IT IS THE WILL TO SUCCEED!

 

Normality in the time of COVID-19 by Luis Lobo 11-28-20

 

                                                              LGL and Toby Lobo 2020

WELL.....its been an adjustment, sometimes by the day. Our children are grown, and with the exception of my nephew Andres Arce, soon completing his first semester at Appalachian State University; Debbie and I have had to learn how to spend time together and apart.

We are fortunate to not have been directly impacted by Covid, other than a mild case for my sister, brother and my Mom.  My sister does not think it is mild as she is still without her sense of taste or smell. 

Not related to Covid, was the tragic loss of our 16 year-old blue-headed Amazon, Santana. He fell from his perch within his big cage, which has not been unusual. But this time he lingered, with his wings spread and squawked. Within seconds, Debbie handed me a small towel, which I wrapped around him, thinking he may have a broken wing. When I lifted him to me, his neck went sideways and he quietly died in my arms. The grief is still with us, and may be for a long time. Debbie had been so careful with that bird since she and my kids retrieved him from BWI airport, as a hatchling, during our years living in Frederick, MD. On a recent visit to our animal clinic in Winston Salem for our dog Paco's check up, the veterinarian; who happened to have studied large birds, told Debbie that an aneurysm is not uncommon with large birds. Thus we were comforted that Santana did not suffer and was reunited with his creator in the blink of an eye.

But the hole in our heart remains...thank goodness we have Paco, our Maltese who brightens up our days and keeps us company during our nights.

I have worked from home since March, grateful to have a job, now in my 37th year with the bank - Charlotte is my 13th relocation, and other than some final move to a retirement community someday, my last. It has been said that ignorance is the greatest scourge of mankind, I would argue that isolation is a close second. I miss my team mates, I miss my client travel from PA to FL to TX. I long for interaction even as the working hours merge into 10-12 hours as one looses a sense of time. Making time to walk upstairs to eat lunch was the first required change.  Then I decided that I would wear my work clothes, after my morning workout, followed by a visit to Starbucks.  This was my normal routine in Winston Salem and it took me some months to reestablish it here in Charlotte. 

Anxiety has been widely reported during this time, and most people are not immune from it. There for awhile I was attending church on Sunday mornings, until they cancelled with the fall surge.  Being with people is necessary, even for an introvert. This past week we celebrated Thanksgiving on Zoom. Our children, who live in NYC, Baltimore and the Pinehurst area decided, as the old Costa Rican saying goes: "Each in his own home and God with everyone". Christmas will be the same, and I WILL TAKE IT!  

Debbie is an interior design and decorating master and has been busy making our new house our home. She is even keeled, very rational, and very understanding of our collective feelings. I love her very much and am grateful to have her as my wife and partner.  The disaster of 2020 would be magnified if she was not in our lives. One of the things my sister Martha, my mother Marta and I have done several times a week, at 8:30 at night, is to pray the Rosary. The Rosary is a form of meditation, connects us around something familiar and we get to speak to one another several times a week.  This has been good for all the reasons one would imagine.  My mother is a strong 78, without underlying conditions and has the most profound faith I have ever encountered (I was raised by Benedictine Monks at nearby Belmont Abbey Church) and that says a lot. We are all so thankful to have our mother in our lives, in good health, even at a distance.

I have been in the banking industry my entire career, 37 years with the same bank through an iteration of mergers. I love banking because it helps people accomplish the goal of their lives. THAT is my WHY - to help people accomplish the financial goals of their lives. It takes engagement, persistence and endurance. Since 2012 I have been responsible for multicultural banking, which we invented at heritage BBT now TRUIST.  We will make it bigger with the merger of SunTrust, with nearly 900 branches designated as multicultural banking centers serving the public with cultural and linguistic skills. Like I said we invented multicultural banking in 2002 as we began to understand the rapidly changing demographics of our footprint and the USA. Most people today will do many of their banking transactions on their telephone. But we teach them how to budget, how to responsibly own a home and how to grow their business. It is through a massive network of organizations in the faith, community action and education platforms that our MC Banking Center Branch Leaders engage with these audiences several times a year.  People do business with people they enjoy being with and TRUST. Some decide to become our clients...

Did I tell you I miss my team mates, my clients and visiting our far-flung communities?

BUT this TOO SHALL PASS.  I dare science deniers to NOT take the vaccine when it is made available, and not soon enough. But most will even as they are able to bifurcate their beliefs. Finally, we have a new administration that has been elected to lead the country. 

The operative word here is LEAD. We need leadership on this small planet we call Earth. The entire planet has been touched by this scourge and most people have been impacted in some form or manner. My grandparents spoke of the 1918 flu epidemic, even as Costa Rica was not widely impacted; it was. Respect for science, respect for people different that ourselves, respect for another's point of view.  We don't have to agree or feel forced to agree, but we must respect one another. Then progress is possible.

My hero JFK said: "In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breath the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal". 

Yes we are all mortal and time is too precious for what does NOT matter.  Maybe mutual respect will be reborn because of what matters.

Just think about it.....

DO NOT EVER confuse kindness with weakness!

                   DO NOT EVER confuse kindness with weakness!


DNA is very strong in determining not only familial features, but maybe more so, temperament.

My “23 & ME”  came back as 15% Greek/Roman, 48% Iberian (Spain Portugal), 25% Native American, and 15% other...(narrative:  Romans conquered the known world, including the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), then the Spanish and Portuguese discovered and invaded the Americas, taking Native American wives, etc).

Our family in Costa Rica, at any given time, produced white skinned and brown haired, darker skinned and black haired, light or coal-black eyed children. Temperaments range from withdrawn/shy to alert, ebullient own-the-room personalities. In my generation women proliferate as nature makes more females than males for obvious reasons.  The temperament scale is mainly measured with the exception being a few at polar opposites.

My younger brother Carlos Andres Lobo Arce, born in 1964 is the kindest, most helpful, a workhorse and honorable. He resembles, in looks and temper, our great-grandfather Jorge Salas, unwed father to my grandmother Felicia Gonzales Herrera; both strong personalities.  Carlos is more observant, where I am more vocal.

                                               Carlos and Roberto circa 1969 Costa Rica

In either kindergarten or 1st grade, when we had returned to Costa Rica to live with our grand-parents, Carlos was enrolled at Escuela David Gonzalez, where several generations had attended in our ancestral Rio Segundo in the province of Alajuela. Carlos was more light-skinned and generally quieter than his peers. On a certain day, after school let out, another student, and maybe older than Carlos, began to pick on him. On the walk home, the older boy was following and taunting Carlos  while other students took notice of the situation. The bully would not let up but Carlos remained silent as a group of students began to form around Carlos and his antagonist.

                    Carlos, Luis with our great-grandfather Jorge Salas c. 1968 Liberia, Costa Rica


I am not sure if the boy pushed Carlos from behind, but the verbal assault continued.  At a certain moment Carlos reached down, picked-up a discarded can with the lid still attached, and flung it, sticking the boy at his brow; which then produced a bloodbath.  He came home and told my grandmother what had happened.  The next day other boys were very deferential to him.

Another event occurred after we had settled in Lincolnton, NC.  Carlos was now in high school, played football and very handsome. Lincolnton has a court house which bifurcates East and West Main Street. Young people would on weekends ride up and down Main Street, while others parked their cars, or no cars like me, and watch their friends cruise back and forth. On a certain Friday or Saturday night, Carlos had parked his car and was visiting with some friends.  Nearby two African-American young ladies were walking down the sidewalk when a male driver pulled up beside them and let loose profanity and racial insults. Carlos walked over and told him to move on and leave those young ladies alone. This redneck, racist and possibly inebriated man began to curse Carlos, pulled his car over and made the mistake of confronting my brother. Carlos told him to leave; he did not.

Mayhem, blood, a torn shirt. Cars stopped as a body lay on the sidewalk.  I believe the police arrived, and the young ladies exculpated my brother as having defended them. The next day the door-bell rang and my mother answered the door. The two young ladies had bought and brought a shirt for
Carlos to replace the torn garment.

Carlos and I were roommates my senior year, his freshman, at Belmont Abbey College.  He was beloved by all, and maybe feared by some.

Carlos, Abbot Placis Soliari and Luis SPE Reunion 2019

El dia que los Duendes se llevaron a Raul Gonzalez - The day the Elves took Raul Gonzalez (English then Spanish)

The day the Elves took Raul Gonzalez

By

Luis G. Lobo

8-19-18

Vista desde nuestra casa y la de los Gonzalez hacia las bellas montañas del Valle Central
The view from our home and that of the Gonzalez of the Central Valley mountains

During my infancy in the early 1960’s in Rio Segundo, Costa Rica, we were warned that if we did not listen to our elders, the elves would carry us off.  Of course, imagining what these little people looked like was a greater fascination than the threat of kidnapping!

I recall my great-uncle Juan Gonzales Herrera telling me that he on occasion spread lime at the foot of their kitchen window, after having received small bags of balsa, an aromatic plant as a kindness; these left on the ledge of the window.  The next day tiny footprints were marked upon the lime, where the nighttime visitors had stood.

His sister, my great-grandmother Domitila “Tila” Gonzales, who loved me, often said that the elves were the souls of children that did not realize they had passed away and would never harm another person. 

All of this was quite charming in a small town a few miles from the City of Alajuela.  In the late 1950’s it had been decided that the International Airport Juan Santamaria, also once known as Aeropuerto El Coco, would be built in the immediate proximity of Rio Segundo, which along with the superhighway General Canaswould connect the airport to the capital city of San Jose.

Change was rapidly occurring in the 1960’s.  This “progress” would bifurcate our ancestral hometown with the cemetery located on the other side of highway, along with the displacement of homes and farms along the way. This was the case in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s when distances were long and travel was routinely by bus or carreta de bueyes (wagons pulled by oxen) used in the transport of crops; notably the best coffee in the world.

It was rare to see an automobile as roads were unpaved, even in the city areas.  During July of 2017 I visited Costa Rica, and had made plans to visit our family friend whom I have known since I opened my eyes at birth, Elizabeth “Meni”  Gonzalez. She and her family were next-door neighbors to my great-uncle Juan Gonzales and his sister Tila; possibly even related.  I recalled hearing as a child that Meni’s brother Raul, when a young boy, had been taken by “duendes” – elves.  Raul was born in the late 1930’s, and this would have occurred when he was a toddler. 

Raul Gonzalez y su bella familia con Luis Lobo

A day or so after my arrival in Costa Rica, my mother and I were walking to catch the “new” train service to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, when she turns to me and says, “look there is Raul, the son of Ninfa Gonzalez” – well of course we walked up to his porch to say hello, and within minutes he said that his sister Meni had mentioned my interest on his encounter with the elves and that he had some facts to share with me.  Magnificent! I countered and made plans to visit with him shortly.

Some days later I carried a notepad and went to Raul’s house with his sister Meni.  After we got caught up and congratulated him on his success in the trucking business, now retired, I asked him to tell me if it was true that he had been ”taken” by the duendes?  He said yes, it was true. 

Then, Highway #1, that runs alongside our home in Rio Segundo, connecting us to the east with the City of Heredia and in the west with the City of Alajuela, was but a “rastro” or an unpaved and unmarked path, mostly used by ox-carts and the occasional bus (casadora) or rarely so an automobile.  He remembers being in the coffee fields, which separated his home from our own; he thinks he may have been three-years of age. He recalls that little children crossed the dirt street to play with him, and then walked him to what was then a schoolhouse nearly directly in front of my great-grandmother’s home.  He remembers the children were uniformed in their attire, wore caps on the heads and they were all boys.  It was the afternoon and they were surrounded by music, Raul said he never felt fear. His family remembers that Raul went missing for about three hours.  They frantically searched the fields, houses, and chicken coops.  Then just as the panic was becoming overwhelming; there he was with his pockets filled with candy and small bags of balsa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duende

Raul went on to say that there were a few families in the area: Gonzalez, Herrera, Rodrigues, Gonzales, Bastos, Bogantes, Cascante, Hidalgo, and Salas.  Everyone knew one another and families had intermarried over the years; even before the City of Alajuela had been established in 1813. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alajuela. But these children were unknown to him, and maybe he thinks in a moment of danger, they were angels sent to protect him. 

Today Rio Segundo is just a place near the international airport complex, and more than likely already absorbed by it. Costa Rica has the highest literacy rate in the western hemisphere, low unemployment, and its main export class are medical devices; even as coffee cultivation remains a great sense of pride. Of course, we are known for PURA VIDA (chill work-life philosophy) and tourism from across the globe. Our people have a kind and loving disposition; and some of them are great storytellers!         

El día que los Elfos tomaron a Raúl González

Durante mi infancia a principios de la década de 1960 en Río Segundo, Costa Rica, nos advirtieron que, si no escuchábamos a nuestros mayores, los duendes nos llevarían. ¡Por supuesto, imaginando cómo lucía esta gente pequeña era una gran fascinación más que el miedo del secuestro!

Recuerdo a mi tío abuelo Juan Gonzales Herrera diciéndome que ocasionalmente extendía cal al pie de la ventana de su cocina, después de haber recibido pequeñas bolsas de balsa, una planta aromática como amabilidad; estos a la repisa de la ventana. Al día siguiente, se marcaron diminutos pies sobre la cal, donde se habían detenido los visitantes nocturnos.

Su hermana, mi bisabuela Domitila "Tila" Gonzales, que me amaba, a menudo decía que los duendes eran niños que no se daban cuenta de que habían fallecido y que nunca dañarían a otra persona.

Seria tambien raro ver un automóvil ya que las carreteras no estaban pavimentadas, incluso en las áreas de la ciudad. En julio de 2017, visité Costa Rica y había planeado visitar a nuestra amiga de la familia, a quien conozco desde que abrí mis ojos al nacer, Elizabeth "Meni" González. Ella y su familia eran vecinos de mi tío abuelo Juan Gonzales y su hermana Tila; posiblemente incluso relacionados. Recordé haber escuchado de niño que el hermano de Meni, Raúl, cuando era un niño, había sido tomado por duendes. Raúl nació a fines de la década de 1930, y esto deberia haber ocurrido cuando era un niño pequeño.   

The mausoleum of my great-grandmother Tila Gonsales
La boveda de las familias Gonzales y Arce

Iglesia de Rio Segundo Santiago Este

E

Aproximadamente un día después de mi llegada a Costa Rica, mi madre y yo estábamos caminando para tomar el "nuevo" servicio de tren a San José, la capital de Costa Rica, cuando ella se volvió hacia mí y me dijo: "mira, ahí está Raúl, el hijo de Ninfa González "- bueno, por supuesto, nos acercamos a su porton para saludarlo, y dentro de unos minutos dijo que su hermana Meni había mencionado mi interés en su encuentro con los duendes y que tenía algunos datos que compartir conmigo.  Magnifico! le respondí y hicimos planes para visitarlo en breve.

Unos días después llevé una libreta y fui a la casa de Raúl con su hermana Meni. Después de que lo pusimos al corriente y lo felicite sobre su éxito en el negocio del transportes, ahora retirado, le pedí que me dijera si era cierto que había sido "tomado" por los duendes. Él dijo que sí, era cierto.

La carretera # 1, que corre junto a nuestra casa en Rio Segundo, conectándonos al este con la Ciudad de Heredia y al oeste con la Ciudad de Alajuela, era solo una "rastro" o una ruta sin pavimentar y sin marcar, usada principalmente port carretas de bueyes y el autobús ocasional (casadora) o raramente un automóvil. Recuerda haber estado en los campos de café, que separaban su casa de la nuestra; él piensa que puede haber tenido tres años de edad. Recuerda que niños pequeños cruzaron la calle para jugar con él, y luego lo acompañaron a lo que entonces era una escuela, justo enfrente de la casa de mi bisabuela. Él recuerda que los niños estaban uniformados en su atuendo, y llevaban gorras en la cabeza. Era la tarde y ellos estaban rodeados de música. Raúl dijo que nunca sintió miedo. Su familia recuerda que Raúl se desapareció durante unas tres horas. Buscaron frenéticamente los campos, casas y gallineros. En el momento de gran pánico; ¡apareció! Allí estaba, con los bolsillos llenos de dulces y pequeñas bolsas de balsa.

Raúl continuó diciendo que había algunas familias en el área: González, Herrera, Rodríguez, Gonzales, Bastos, Bogantes, Cascante, Hidalgo y Salas. Todos se conocían y se casaban a lo largo de los años; incluso antes de que la ciudad de Alajuela se estableciera en 1813. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alajuela. 

Pero estos niños eran desconocidos para él, y tal vez él piensa que, en un momento de peligro, fueron ángeles enviados para protegerlo.

Meni Gonzales y su bella familia en Winston Salem con Luis Lobo

Hoy Rio Segundo es solo un lugar cerca del complejo internacional del aeropuerto, y es más que probable que ya esté absorbido por él. Costa Rica tiene la tasa de alfabetización más alta del hemisferio occidental, baja tasa de desempleo y su principal clase de exportación son los dispositivos médicos; incluso cuando el cultivo del café sigue siendo un gran sentido de orgullo. Por supuesto, somos conocidos por PURA VIDA (la filosofía fría de la vida laboral) y el turismo de todo el mundo. ¡Nuestra gente tiene un dispositivo amable y amoroso, y varios son buenos para los cuentos!

The story of Robert Stowe Rudisill and his intentional impact on Lincoln County's Latino population. By Luis G. Lobo

“One day you can be like him!”

The Story of Robert Stowe Rudisill and his intentional impact on Lincoln County's Latino population.

I have told this story now close to a “thousand” times to groups of BB&T bankers and others from around the world at the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking at the University of Pennsylvania; and anyone that cares to know how to grow a business and help others accomplish their life dreams.

Within 5 years of arriving as an immigrant from Costa Rica to Amsterdam, NY, and having accelerated his career at Fab Industries, my father,  Gerardo “Jerry” Lobo, was offered a position in Lincolnton, N.C.  He had seen the economic decay overtaking the industrial north of the country, and coupled with tough winters, a move to the South seemed an improvement for his young family. 

This was a time of transition, given a three-year separation from our parents, due to a post-partum depression suffered by my mother upon the birth of Roberto in 1967. Another brother, Mark, had been born in Lincolnton during these years. Carlos, Roberto and I were very happy to be reunited with our parents and little brother in December of 1970. A sister, Martha, would complete the brood in 1972.

There was a great man in Lincolnton named Robert Stowe Rudisill, now deceased, who helped many people through his skills as a banker and as a business leader. Mr. Rudisill made it his business to know what was happening in the community, and soon after my father’s transfer, they had met.  Our first home was at 813 E. Main Street, a nice roomy brick home, with two stories and a basement.  It was located beside the Family Dollar Store, today the site of Branch Bank and Trust’s (BB&T) office.  I have worked for BB&T since 1983, and the bank gained offices in Lincolnton through the acquisition of Citizens Savings and Loan many years ago; having consolidated two offices in the area into this third location. You may call it destiny, but “You can’t make it up”!

813 Main St. Lincolnton, NC - our first home.  Years later it became the site for BB&T Bank's office.

It is NOT a coincidence that within two years of reuniting with our parents, they were able to purchase our first home at 220 W. Pine St., beside the FCX Store, a few blocks from the Lincoln County Public Library and the downtown area.  My parents had accomplished the American Dream, and Mr. Robert Rudisill had helped them understand homeownership: saving for a down payment, how to build a credit report, choosing a realtor and a closing attorney. 

By the way, all of these professionals gained a flood of referrals over the years as Costa Ricans followed my father, first from NY, and then directly from Costa Rica.  He told them where to bank and with whom to do business.  The bank that Mr. Rudisill worked for, First National Bank, then NCNB, became a roll-up of Bank of America and to this day they have as clients a large segment of the local Latino community; but I am working on that a little bit!

I recall going to the bank with my parents as a young boy, I was maybe 12 or 13.  By the way, we dressed nicely to go to the bank.  My parents taught us respect for others, and even as they toiled all of their lives in the textile industry, they appreciated their work and were proud to raise and educate their children.  On this particular day, both my parents went in to sign some documents, and I tagged along.  We all sat in Mr. Rudisill’s office while they discussed the matter at hand.  At some point Mr. Rudisill stepped out, and in that moment my mother looked at me and said:  “One day, you can be like him!”

I am not sure that there was some great epiphany in the moment of her comment to me.  But I do know that Mr. Rudisill’s great decency in dealing with my parents made an impact on me.  My parents, more so my mother than my father, spoke their English with an accent due to having arrived in the US as adults.  We never spoke English at home, as it would have been unnatural given that Spanish was our first language.  Yet none of that mattered, and it has not mattered in my life as I have dealt with people from all walks of life, from nearly every continent on earth, and on just about every personal and business financial matter you can imagine.

What my mother did on that day was to “put a bug in my ear”, as they say.  She confidently articulated that I could achieve a position of trust, and the image remained in my head thereafter.  What Mr. Rudisill showed me was a clear example of how to treat individuals with respect, and that also remained in my head.  So, I ask our bankers, does every interaction with a client, a family or a business owner matter?  Who is responsible for knowing what YOU must know?  If you do not take action to meet someone whom you do not know, and should know, it will not magically happen. Being present, being engaged, being helpful and doing it 1000 times 1000 is how one improves their skills and potentially makes an impact on others, their business or organization and community.

The desire to become a banker was something that developed over time, and I was lucky to gain employment with Southern National Bank/BB&T upon my college graduation.  The seeds of how to be an impactful banker were sown on that day in Mr. Rudisill’s office over 40 years ago.

P.S.  By the way, I had the great pleasure of going through high school and band with the Mr. Rudisill’s children including Guy Rudisill, a saxophone virtuoso and his brother Bob, a gifted drummer.

Luis G. Lobo

Winston Salem, NC

4-30-17

"Un Dia Pudes Ser Como El!"

He contado esta historia unas mil veces a grupos de BB&T, a banqueros de todo el mundo, alumnos míos de la ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking de la Universidad de Pennsylvania y a cualquier interesado en hacer crecer un negocio y ayudar a otros a cumplir sus sueños.

Con apenas cinco años de haber llegado a Amsterdam, Nueva York, como familia de inmigrantes provenientes de Costa Rica y con rápido crecimiento en su puesto en Fab Industries, a mi papá, Jerardo “Jerry” Lobo, le ofrecieron un puesto en Lincolnton, Carolina del Norte. Habiendo visto el declive económico de la industria en el norte del país y encerrado en inviernos crudos, mudarse al sur parecía una mejora para la familia.

Fue una etapa de transición, por la separación de tres años de mis padres, a causa de la depresión post-parto que sufrió mi madre después de haber tenido a Roberto, en 1967. Otro hermano nuestro, Mark, había nacido en Lincolnton durante este tiempo. Carlos, Roberto y yo nos reunimos felizmente con nuestros padres y nuestro hermanito en Diciembre de 1970.

Había un gran hombre en Lincolnton llamado Robert Stow Rudisill, que ayudó a muchos con sus habilidades como líderes de negocios y banqueros. Rudisill hizo su negocio saber qué afectaba la camunidad y poco después de mudarse, mi papá lo conoció. Nuestra primera casa estaba en el número 813 E de Main Drive, una espaciosa casa de ladrillo de a dos plantas y sótano. Estaba a la par de un Family Dollar Store y es hoy una sucursal de Branch Bank & Trust (BB&T). He trabajado para BB&T desde 1983 y el banco ganó crecimiento con la adquisición de Citizen Savings and Loan hace muchos años. Habiendo unido dos oficinas en esta dirección, podrían llamarlo destino, pero no lo podés inventar.

No es una coincidencia que a tan solo dos años de habernos reunido con nuestros padres, ellos compraron nuestra primer casa, en el número 220 W de Pine St, a la par de una FCX, a un par de cuadras de biblioteca pública del condado Lincoln y el centro de la ciudad. Mis padres habían alcanzado el sueño americano, y Robert Rudisill les había ayudado a entender cómo ser terratenientes: ahorrar para la prima, hacerse de un récord crediticio, escoger a un agente de bienes raíces y un buen abogado.

Por cierto, a todos estos profesionales les llovieron referencias por los ticos que siguieron a mi padre. El les aconsejó con quien hacer negocios y en donde resguardar sus finanzas. El banco para el que Rudisill trabajaba, First Narional Bank se convirtió en una dependencia de Bank of America y a la fecha tienen una fracción importante de los clientes latinos de la región, pero todavía estoy trabajando en eso.

Recuerdo cómo era ir al banco con mis padres cuando pequeño. Podía tener unos doce o trece años. Nos vestíamos bien para ir al banco: mis padres siempre nos inculcaron el respeto a los demás y aún cuando lo habían dado todo por la industria textil, apreciaban su trabajo y estaban orgullosos de criar y educar a sus hijos. En este día en particular, ambos mi padre y madre fueron a firmar unos documentos y yo me les uní. Nos sentamos todos en la oficina de Rudisill, para hablar de algunos asuntos. Rudisill salió un momento y entonces mi madre dijo: “un día vos podés ser como él.”

No sé si hubo alguna epifanía en el momento en el que me dijo eso, pero estoy seguro que el profesionalismo de Rudisill me marcó. Mis padres, mi mamá un poco más que mi papá, tenían un acento al hablar inglés, por haber llegado a Estados Unidos siendo adultos. En la casa nunca se habló inglés, porque no hubiera sido natural: el español es nuestra lengua materna. Nada de eso importó y nunca ha importado en mi vida cuando he tratado con personas de distintas etnias y de casi todos los continentes del mundo acerca de prácticamente todo asunto financiero que pueda haber. 

Lo que mi madre hizo ese día fue dejarme con una espinita, como dicen. Ella expresó sin duda alguna que podía alcanzar una posición de confianza y eso se quedó en mi mente desde entonces. Lo que Rudisill me mostró fue cómo tratar a cualquier individuo con respeto, y eso también se quedó conmigo. Entonces, pregunto a nuestros banqueros: ¿cualquier interacción con un cliente, una familia, o un negocio importa? ¿Quién es responsable por saber lo que uno debe saber? Si no das el primer paso en conocer a quien no conocés, pero debés conocer, no va a pasar por arte de magia. Estando presente, teniendo compromiso, siendo útil mil veces, de a mil se mejoran las habilidades e incrementan las posibilidades de marcar la diferencia en alguien, en un negocio o en la sociedad. 

Querer ser banquero fue algo que creció con el tiempo, y tuve suerte de ser contratado por Southern National Bank/BB&T cuando me gradué de la universidad. La semilla de cómo ser un banquero ejemplar fue plantada aquel día en la oficina de Rudisill hacía más de 40 años. 

P.D.: Por cierto, tuve el gran placer de haber pasado el colegio y haber estado en la banda con los hijos de Rudisill, incluyendo a Guy Rudisill, un virtuoso saxofonista y su hermano Bob, un talentoso percusionista. 

Luis G. Lobo

Winston Salem, NC

1969, ALUNIZAJE / LUNAR LANDING -1969

1969, ALUNIZAJE!

Recuerdo el veinte de Julio de 1969 como su hubiera sido ayer. Tenía 8 años, estaba en segundo grado de la escuela y vivía con mis abuelos en Costa Rica, después de nuestro abrupto regreso de los Estados Unidos, en la Navidad del '67. Hacía poco el mundo nos había dado un vuelco. Mi hermano Roberto había nacido en Amsterdam, NY, en 1967. Mi madre, a quien sedaron para poder darle vuelta al niño, que venia de trasero, cayó en una depresión post parto. Todos habíamos regresado a Costa Rica, a excepción de mi padre, quien seguía convencido en alcanzar el SUEÑO AMERICANO.

Años después, ya habiendo regresado a Estados Unidos, leí sobre el Presidente John F. Kennedy, su vida de joven debilucho devorador de libros de historia, no muy diferente a mi propia tendencia a escapar a la antigua Grecia y Roma, la milicia o al devoto estudio del liderazgo (César, Augusto, Alexander, Churchill, Hitler, Roosevelt, Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, Van Richtoffen, Bismarck, Rommel, Marshall, etc.).

En el período que sucedió a la Segunda Guerra Mundial existió una lucha de vida o muerte entre nuestra definición de libertad y el totalitarismo disfrazado cuando, a 90 millas de las costas estadounidenses, llegaban los movimientos comunistas de Rusia. Un joven John F. Kennedy, se vio humillado tras la invasión encubierta de Bahía de Cochinos, apoyada por Estados Unidos. La redención llegó después de 13 días de aislamiento cubano en Octubre de 1962, cuando los rusos aceptaron retirar sus misiles de la “aprisionada isla”. Después del lanzamiento de Sputnik, en 1957, era evidente que una “carrera al espacio” también estaba en contienda. El primero de Mayo de 1961, ferviente, en la Universidad Rice, Kennedy se comprometió:

Presidente John F. Kennedy y Presidente Francisco Orlich durante la visita a 

                     Costa Rica sobre Alianza Para el Progreso, Marzo de 1963

                                     

“Escogimos La Luna! (...) Escogimos ir a La Luna en esta década y hacer otras cosas no porque sean fáciles, sino porque cuestan; porque con esa meta es que medimos nuestras energías y organizamos las mejores de nuestras habilidades, porque es una meta que estamos dispuestos a aceptar, que no vamos a posponer y que vamos a alcanzar.”

Kennedy no viviría para ver aquello una realidad. Fue asesinado el veintidós de Noviembre de 1963, una fecha que pasaría a la infamia, junto con el siete de Diciembre de 1941, cuando los japoneses atacaron Pearl Harbor.   

Nuestros abuelos nos habían matriculado a mí hermano Carlos y a mi en el Colegio Marista de Alajuela, bajo la tutela de los Hermanos Maristas. Recuerdo a mis compañeros hablando de cómo el hombre iba a pisar La Luna y al Hermano José, estricto y bondadoso profesor de segundo grado, nos enseño anuncios del alunizaje en alguna revista local y en cajas de cereal. Creo que mi abuelo compró el primer televisor en mi familia, con fuerte influencia de mi abuela Felicia y mis tías Cecilia y Herminia para ver aquél increíble momento. 

Luis y Carlos Lobo 1969

Corría el rumor de que Dios prohibiría que el hombre fuera más allá de sus límites terrenales, que una vez que pisasen La Luna, los rayos cósmicos desintegrarían a los astronautas, que traerían consigo una pandemia que acabaría con la raza humana. Luego estaban los que decían la verdad: los avances tecnológicos que nos llevarían a La Luna aceleraría nuestro progreso en casi todos los aspectos; desarrollando nuestra capacidad de comunicarnos por celulares, preservar alimentos por mucho más tiempo y poner a popa los límites de nuestro sistema solar y más allá. 

Imaginen a un chiquillo, con su uniforme de escuela católica, de camisa manga corta celeste y corbata, shorts de vestir azules, medias oscuras y zapatos de vestir negros bien embetunados. Sentado en una silla a la par de mi abuelo José Andrés Arce Fernández, entonces con sesenta y cuatro, contador por profesión. De seguro había alguien más en esa sala, pero no me es claro quién. De seguro hasta vecinos, porque la televisión no era cosa de todos. De blanco y negro, apoyado en cuatro patas, con una antena que se elevaba a buena altura del suelo y con programación luego del medio día, a diferencia de las veinticuatro horas hoy conocidas.

Television de Costa Rica hace la transmisión sobre los eventos de July 20, 1969

  

Los reporteros costarricenses comentaban y traducían al español la cobertura del reportero americano de CBS Walter Cronkite, el hombre más confiable de Estados Unidos. Luego de un viaje de 4 días, mi atención se fijó en las imágenes turbias del módulo lunar del Apollo XI. Las escaleras a la superficie lunar no parecían reales. Y entonces Neil Armstrong, con treinta y ocho años, pisa La Luna, con la frase inmortal “un pequeño paso para el hombre, un gran salto para la humanidad”. Poco después se le une Buzz Aldrin, e instalan un placa que reza “aquí hombres del planeta Tierra pisaron La Luna por primera vez, en Julio de 1969, venían en paz de parte de toda la humanidad”, elevaron la bandera estadounidense y se comunicaron con el presidente Nixon. 

En ese preciso momento mi abuelo se acerca y me dice “mirá Luis, todo lo que el hombre ha logrado, y vos y yo lo estamos viendo juntos!” Todavía se me vienen lágrimas de emoción cuando recuerdo esto. Aún sigo optimista y soy fiel creyente de la bondad en la raza humana.

Luis y su gran amigo y abuelo Jose Andres Arce Fernandez - 1964



Luis Lobo

Con traducción de Tomas Alfaro, desde Costa Rica en la América Central.

LUNAR LANDING, 1969

I remember July 20^th, 1969 like it was yesterday.  I was 8, in the 2^nd grade, living with my grandparents in Costa Rica since our abrupt return on Christmas Day, 1967. Our world had recently been turned up side down. My brother Roberto was born in Amsterdam, NY in 1967, he was breech and they sedated my mother, whom soon after went into a post-partum depression. We all returned to Costa Rica without my Dad, who was committed to achieving the American Dream.

Luis G. Lobo 

In later years, once returned to the United States, I read extensively about President John F. Kennedy, his life as a sickly young boy, devouring history books; not unlike my own natural tendency to escape into stories of ancient Greece and Rome, military history, and an expanding devotion to the study of leadership (Caesar, Augustus, Alexander, Churchill, Hitler, Roosevelt, Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, Van Richtoffen, Bismarck, Rommel, Marshall, etc.) .

In the post-World War II period there existed a life and death struggle between our version of freedom and totalitarianism disguised as people’s liberation movements in China and the Soviet Union, soon spreading to Cuba; 90 miles from U.S. shores.  In 1961, the covert and U.S. supported Bay of Pigs invasion had failed, and a young President Kennedy had been humiliated.  There had been redemption upon the 13-day standoff that quarantined Cuba during October of 1962, with the Russians agreeing to withdraw ballistic missiles from “that imprisoned island”.  Given the 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite, it became evident that a “race for space” was also in contention.  First in May of 1961 and forcefully again at Rice University in September of 1962 Kennedy committed:

We choose to go to the Moon! …^] We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win…

President Kennedy would not live to see the goal accomplished as he was assassinated on November 22, 1963 – a “date that lives in infamy” not unlike December 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

Upon our return to Costa Rica, our grandparents had enrolled my brother Carlos and I at Colegio Marista in Alajuela, run by the Catholic Marist Brothers.  I remember conversations about how men would land on the moon by the students and Brother Jose, my second-grade teacher, a strict and loving educator, seeing advertisements about the lunar landing in local retail store promotions and on cereal boxes. I believe my grandfather purchased our first television set, with significant pressure from my grandmother Felicia and my aunts Herminia and Cecilia, in order to watch the incredible event.

There were rumors that God would forbid man to overstep his earthly bounds, that men would disintegrate due to cosmic rays once they stepped on the lunar surface, that disease would be brought back and destroy mankind.  Then, there were the truth-tellers:  the technological advances leading up to the climactic event would accelerate our technology in nearly all aspects; leading to our ability to communicate on cell phones, preserve food for years, and glimpse the outer limits of our own solar system and beyond.

Picture a young boy, wearing his Catholic school uniform of short-sleeved light-blue shirt and elastic band blue tie, blue dress shorts, dark socks and black leather lace-up shoes. I am sitting on a chair beside my grandfather Jose Andres Arce Fernandez, then 64, an accountant by trade. I am sure there were other people in the room that afternoon, but I do not recall whom, maybe even neighbors, as televisions were still not prevalent.  The television was black and white, on four legs, with an antenna sticking several feet into the air, and most programing began at mid-day, not the 24-hour cycle we have today.

Walter Cronkite cadena de CBS

There was commentary from Costa Rican news anchors, who were translating into Spanish, given U.S. coverage of the event by Walter Cronkite , the most trusted man in America.  After a 4-day journey, the grainy images of Apollo XI’s lunar module on the moon’s surface fixed my attention. The stairs leading down from the lunar module did not look real. Then astronaut Neil Armstrong, 38 years old, steps on the lunar surface and speaks the immortal words “ that is one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind”.  Soon after Buzz Aldrin joins him, and they install a plaque that says, “here men from the plant earth, first stepped foot on the moon, July 1969, they came in peace for all mankind”. They plant the U.S. flag, and have a conversation with President Richard Nixon.

At that very moment grandfather turns to me, and says: “Luis, look at what man has accomplished, and you and I are able to see it together!”  My eyes still water with great emotion when I think about it. I remain an optimist and believe in the goodness of the human race.

Luis Lobo

 Franklin Chan is a Costa Rican-American and NASA astronaut. Because of his immigration case in the courts of Costa Rica, Costarricenses are able to gain dual citizenship around the world. BTW, he is of Chinese lineage....