Twenty or so years ago, I was visiting Caracas, the capital of Venezuela—where my mother is from and my grandparents still live—and I met a girl at a party who I instantly connected with.
"The country we all knew from our childhoods no longer exists. It lives on only in our memories. When we bump into other Venezuelans, we share stories of the country we loved, the places we used to visit, and the people we used to know. And most importantly, we laugh—the soul cleansing, cathartic laughter that comes from people finding a way to negotiate a path through a shared trauma."
I hope Europeans won't be saying the same thing in a few decades, but their leaders seem hell bent on the communist Maduro path...
Some have survived that already, it's still shitty and corrupted but hearing FF talk about Venezuela makes me realize how lucky we were to have "just" a war to get out of it...
My pep talk to myself was always, "What will all this crying get me, nothing!" Well, that was back when no one cared about your tears. "Stop crying and just f@cking get on with it." Now, in 2025 crying to the valley is the new currency and gets you into Virtue Land that all the hard working oppressors must pay for.
My sense of humour is my scar tissue. The last stitch olding in all the rot and decay of my broken mind.
Laughter is my suit of armor and it helps me to feel brave enough to battle on; scars and all. Francis you make me laugh, suiting me up in my armor so I can continue to fight. This is why I love you so much. This new world is threatening to take away my armor. Then, I find you fighting bravely so I can keep what makes me feel strong. Thank you so much for all you do. 🤗
The big thing that drove me nuts during Covid was how our elite class had no sense of humor about the situation.
On one hand, I could understand. You wanna be professional. On the other, gallows humor got me through a lot of rough situations and you could tell that many people presenting information had never been through anything super rough. their ‘life isn’t fair’ ‘everyone’s going to die’ routine wore thin after a short time. I learned that life wasn’t fair when I was super young and had to get coping skills to survive. And I don’t expect to live forever. I really couldn’t relate to the fear-based narratives they were giving out.
Mostly, b/c After a certain point, you get on with life and try not to focus on things you can’t control. Getting stuck in fear is a death sentence. (Now, if I could listen to my own insight on this….).
It’s awful what becomes acceptable b/c survival becomes the highest value. It happens so gradually that you don’t notice all the ways you are changing/adapting to increasingly awful situations. You tend to accept what is b/c you feel so powerless to change things. It’s a horrible cycle to be in.
I hope the people of Venezuela are able to overcome the situation they are in now. Sadly, I can imagine similar things happening in our countries if we don’t change course.
It’s weird to me that we, in the West, claim to be free, yet, many in our societies have problems with people actually being free. Again, we saw how others behaved during the vaccine protestors and lockdowns. Yikes! A lot of people value control and safety over freedom.
Anyway, thanks for the insight about a country I rarely hear about.
Wow, what a story! Thank you. I grew up in communist Romania, which was bad, but at least we didn t have to worry about being kidnapped. You guys have a sense of humor that rivals ours.
Keep joking about the communist utopia; communists love propaganda but they hate humor especially about the savagery of their system. At least the Maduro Diet is still the most guaranteed weight loss plan of the past 100 years.
Reminds me of the old Soviet joke:
Midnight in Leningrad ... A Red Guards night watch spots a shadow trying to sneak by. "Stop! Who goes there? Documents!" The frightened person chaotically rummages through his pockets and drops a paper. The Guards chief picks it up and reads slowly, with difficulty: "U.ri.neA.na.ly.sis"... "Hmm...a foreigner, sounds like..." "A spy, looks like.... Let's shoot him on the spot!" Then he reads further: "'Proteins: none, Sugars: none, Fats: none...' You are free to go, proletarian comrade! Long live the world revolution!”
"The country we all knew from our childhoods no longer exists. It lives on only in our memories. When we bump into other Venezuelans, we share stories of the country we loved, the places we used to visit, and the people we used to know. And most importantly, we laugh—the soul cleansing, cathartic laughter that comes from people finding a way to negotiate a path through a shared trauma."
I hope Europeans won't be saying the same thing in a few decades, but their leaders seem hell bent on the communist Maduro path...
Some have survived that already, it's still shitty and corrupted but hearing FF talk about Venezuela makes me realize how lucky we were to have "just" a war to get out of it...
But it was never that bad
My pep talk to myself was always, "What will all this crying get me, nothing!" Well, that was back when no one cared about your tears. "Stop crying and just f@cking get on with it." Now, in 2025 crying to the valley is the new currency and gets you into Virtue Land that all the hard working oppressors must pay for.
My sense of humour is my scar tissue. The last stitch olding in all the rot and decay of my broken mind.
Laughter is my suit of armor and it helps me to feel brave enough to battle on; scars and all. Francis you make me laugh, suiting me up in my armor so I can continue to fight. This is why I love you so much. This new world is threatening to take away my armor. Then, I find you fighting bravely so I can keep what makes me feel strong. Thank you so much for all you do. 🤗
Bittersweet... But yes, only in our memories, may it end one day FF
May you see it recovered at least in your lifetime.
The big thing that drove me nuts during Covid was how our elite class had no sense of humor about the situation.
On one hand, I could understand. You wanna be professional. On the other, gallows humor got me through a lot of rough situations and you could tell that many people presenting information had never been through anything super rough. their ‘life isn’t fair’ ‘everyone’s going to die’ routine wore thin after a short time. I learned that life wasn’t fair when I was super young and had to get coping skills to survive. And I don’t expect to live forever. I really couldn’t relate to the fear-based narratives they were giving out.
Mostly, b/c After a certain point, you get on with life and try not to focus on things you can’t control. Getting stuck in fear is a death sentence. (Now, if I could listen to my own insight on this….).
It’s awful what becomes acceptable b/c survival becomes the highest value. It happens so gradually that you don’t notice all the ways you are changing/adapting to increasingly awful situations. You tend to accept what is b/c you feel so powerless to change things. It’s a horrible cycle to be in.
I hope the people of Venezuela are able to overcome the situation they are in now. Sadly, I can imagine similar things happening in our countries if we don’t change course.
It’s weird to me that we, in the West, claim to be free, yet, many in our societies have problems with people actually being free. Again, we saw how others behaved during the vaccine protestors and lockdowns. Yikes! A lot of people value control and safety over freedom.
Anyway, thanks for the insight about a country I rarely hear about.
(Insert your ‘ignorant American’ comment here. 🫣)
I think that the inability to be the butt of any joke is the defining characteristic of progressivism.
Thank you for sharing that with us ❤️
This was great. Congrats on the book!
Great stuff
Well done, FF.
Wow, what a story! Thank you. I grew up in communist Romania, which was bad, but at least we didn t have to worry about being kidnapped. You guys have a sense of humor that rivals ours.
Keep joking about the communist utopia; communists love propaganda but they hate humor especially about the savagery of their system. At least the Maduro Diet is still the most guaranteed weight loss plan of the past 100 years.
Reminds me of the old Soviet joke:
Midnight in Leningrad ... A Red Guards night watch spots a shadow trying to sneak by. "Stop! Who goes there? Documents!" The frightened person chaotically rummages through his pockets and drops a paper. The Guards chief picks it up and reads slowly, with difficulty: "U.ri.ne A.na.ly.sis"... "Hmm...a foreigner, sounds like..." "A spy, looks like.... Let's shoot him on the spot!" Then he reads further: "'Proteins: none, Sugars: none, Fats: none...' You are free to go, proletarian comrade! Long live the world revolution!”