Gross National Toughness

I learned what it meant to contribute to Panama's gross national toughness last week. When I was a new volunteer, still fresh faced from training, I spoke with a veteran volunteer, and he shared his ideas about an innovative economic index that Panama could use to measure its riches in terms of its people's 'grit': gross national toughness. It would account for the sweat, blood, and tears shed daily in our communities.

Last week was my final week in site. Being so, my neighbors invited me to share a special meal with them Monday evening. I padded barefoot over the hill to their home at dusk and was not far into the journey when I felt a jarring pain in the toes of my right foot. I looked down to see my baby toe jutting out at almost a 3 o'clock position. I strained my foot muscles to try to encourage it back into position. My toe was not encouraged. After much ho-hum and a call to the Peace Corps doctor, I hobbled back to my hut, took a respectable dose of ibuprofen, and proceeded to set my toe, which required much squishing and wailing.

I nearly had my toe in place when a team of eight strong men arrived at my house to carry me out to the taxi stop in a hammock in the blackness of night. I put a halt to their good intentions, asked one of them help me to finish setting my little purple swollen toe in place, taped it with band aids, prepared them popcorn, and called it night: my pinkie contribution to Panama's gross national toughness.