, my brother and I, were spoiled and that for that reason we were unable to understand the needs of other people — in this case, her needs. She was so clever to put us in the contrary position. For example, if I left my clothes on the floor she [would] say: “Sorry I’m not your servant, perhaps in your house, you don’t do anything but you are so many that it’s impossible for me to be your servant.” It was sound logic. But for a 12-year-old [who was] timid, gentle, introverted, and spoiled it was a horrendous confrontation that I would not ever hear from my nice and sweet mother.
I don’t have time for more examples but at the least, I learned to treat my Aunt Julia with respect. But at the same time, I learned that in order to understand other people [you] have to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. And that’s what I did with brutal efficiency. And now I acknowledge she [taught] me a lot but at the same time, she supervised my life details like no other person [since].