Envy

Once upon a time, everyone here was poor. Except for the local rich families, descendants of the caciques, or lords, everyone had just a little land, a few farm animals, and a crumbling house. Occasionally, a family that had someone working abroad had a nice house built, and could dress a little bit nicer than others. My mother had an uncle who had emigrated to the Boston area shortly before immigration quotas were established. He sent his sister some money at times, and once, a box of clothes. Wearing some of those clothes and using some of that money, my grandmother had a family picture taken of her and the three oldest children. My younger aunt hadn't been born yet, and I don't know why my grandfather didn't appear. 

Many families relied on outside help like that seventy, sixty, and even fifty years ago. Prosperity started drifting in by the early 1970's, always later in Franco's Spain, and even later in rural areas. But there finally came a time when people could also prosper by finding jobs in the region or in other parts of Spain without having to cross the Atlantic or even the Pyrenees. With prosperity came the bane of envy.  

Envy has always been a constant here. During the time of the Inquisition your neighbor's envy was something to be mortally feared. Again, during the Civil War and the repression that followed it. In times of prosperity and peace it means that rumors will abound that will try to ruin your reputation and the goodwill that other neighbors might feel toward you. Some neighbors will resort to anything to steal a neighbor's hated prosperity. Those who believe in witchcraft will bury eggs in the neighbor's property, hoping to transfer a curse. Curanderos, local witch doctors, make plenty of money selling remedies to those cursed. I suppose the cure lies in the placebo of expecting things to get better after applying the remedy, and in banishing pessimism. Others, who prefer more physical and immediate results, will resort to criminal acts, such as the woman who was arrested for setting fifteen forest fires in Cerceda, just because she wanted her neighbors' houses and lands to burn. And some will resort to the use of pesticides to kill crops and animals.

It has happened to us. I don't know why. We are not more prosperous than our neighbors, yet someone seems to envy us and wish us ill. Some years ago we had a small dog that sometimes hightailed it whenever he found the gate opened. One evening he came back and wasn't feeling well. We took him to the vet and we were told someone had poisoned him with a pesticide commonly used in the spring but never in the fall. It was the month of October. He didn't survive. Now, we had a vine that gave lovely, sweet Concord-style grapes. Every September and October we would fill baskets with bunches of grapes just to eat them. This year someone sprayed some type of total herbicide on it and it has died. Just that vine. 

Do I know who did it? No. Do I have an idea? Yes. Every village has some people that through their very personality, are envious and wish to be better in everything than others. It's a competitive mentality that comes in handy when you're trying to get ahead in something, but not when you apply it to every aspect of your life. If a neighbor installs a new kitchen, yours has to be better. If someone down the road buys a new car, you have to buy a better one. If you can't, you denigrate the others' better things. And if it can't be traced to you and isn't punishable by the snail-speed law, you try to hurt your neighbor's new goods or old property, one way or another. Yes, there are some people with that mentality in our village. They exist in almost every village. 

Sometimes there is something good to be said about city living and its anonymity.