Six o'clock in the morning:
Manuel goes to sea with a black inner tube from a pick up truck and a small net. The ocean is relatively calm and he might stay in the water until the heat becomes too uncomfortable. He fishes for a living with just those two possessions.
Making due with what you have:
The number of people on this island of Hispaniola who have a similar dearth of gadgets is staggering. You can enter people's homes and find one table for the whole family. There are elderly women who cook their meals out of the side of a pot that has a hole in the middle of it. Men who have farmed for a lifetime can be found with one machete, file, pick and shovel which they can call their own.
Give us this day our daily bread:
We all pray these words and they have more or less meaning for us at different stages of our lives. We come close to having nothing when we lose our health or a loved one... but the experience of day in and day out depending upon the daily bread... is something we can observe in others and yet fail to taste it as they do.
The gospel of simple living:
Manuel is not a preacher. He feels no need to go around and tell people how they should live and what they ought to avoid, but to contemplate him in the morning... alone on the sea with just a tire tube and a net... is to witness a sermon in waves and motion. Enduring happiness and gadget multiplication do not correlate as the fish swim by and the net invites the curious ones for a closer look.
