One of the most humiliating parts of my life is when I must beg for a roll of toilet paper. I am out of toilet paper, so I asked a woman who had a package of 12 and was walking home from the store. But, we had a lot of difficulties communicating. I was ashamed and I kept trying to get out of the conversation but she kept working on communicating. At one point she asked me where I am from. I told her, and she said to me, “But you have dollars there. Why don’t you have any dollars?” She wasn’t being mean, she was just confused. Nevertheless, I felt deep shame and I tried to get out of the conversation but couldn’t. After five minutes, I got the toilet paper.
I could buy one roll of low-quality toilet paper in a corner store. The average price is 6 pesos. But, as I have written before, I am as frugal as I can be, within the limitations of my symptoms, so I don’t buy a roll if I don’t need to.
Right now, the exchange rate is such that 33 cents is approximately 6.5 pesos: the price of toilet paper. After she gave me the toilet paper, I saw the coincidental connection to my earlier post and it rubbed salt in my wounds: most Americans value me less than a roll of low-quality toilet paper from Mexico. Except for my family: they call it “tough love.” That is not my definition of love.
