Good Night - Buenos Dias

During my lifetime I have been blessed to live outside of the United States. I see this as a blessing because while living in these other places, I could clearly see all of the things that we take for granted here in America. My time spent in those third world countries helped me see that we tend to be both wasteful and unappreciative.

In addition to opening my eyes to see how wealthy I truly was as an American Citizen, my interactions with some of the people in those countries forced me to put action to some of my beliefs and convictions. One of these life altering interactions took place between my family and I and a young Panamanian man who went by the name of Renee. (Pronounced ray nay.)

I can still remember our first encounter. It was another hot day, my family and I had retreated to one of the back bedrooms where it was much cooler. We were watching a movie, when we heard this deep voice booming through the window. "Good Night!" I thought I was imagining things but the look on my family's faces said that they had heard it also. We were about to ask each other what it was when we heard it again. "Good Night!"

I stood up and looked out the window and saw two eyes looking back at me. I told my wife that someone was out there. Again we heard it "Good Night!" "I think he wants something" " my wife said. "What?" I replied. "Go out there and see." So I made my way out there to see what my jovial guest wanted. He had a limited English vocabulary and my Spanish wasn't the greatest, I could understand it better than I could speak it. After a few moments of talking, I discovered that his name was Renee. He wanted to know if he could earn a few dollars by washing my car.

I told him that I had just washed my car. He then offered to do some yard work for me, but I informed him that I had a gardener who took care of my yard. Renee responded that he couldn't tell by looking. If nothing else he was persistent, and the entire time we talked he had a big kool aid smile on his face, even when I was turning him down. I'm not sure what it was about him, but I liked him. After a little more conversation, I discovered that he worked several jobs and he also went from house to house looking for extra work to raise money to help care for his family.

One of his children had become very ill and was in the hospital. The medical expenses were putting an extra burden on his already poor family. He insisted that he did not want a hand out, but would rather work to earn the money. I did not have any work for him at that moment so I made a deal with him, I gave him some money with the promise that he would come back on the weekend and wash my car for me. He agreed, we shook hands and he departed.

After he left I couldn't help but wonder if I had just been suckered. I wasn't sure if he would show up or not. The weekend came and no sign of Renee, that is not until later that afternoon just as I was sitting down with my family to eat, we heard that familiar "Good Night!" I went out to greet him, he came prepared bringing his own towels and a bottle of what he called his miracle polish. He guaranteed me that by the time he was done my car would look brand new.

Before he started I wanted to make sure we were both on the same sheet of music. "I paid you already for this right?" He just smiled at me shook his head yes and said "No Problem!" Renee went to work and I went back to my dinner. An hour went by and I decided to go out and check on him.

He was not kidding around. I had never seen my car look so good. If he would have asked me for more money at that moment, I would have given it to him. He didn't ask me for money, but he did ask me for a hot dog. He had never had one before but he had heard that they were good. He was in luck I happened to have some. So I fixed him a couple of hot dogs, gave him some chips and something to drink. When It was time for him to go my wife and I gave him some hot dogs to take home to share with his family.

Over the next few months I saw a lot of Renee. He would come by regularly to maintain that showroom shine on my car and perform other odd jobs for me. Occasionally he would ask me for food instead of money.

Technically we weren't allowed to give food or items purchased on the base to people who didn't have privileges to shop there. However a military lawyer friend showed me a loophole, as long as the items weren't new and had been opened they could be given as a gift. So I explained this to Renee, and whenever I would give him food I would invite him to watch me open and then reseal the items so that he wouldn't think that I was poisoning the food.

My family and I grew to expect his voice in the late evening booming "Good Night!" In fact he actually became like one of the family. My oldest daughter would get a kick out of the way he said my name.

One evening Renee came by, it was much later than he would normally arrive, and there was a sadness in his voice, he didn't greet us with his usual cheerful "Good Night!" It was much softer. We went outside to discover a teary red eyed Renee. He was trying his best to keep his composure as he explained to us that his son had taken a turn for the worse and had died. Not knowing what to say we stood and cried with him, and consoled him, and asked what we could do to help him and his family.

Renee told us that he had managed to earn enough to cover the funeral, but he didn't have anything nice to wear. He wanted to know if I had an old pair of dress pants and a shirt he could borrow. My wife and I told him that we had something for him. We went inside to get one of my suits for him. While getting the suit we decided to give him a bunch of other new clothes that we really didn't need. By the time we were done we have given him something for his entire family. We gave him so much stuff there was no way that he was going to make it home with all of it, so we offered to give him a ride home.

When I first arrived in Panama, they gave me a map with certain sections marked in red. The rule was stay out of the areas marked red. Guess where Renee lived, smack dab in the middle of one of those red areas. So my wife and I loaded up the things and Renee and started driving him home.

The closer we made it to his home, the more I began to think that this was not such a good idea. The area looked really bad. There was still damage there from Operation Just Cause. There were bullet holes in the walls and large craters in the street from the mortar shells. Even one of the apartment buildings was missing a big chunk where a tank had fired at it. I was trying my best to avoid the massive craters in the street.

I couldn't help but wonder what I had gotten myself into. Here we were driving through one of the poorest areas of Panama in a shiny car. Just as I was questioning my decision, I drove right into one of those massive craters. The force ripped the muffler off of my car, which resulted in my car now sounding like one of those roaring monster cars. Instantly everyone in the neighborhood new we were there.

The noise from my car brought all of the neighbors out of their houses to see what was going on. You could tell by their expressions that no one ever drove down that street, especially Americans. I looked at all of those people coming outside, and then looked in the rear view mirror at Renee, who seemed to be unmoved by the whole thing. I looked over at my wife, whose expression reflected what I was thinking.

My thoughts were interrupted by Renee informing me that we had arrived at his house. I stopped the car and he hopped out and disappeared inside of one of the houses. By now all of the neighbors were making their way down the street toward us. I didn't have any idea what they had in mind, but I knew I wasn't about to let anything happen to me and my wife.

I was sitting there thinking of who I was going to have to take out first and which way escape route we were going to take. Again my thoughts were interrupted by Renee, as he reappeared from the house, this time with a group of people following him. He motioned to my wife and I to get out of the car. He then turned and said something in Spanish to the crowd. He was talking to fast for me to keep up with him. Whatever he said to them, they all turned and looked at us and then started walking toward us.

Bracing myself and preparing for the fight, the crowd moved right past my wife and I. The crowd picked up our car and held it up while a group of young men retrieved the muffler and then wielded it back onto the car. In a matter of moments the car was repaired.

The crowd then moved in around us as Renee explained to us that all of the food, money and clothing we had sent him home with in the past, had been shared with his family and his neighbors. He would come home and tell them tales about the Americans who looked like him (Black) and who treated him nice. He explained that his neighbors were pleased to meet the saints that they thought were too good to be true. Immediately I felt like a jerk for thinking bad things about them.

I learned a lot from Renee that year. I learned even more about myself from watching him. He didn't have much and yet he managed to be at peace. He worked harder than anyone I've ever met and yet he never complained. No matter what was going on he managed to have that big grin on his face. Often when I am tempted to grumble and complain, I am reminded of him and then I am encouraged to do better.

I often wonder how he and his family are doing. After moving back to America I have lost touch with him. Who knows maybe one of these days when I am on one of my trips, I will run into him again, and will be blessed to hear him bellow out "Good Night!"