After The Tragedy Has Occurred

In a world full of mistakes, humans are bound to run into problems of their own. However, after one messes up countless times, they learn to avoid and prevent similar problems from happening again. As said in many Hispanic households, ahogado el niño tapando el pozo, this dicho could be translated to after the child drowns they cover the well. Though the literal translation does not seem to have much meaning, figuratively speaking, this saying means that after the tragedy has occurred people decide to find ways to prevent the situation from happening repeatedly. In the Hispanic culture, every phrase has its own meaning; however, this is the translation widely known throughout the English population: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. From problems as big as attacking a nation to a smaller scale, such as a personal encounter, it only makes sense that after going through an unpleasant experience an individual must learn from their mistakes in order to impede undergoing the repercussions once more.

September 11, 2001: an unforgettable, unforgivable, and unexpected day for the citizens of the United States whose lives were destroyed in a matter of hours. On this day, 2,996 people died in the attacks of the World Trade Center in New York and at the Pentagon, including the lives of the 19 hijackers leaving at least 6,000 injured. A tragedy so devastating that bestowed fear nationwide and took only but a few minutes for people to realize that changes needed to be made, and fast, so that the country would never undergo a terrorist attack of that immensity. After this incident, the United States immediately launched the Global War on Terrorism in order to protect the lives of citizens. On October 2001, Congress passed the Patriot Act, which gave law enforcement many new rights such as searching without warrants, spy, and the right to deport anyone who appears to be involved in suspicious behavior. Furthermore, another measure that was implemented after 9/11 was the Department of Homeland Security. This department has been the most significant measure since the attack, it has set up security systems all over the country to “better mitigate and defend against dynamic threats, minimize risks, and maximize the ability to respond and recover from attacks and disasters of all kinds. ” (DHS) Like the figurative speech says, it is better to prevent than to have to go through the consequences for not taking initiative in the first place.

In addition, hypothetically speaking, but very real in a sense, is how at times parents do not take the preventive measures to teach their children how to appropriately approach women. In a household, the father is typically the role model so his children, essentially, look up to him in everything he does. Due to this, a child can learn certain traits that the father, being the role model, does when they are around. For instance, children with abusive fathers are susceptible to becoming violent themselves. Children may learn to abuse their own family, especially their spouse, and naturally show no remorse due to their ill-education in regards to the correct and incorrect way to treat a woman. Considering that children are entitled to “model everything a parent does and incorporate what they see into their own lives” (Erickson, Rose) it is important that parents express the right message for their offspring. The child, without knowing, will perceive abuse as being the correct way to treat a woman since they repeatedly witness their father behaving in such manners. Consequently, as the child develops, this idea will stay imprinted in his mind and procreate feelings and actions of superiority against women. For instance, say this child has grown into a full adult, getting ready to go to an essential interview. On his way up in the elevator, a woman accidentally bumps into him while heading to the elevator herself, and instead of being polite about her wellbeing, he instead replies with a rude comment. As he walks into his interview, he sees that it is that same woman he had ridiculed earlier, being fully turned down the job due to how impolite and distasteful he would have represented the company. Although a situation as the one portrayed is seemingly unrealistic, it happens every day as males perceive themselves superior because they were raised to always degrade women. All this could be easily prevented, teaching children the correct way to treat women, how to respect other people in general before they grow up making mistakes that can cost them a whole lot.

Though the Bible is exceptionally ancient, there are stories, such as Noah’s Ark, that apply to this Mexican dicho. This biblical story is about a remarkable six-hundred-year-old man by the name of Noah. After the sins following Adam and Eve, God decided that he wanted the world to start fresh and destroy everything that existed. However, God spoke to Noah and asked of him to be obedient and build a massive boat as well as gather one female and male of every species each species that had been created by God. Though Noah had no idea as to why God asked him to start constructing a boat, he did not question God or his actions. After one hundred and twenty years of building the ark, as well as ensuring that he had enough resources for everyone, Noah had accomplished the task given by God. After Noah and his family aboard the boat, rain lasting forty days and nights without stopping and the renewal had started: “the water got so deep that even the mountains were covered. ” (Noah’s Ark) Every animal and being that was not on the ark was wiped out, however, everything inside the boat was able to survive. Since Noah had been attentive to God’s words, the boat was able to successfully float above the flooding, and their resources had lasted them long enough for the 12 months that they were aboard. After Noah’s Day, humankind was much more precautious and up to now practices the act of religion and seeks forgiveness from God. Many took the situation as a warning and so that it would not happen again, decided to do only good and pure things so that when God arrives to pick those who listened to his words, those who chose to keep God in their heart will be granted holy safeness. Though many knew about Noah’s project, they judged him and doubted the word of God, however, they then faced the consequences after being erased from the Earth. Noah planned ahead of time, and as visible as it is, humankind did not take precaution until after the world had to start over again.

The effort put in for preventing a problem is small in comparison to the benefit one gains from the situation. After a situation occurs, the only thoughts that go through a person’s mind are what they could have, should have, and would have done. Nonetheless, ahogado el niño tapando el pozo is the most accurate dicho a person could apply to themselves after they have lived through a situation. As humans everybody can agree that they are all responsible for mistakes and blame themselves for situations they could have prevented, thus one must become precautious and consider our surroundings and the possible outcomes. Though they saw something coming, they did not take the preventive measures to avoid the tragedy, and now mourn the consequences and outcome. It is much better to plan ahead than to have a loss and deal with the affliction. This saying has been passed down for centuries and is continuing to be told by many grandmothers, and though it has become older throughout time, it has not lost its words of wisdom and remains true to this day. Even as human were made to make mistakes, individuals have learned to take initiative and plan several steps ahead to allow one to become more efficient in the future instead of backtracking to the ones in the past.