Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 175
As an engineer I was well aware of the laws of physics that require equal and opposite
reactions to achieve equilibrium, energy transfer to achieve entropy and voltage
differential to make electricity flow. I still often wonder if these laws have an equivalent
in the social world. In the mid 1960s, I worried if one day they would inexorably bring me
down. After a lifetime of wondering I am still not certain of the answer but I lean heavily
toward believing that socio-spiritual laws exist, in some form or another.
The Christian Gospels reveal that more than two thousand years ago, Jesus taught that
good deeds would be paid back manifold, and bad deeds punished equally well. He had
learned this from even more ancient philosophers. His silence on the subject of the
sustainability of happy times probably reflects the human inability to deserve happiness
all the time. I have no doubt that I encountered situations at various points in my life that
point to hidden social laws equivalent to my engineering principles, but I find no way to
formulate them. At any rate, in the late 1960s in Bolivia, though aware that they might
be around, I was undeterred by their possible existence.
In chapters 2 and 3 of this book I have described my political and value creation
activities, which I shared in full with my growing family, and which, I am sure, helped
form their early perceptions of life. Until mid-1969, when we moved to the new home I
built on the La Brisa de Aranjuez subdivision in Cochabamba, Kirsten and I lived and
worked in an independent apartment provided by my parents contiguous and connected
to their old colonial townhouse. My office was located at street level in the same
building. As a result my kids were part of the business from the start and we spent
almost every waking hour with them. We also saw my parents daily and my brothers
and sisters when they were there. After we moved to Aranjuez full time, my parents
spent most of their time in their adjoining villa also, and their home became, for us and
for our close friends, the Camelot of Cochabamba. Family unity and loyal friendships
were a serious matter and a source of joy.
Exercise has been a part of my life since high school days, and upon my return to
Bolivia I missed the good facilities I had left behind in Texas. I spent my days calling on
clients and trying to make myself known; evenings and nights were my productive time.
I was working 12 to 14 hours a day. Saturdays and Sundays I exploded in long sessions
of exercise and fun at a local public swimming pool where I met many like-minded
friends.
After five years of this “weekend warrior” approach to physical fitness I had a strong
wake-up call. One night just after my 29 th birthday I woke up with severe chest pains.
The grinding noise my heart was making woke my wife up. I was having a heart attack.
It was later confirmed that my pericardium (the membrane that envelops the heart) was
inflamed but that fortunately it had not damaged the heart muscle itself. It was a good
reason to find time to workout more frequently and to adopt a routine of at least five or
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