In reality Puerto Ricans have changed dramatically in the last thirty years, and not necessarily for the better. We are increasingly living in social isolation from one another, an isolation that has led to political passivity, even in the face of current outrages like massive welfare dependency, rampant crime, vandalism, ecological damage to the island and growing income inequity. In fact we view dependency not as a stigma but as the art of not being "pendejos", taking advantage of what Gringos are willing to give us without too much trouble.
Isolation from one another has increased ten fold. Now-a-days people may pass one another in the street within intimate urban spaces, however many are so absorbed with their hand-held electronic devices that they scarcely register one another’s presence. Driving on the road has become a hazard as people talk on their cell phones, and heaven for bid you should point it out to them. You'll then recieve a barrage of…show more content… Since the 60's Puerto Ricans have scattered out of the towns, which were once filled with social mingling in the Plazas and have scattered over the landscape in the process of suburbanization, spreading cement and garbage over a once verdant landscape.
The Puerto Rican dream, following on the foot steps of the “American Dream” — promulgated through advertising media — of owning a million electronic devices, a detached house, a lawn and the requisite one, two or more automobiles —has fostered the habit and acceptance of borrowing as a way of life. We're up to our necks in debt! But as one "come mierda" matron from the Lions club once told me, " Hay que vivir la vida y gozarla y no ser pendejos, aunque estemos
