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. Though Tito has earned a small fortune from desperate immigrants, the story shows us that 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". Although Tito is rich and successful in his business, he leads a rather sad and pitiful life, which is highlighted during his last seconds of his life. Tito, like the majority of the people, loves money and believes that money is equivalent to 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 greedy for money as I equate money with happiness and success. Ever since I was young, I have always had an obsession with money. I was taught to always save for a rainy day and my greed for money was born. To me, I have always taught about having a stable career and financial stability rather than getting married and having a family. This ideology is probably due to the many fights my parents had because of financial reasons and I therefore equate money with happiness.
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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