I’m in a village in Guatemala. The weekend market has been set up, and I’m both traveling and taking pictures. I saw this aunt on my way to the place where the buses leave around 3-4 o’clock because the market ends early here. I looked, it looks photographic, I took a photo of it without being noticed. Then I started watching. I understood that he is collecting things from the ground. But when I said this is a stony road, what is it collecting, I learned Spanish and went to it so I could evaluate it. Hello good day. What are you doing? I said. “I’m collecting corn,” he said. That’s when I realized what was happening. There were one or two stalls selling sacks of corn all day long. When the market was closed, the men gathered the stall and left. This aunt collects the corn grains spilled on the ground all day long. I was embarrassed when I asked. I said family, do you have children? He said there is. I said what are you going to do with the corn. He said he will cook. I said ok and took 50 Quetzal (20 TL) out of my pocket and handed it to the woman. I said please take it, you’ll get something to cook. The woman does not. Please take, I’m giving to help, you get something to eat. The woman looks at me, no smile or anything. I don’t take it in a very dull way, he says thank you and continues to collect the grains from the ground. Friend is such a situation that if you say ok and go on your way, there is no problem, if you insist on taking it, it is another problem. While we were struggling like this, a woman came to us, watching us from the shop where I took this photo. Of course, as she understood that incident, she first looked at me and smiled, then turned to the woman and said take it away, it’s not a bad thing, she wants to help you. Based on his word, our aunt bent her head and took the money. She thanked me, but she doesn’t (a) look me in the eye with embarrassment. She just gave a very light, sweet smile as she lowered her head.
Maybe you may have millions, you can lead a luxurious life, but this is like your aunt’s, no matter how crooked she is picking corn. An honorable life is not easily granted to anyone.
