Abel Fonseca is a San Benito native, boxer, boxing coach, and a longtime Site Coordinator for the San Benito CISD ACE Program at Miller Jordan Middle School and Collegiate Academy. He can be reached at afonseca@sbcisd.net.
Every morning in San Benito, the alarms go off. We all wake up, get out of bed, and do the exact same thing. We go to work, go to school, or look for a new job, just to earn money to pay bills so we can live.
It feels like we are on a giant treadmill that never stops. We work hard, but the money just goes to rich companies, keeping them rich.
A long time ago, a rich man named John D. Rockefeller said he wanted a world of workers, not thinkers.
He helped set up the school and job system to work this way. Today, we are still caught in that loop. But we do not have to live like this forever.
We can change things right here in our own town if we start working together as a neighborhood.
Water and Power Should Be Free
Think about the things we need to stay alive. Why do we have to pay so much money for them?
Take water, for example. We are surrounded by water. It falls from the sky for free. It is the most natural thing on Earth.
Yet, we have to pay a bill just to drink it, cook with it, or wash our hands. That makes no sense. If we dig community water wells and share them, multiple houses could get clean water without paying a big company.
It is the same story with electricity. The sun shines on our roofs every single day. The wind blows for free.
We have the tools to generate our own power right now. Every house should have free energy. If we pool our resources and install solar panels for the neighborhood, we could eliminate electric bills for good.
Free Food on Every Corner
Many of us remember staying at our grandmother’s house when we were kids. You could walk out the back door and pick wild blackberries or grab a peach straight off the tree. It was the best thing in the world, and it cost a dime.
Why can’t our neighborhoods look like that today? We have public parks, empty dirt lots, and school yards. We should plant fruit and vegetable trees all over San Benito.
Imagine walking down the street and picking free pecans, figs, or oranges whenever you are hungry. Food should grow everywhere for free so nobody goes to bed with an empty stomach.
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
The current system wants us to stand alone and just buy things.
Think about how much money we waste on things we barely use. Why should every house on the block buy its own lawnmower, weed whacker, or shovel?
Most of the time, those tools just sit in a garage, gathering dust.
Instead, we can build community tool-sharing sheds. Imagine needing to cut your grass, fix a leaky pipe under the sink, or patch a hole in your roof.
You wouldn’t need to drive to a big-box store and spend hundreds of dollars you don’t have.
Instead, you could just walk down the street to the neighborhood shed. You can borrow a shovel, a lawnmower, a ladder, or a hammer for free.
You do your yard work or home repairs, then bring it back when you are done so the next neighbor can use it. This saves everyone money and keeps our neighborhood beautiful.
Think about the lottery, too. People win millions of dollars on a ticket, but that money does not help those who need it most.
Instead of waiting for a miracle, we can help each other right now. We can build small, simple village-style houses for people living on the streets, giving everyone a safe place to sleep.
We need to get back to basics.
We can start tool sheds, donate seeds, and teach each other to fix cars or grow food.
When a community can feed itself, generate its own power, and share its tools, we no longer have to rely on big companies.