The Pearl Quote.

6TH 2016 M. Cortines

Juan Tomás nodded gravely.
He was the elder, and Kino looked to him for wisdom. "It is hard to know," he said. "We do know that we are cheated from birth to the overcharge on our coffins. But we survive.You have defied not the pearl buyers, but the whole structure, the whole way of life, and I am afraid for you."

Cheated till death.

We are all cheated in life, some of more than others. Even when we are dead and gone are we cheated. We're made to pay for a coffin, funeral, and grave, only to be put in the cold wet earth, to rot for eternity. This world is crooked in many ways, including these cheats. Even though we are cheated, to try to defy these cheats breaks the system. It would cause the world to collapse. These cheats are what make the economy work.

Crooked, but needed.

Material things don't matter, because we are only cheated by those who wish to profit from the lesser people, and that as you go on throughout life you will be cheated. Even in death. Kino doesn't care about the pearl itself, he just wants to live a better life. For his child to go to school and know the truth of his people. But even in this is he cheated. We are cheat even in death. But these things can't happen without being cheated. There is no success without struggle.

A great example would be a national funeral, like JFK for example. Yes he was a great person, and we honor him, but imagine the cost. A copper (coffin-maker) Builds these coffins, out of beautiful woods and grains, only to be placed in the dirt, to decompose and never be seen again. We may think this system is bad, but its income. The copper, benefited from the customer, and the woodsman profited from the copper, and the lumberjack from the woodsman. Its a circle, that makes the world turn.