In Latin America, Uruguay is a magnificent flower - rich and oily, and the COUNTRY's GDP leads other Latin American countries;
Uruguay's former president, José Mujica, is also a strange flower, his curiosity is worldwide - recognized by the media as "the poorest president in the world", when he was first elected, his whole family was only $1800, which was not as rich as our village cadres;
And his life is also a miracle in world history - he has suffered 6 assassinations (the worst one was 6 bullets, almost killed), imprisoned in the dungeon for 14 years, elected president at the age of 74, and led the Uruguayan counterattack in 5 years.
Muhika
On October 20, 2020, the president, who stepped down in 2015, succumbed to the "obscenity" of Covid-19 and resigned from the Senate. Mujica helplessly said that he was not unable to do it, his work was boring, but he was expelled from the Senate by the new crown virus, he was suffering from a rare disease that even doctors did not know, and he could not even be vaccinated, although he loved politics, but he also hoped that life could continue.
Mujica waved goodbye in Parliament
You see, until the last moment of his resignation, he thought about what he wanted to do rather than being old. Although Mujica's life had its ups and downs, he always knew what he wanted.
Mujica was born in 1935 in Paso de la Arena, a small town on the outskirts of Montevideo, Uruguay, where he grew up poor. Probably because he was much poorer, he also witnessed how hard the life of the poor was, and after entering politics, Muhika was full of thoughts to lead the people to get rid of poverty and get rich, and embark on the road of happiness in life.
In the 1960s, Mujica joined the "Tupamaros" guerrilla group against the military dictatorship, and he was arrested by the junta along with more than 100 guerrillas and spent 14 years in prison.
What is the concept of 14 years of dark life? Enough to make a baby who fell to the ground grow into a sunshine teenager. In 2018, Uruguay's Oscar-winning film was "Dungeon Memories", which recounted the dark past of Mujica's imprisonment in the dungeon.
Eating leftovers and settling defecation in situ are still secondary, and what is terrible is mental oppression and control — the instructions given above are clear: you can't kill them, but let them live or die. Can't talk to people, can't go beyond the area of activity drawn, scolds at every turn, prison guards pee in through the skylight...
Screenshot from the Dungeon Memories movie
The most difficult thing for a person to survive is probably to be in a desperate situation, but still have hope, and the most difficult thing in a desperate situation is to seize this hope and persevere. But as the Shawshank Redemption says, some birds are destined not to be kept in cages because each of their feathers shines with the radiance of freedom.
After 14 years, the dictatorship was finally overthrown, and looking at the faltering country, the elderly Mujica chose to return to Uruguayan politics. After some hard work, in March 2010, he stepped onto the podium of the inaugural president and officially began to take the helm of Uruguay: "The so-called success of life is not to win; it is to fall and get up, and then move on." ”
After Becoming President, Mujica undertook drastic reforms over Uruguay. His main focus was on improving the welfare of the population and reducing poverty among the population, reducing the poverty rate in Uruguay by 11.5 per cent and the unemployment rate by 6.6 per cent. In addition, he developed institutions to allow same-sex marriage, give women the right to abortion, etc., which are groundbreaking in Uruguayan history.
When the people all lived a good life, he focused on the development of education, environmental protection, and public safety. In just five years, Uruguay, which had been dark and decaying, was reborn, and the per capita income of the entire country exceeded 10,000 (US dollars).
Mujica, beloved by the Uruguayan people
Compared with the increasingly affluent life of the people, Mujica's life of poverty has always been talked about. "Politicians should live the same life as most ordinary citizens, and if they are poor, politicians should be poor." He not only said that, he always did it.
Muhika, who did not live in the presidential residence, and his wife insisted on living on a farm on the outskirts of the capital Montevideo, which had only 3 broken houses, and when the wind blew, the houses were shaking; the surrounding traffic was also very inconvenient, only a narrow path that was only enough for one car to pass--"a "cement road" on rainy days, and a "ash road" on sunny days; there was no running water, and when there was water, it had to be carried from a well in the nearby field.
In this way, he also donated 90% of his monthly salary (about $12,000) to charity, leaving only more than a thousand points for himself. What's more interesting is that Mujica also has to "work" on the farm to support himself, because the farm ownership is his wife's, so when he is president, his second profession is to drive tractors on the farm to cultivate the land.
Muhika driving a tractor
Mujica is protected by six assassinations, and his farm is guarded by two police officers who are on duty, and Mujica's dog, Manuela, is on guard — even though it has only three legs, the president is reluctant to "dismiss" it.
His means of transportation from home to office building was a nearly scrapped sky blue Beetle. Once an Arab sheikh offered a whopping $1 million to collect the car, but Mujica refused without thinking about it, on the grounds that "if we sell it, it will be an offense to the friends who have come together to let us buy the car."
This Beetle is still his friends think he is too shabby, everyone pooled money to buy him, and in his eyes, no amount of money can compare to the heart carried by the broken car.
As the president of a country, Mujica still enjoys living like this, "I am not poor, I am simple, and the real poverty is not that I have less, but that no matter how much I have, I cannot be satisfied." ”
In 2018, at the age of 83, Mujica also refused a pension from the government because he thought he could live well with his own skills.
When the world is surrounded by consumerism, Mujica is like a clear stream breaking through the mud, retaining a rare sobriety. At the Rio Summit in 2012, Mujica denounced consumerism on the spot:
We do not come to this earth for development, but to pursue happiness. I tell you in layman's terms that development should not hinder happiness. Development should bring happiness to humanity. Love, relationships, nurturing offspring, having friends and the minimum necessary material things, these should all be brought.
A word, deafening. The materialistic currents of today's world have long swept into every corner of the world, and there are only a few people who insist on their attitudes in such a general trend.
What kind of life is true happiness? What is your ideal life like? Is it to waste time after satisfying all material desires, or to sink in between in the process of chasing material desires? Are money and power inherent measures of happiness?
Mujica's contribution can be said to have nothing to do with anyone outside Uruguay, but is it not his attitude towards life that is most important to us? Now there are too few people who can say that they are satisfied with their lives, and everyone is struggling on the road of money and housing, but they forget to stop and really care about what they really want in their hearts, and they forget their original intention of serving mankind.
Man's life in this world, decades, is not too long, whether to be your own master, or a slave to material and desires, the choice is all on yourself.
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