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12/13/2004 Entry: "My duty to remain in Mexico and my right to complain!"
Why am I still here in Mexico, provoking some readers of my blog with spicy statements about their beloved country? Why am I not taking the first flight to Europe and finally enjoying a peaceful organized life amongst my fellow countrymen? I ought to answer these questions that have been asked directly or indirectly in so many comments. The matter is straightforward: I remain in Mexico for the same reason as the captain stands on the deck of his boat no matter how rough the seas are – because it is my duty.
In this day and age of worldwide near schizophrenic mobility, some people seem to have forgotten the meaning of the word “responsibility”. Nearly a dozen Mexican developers, my colleagues and friends, work in my company. An equal number of investors, private or institutional have believed in my dream (or so do I fancy believing) and plucked out their savings or taken the keys of their vaults to allow us to create better technology. All these people, and my business partner more than the others, rely on me. I simply can’t let them down, I must fight this battle until its bitter end or glorious success.
Perhaps I’m double faced like Janus, complaining loudly about the firecrackers exploding above my head at 3AM and depriving me of a welcome sleep last night, while quietly doing my duty every day. I’m not blind and I’m not willing to close my eyes on all the factors that hinder the economic growth of Mexico. Nobody can grow oranges in a salt lake, a fertile ground is needed for that feat. Likewise, my business and other endeavors from fellow entrepreneurs will have a hard time succeeding if Mexico as a whole doesn’t give them a more supportive environment. Would anyone argue that Mexico doesn’t need entrepreneurs? If you do, please do comment on my blog.
I’m not advocating a drastic solution of high import taxes like what Brazil used to protect and then sink its own IT industry in the 80s. This country must give itself the adequate economic tools and legal framework to reach its stated goal of promoting “creado en Mexico” as opposed to “hecho en Mexico”. Right now, and despite the best intentions, there is still a long way to go for Mexico to emulate the success stories of former under-developed countries like Israel (whose oranges exports far exceeded its technology sales no more than 20 years ago) or Taiwan.
Yes, I claim the right to express my shock and dismay at all the monumental examples of sheer stupidity that I see almost every day in Mexico. Firstly I like to complain, it makes me feel good, but more importantly I state realities that are all too often kept under wraps or denied. Agreed, I use a polemical tone and I do not refrain from attacking those “little somethings” that bother me on my daily life – I’m only human. Yet the purpose of my blog goes beyond a mere tribune to propagate my stiff-necked European views. It accounts for an experience that I believe to be original enough, convey a viewpoint that I have almost never seen elsewhere, making it in my mind a worthwhile use of my time. My little grain of salt that, perhaps, will convince some souls to view their country under a different light and join the utopian quest for making Mexico an oasis of high-tech SMBs.
