Word: maritza
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...asked Maritza about her homework, and after much prodding she pulled her bag from under the sofa. She showed me a crumpled assignment sheet with rows of addition and subtraction exercises...
...have a child at 15 and then, 12 years later, despues de todo lo que has hecho, have her drop out? Her Big Sister didn't do nothing--do you know her, Evelyn or something? Gracias a Dios Nana got bored and went back, but she flunked...So Maritza, you better do what your Big Sister tells you, you hear...
...Maritza was fidgety, withdrawn and reticent as usual, and we didn't accomplish much. Her Mama screamed admonitions from the kitchen, telling her she'd better not think about dropping out, as her 12-year-old sister did once...
Every time I think about Maritza I feel the same sadness and disenchantment, as well as a pervading sense of guilt. I remember walking back to Harvard that evening, overwhelmed by the knowledge I could no longer avoid: I hate myself for not being able to cope with an apathetic eight-year-old to whom I'm supposed to be a good example. I had realized that long before that night, but I didn't want to admit--even to myself--that I had failed as a Big Sister...
...each time I went down there I felt a reluctant but ever-increasing awareness of the apathy that permeates the life of Villa Victoria residents, and the complacency with which they accept the status quo. Each time I visited the houses of Maritza or her friends and neighbors, I wondered what I was doing there, administering band-aids to people with broken spirits...