The Price of Greed
Cristina Garcia's short story "Tito's Good-bye" describes the last seconds of a man's life in the instant he is hit with a massive heart attack. Tito tries to reminisce about his past during his last few seconds and wonders where he went wrong with his relationship with his family. Tito is consumed by money and the story shows us how greed and money inevitably cannot buy love and happiness.
Tito is described as a masculine man who reminds me of the men who appear in The Godfather. Tito constantly tries to make money by taking advantage of immigrants and leads a rather sad and pitiful life, which is highlighted during his last seconds of his life. Tito, like most people, loves money and believes that money is can bring happiness. To pursue his love for money, he has forsaken his family. He has given up his relationships with his wife, daughter, son, brothers and sister. Instead, he focuses on trying to earn even more money, even going as far as sending his secretory home early to save on her pay. I sympathize with Tito on these aspects as I too, am consumed by money as I measure happiness and success with money. Ever since I was young, I have always had an interest for money. This interest started young, due to the many fights my parents had because of financial reasons, which made me equate money with happiness. As I started growing up, I realized that money can bring a certain amount of happiness. For example, buying whatever I want without having to feel worried that I was running low on money, going to fancy restaurants to eat delicious food, and having the leisure to travel around the world. Though I know that money cannot buy better relationships with my family, it definitely does give me happiness in other ways. Ever since I was a child, my parents always told me that I had to be rich when I grew up. This is because when my parents first moved to Singapore, they only had a few hundred dollars between them and they had to struggle initially. Since my parents know of the hardships of poverty, they do not want me to go through what they went through and therefore, always instilled in me the idea of being rich and successful. My father often jokes about the situation by saying "I wish my daughter would marry a man who drove a Bentley." Though it is meant as a light joke, it inspires me even more to become successful and earn a steady income to buy my own Bentley car. I may not be as consumed by money as Tito, but I definitely do have the desire to be rich, which makes me sympathize with Tito.
However, it is clear that money did not bring Tito love and happiness in the end as he can be seen regretting his life decisions during his last few seconds. Money has not given him a moment for "the luxury of nostalgia", for remembering his mother's cheek, his father's hands, or his daughter's childhood dance. Money did not give him the time to help save the desperate immigrants, call his brothers and sister, or make his estranged wife happy. In his futile attempt during his last seconds, Tito is only able to utter the word "Coño" which is ironic and sad at the same time. His dead body is only to be found after a couple of days by his mistress and none of his family members showed up at his funeral. These, although a little dramatic, depicts the price of greed. Through this story, we are able to learn that money cannot bring love and happiness and that family ties are truly the most important thing in life. We should always treasure and cherish family members now as no one can tell when someone might have a heart attack and pass on. Money truly is not the number one thing I should be aiming for. In this day and age, money is indeed important, making it easier for people to become preoccupied with money and put family relationships on hold. We should be aware of the price of greed. However, the majority of people fail to notice the negative effects of greed as we are too consumed with greed itself.
Everyone loves money and many of us often equate money as happiness, much like Tito. Although the importance of money and family is subjective, through this story, I have realized that though I like money and want to earn money, I do not want to strain my family relationships like Tito did. As cliché as it sounds, money truly does not bring love and happiness. Money does make life easier and more enjoyable, however, if there is no one around you to share such happiness with, it is truly pointless.
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