Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there will it lie

My father sent me this in an email. It made me smile. It’s attributed to Gabriel García Márquez. I cannot verify whether or not that is true, but I can tell you, the words below do ring true if you’ve ever met a Puerto Rican. If you haven’t, this is what is in store for you.

There is nobody who does not know a Puerto Rican, or at least knows someone who knows a Puerto Rican.

Anyway, once a wise teacher said:

What is a Puerto Rican?

His response was ah, Puerto Ricans … that difficult question! Puerto Ricans are among us but not from us. Puerto Ricans drink from the same cup joy and sorrow. They make music of their sorrow and laugh about their music.

Puerto Ricans take jokes seriously and make jokes of the serious things. They do not believe in anyone but believe everything. Don’t you dare argue with them, ever!

Puerto Ricans are born with wisdom. They don’t need to read, they know everything! They don’t need to travel, they have seen everything! Puerto Ricans are like the chosen people, and they choose themselves.

Puerto Ricans are characterized individually by their charm and wit and in groups for their shouting and passion. Each carries the spark of genius and geniuses do not get along with each other, hence bringing together Puerto Ricans is easy, but creating a consensus amount them is almost impossible.

They do not talk about logic, because that involves reasoning and restraint and Puerto Ricans are hyperbolic and exaggerated. For example, if a Puerto Rican invites you to a restaurant to eat, you were invited not to the best restaurant in town, but the best restaurant in the world.

When they debate, they do not say, “I disagree with you,” but “you are absolutely wrong.”

They have cannibalistic tendencies, so then when they say to you, “He ate it.” It is an expression of admiration, and when they say to you “He ate a cable,” is an expression of a critical situation.

Puerto Ricans love contradictions so much that they called their beautiful women monsters and their scholars’ barbarians. If a health condition is afflicting you, they say, “Man, if you have told me about it, I would have taken you to a physician who is a horse.”

Puerto Ricans offer solutions before they know the problem. For them there is never a problem. They know what must be done to eradicate terrorism, prosecute Latin America, end hunger in Africa, pay the foreign debt, who should be president and how America can become a world power.

They do not understand why other people do not understand when their ideas are so simple, and why people do not want to learn to speak Spanish like them.

Ah, Puerto Ricans … We cannot live much with them, but we cannot live without them!

Dedicated with affection to the people of the best country in the World …

So, do you agree?