Are We Venezuelans Lazy?

Every time I hear someone say that we Venezuelans are lazy, I wonder whether the people who say so have ever talked with the people standing in line at bus stops from very early in the morning; with the cashiers at the supermarkets where they shop; with the street sweepers who sweep the sidewalks where they live; with the wonderful young people who have come from the provinces to earn their university degrees here in Caracas; with others who study and work at the same time; with thousands (millions!) of people (professionals or not) who never get the eight hours of sleep they need because they work so hard to provide for their families.

It is important to know the real situation of our people, Wonderful people who have earned that label of lazy “forever and ever,” as if it were a mark stamped on our foreheads that we will never be able to remove.

If Venezuelans were as lazy as they are made out to be, why are the streets and the Metro packed with cars and people every day (even Saturdays and Sundays), with people coming and going to work, to classes and so on? If Venezuelans are as lazy as they are made out to be, why do companies and clinics abroad, or anywhere else, hire Venezuelans? If Venezuelans are so lazy, why do we have a unique System of Children’s and Youth Orchestras that has brought about a world- wide change in musical culture? If Venezuelans are so lazy, why are Venezuelan delegations always among the top finishers at the Model United Nations or the International Olympiads in whatever subject, held at famous universities around the world?

I have heard the stories of women with very young children who have to leave Guarenas at four-something in the morning (with lunchboxes already packed, dinner already made and so on) to get to work in Caracas by eight, and whose time getting home is practically impossible to predict. We could say the same about those who live in Los Teques or in the “bedroom communities.” Not to mention the people we know who have cars and still have to get up at dawn every day to get to work on time, and who get home late at night because they get caught in hours of traffic. So what lazy Venezuelans are you talking about?

I’ll say it again: the Venezuela and the Venezuelans of today are not the same as fifteen years ago. And although there may be the odd lazy person here and there who doesn’t work, they are the minority! That is why it is a great injustice to say that “Venezuelans are lazy,” lumping in a whole crowd of people who prove every day that they are great workers, not to mention their many other virtues.

And if there is one more thing that distinguishes the great majority of Venezuelans who are hard at work and going through hell, it is that they are not complaining all the time; they simply put their backs into what they have to do, period. The other day, for example, I got to talking with a young man who helped me carry some things to the car. With a smile on his face and without complaining at all, he told me that he had had to drop out of his law studies at the Universidad Central because his work schedule didn’t allow him to get to the university on time. “But this year they changed my hours, and I’ll start again. I’m happy. And let me tell you, I sing in the university choir.”

So I invite those who say Venezuelans are lazy to spend a day at the Petare traffic circle and talk with their fellow Venezuelans, so they can see, with solid and reliable arguments, that the label Lazy does not fit this people. And that precisely for that reason, nobody will be able to stop this country once we have the chance to work together, without rest, to solve the many problems we live with day after day, problems that, although they have made our lives very hard, have also allowed us to prove that if anyone works, it is us Venezuelans.