Machismo draws from that totality to a realization that there are no universal standards of justice, and order. That there is no honest and reliable scales of justice that distribute the goodness and the badness or anything else, fairly or evenly. One must make his own and live by their own standards respecting the value of others at the same time. The balancing of justice and injustice does not happen on its own nor by laws. People must assert themselves in order to attain or receive justice. It is a belief that people only have those rights that they can defend. It expects nothing from life. These are lessons that are learned early and engrained daily in the world in which the Chicano finds himself. Machismo is a value system that developed as a means of coping with the people and the world at large. It is a value system that enables people to live their life with a measurable degree of integrity, self reliance and dignity.
The Chicano begins life from an entirely different orientation. Anthropologist Don Porath talks about the individualism of the Chicano in terms of Personalizmo. He says:
The Chicano receives the uniqueness of his being very early in life and in an ascribed manner. It is only left for him to discover who he is. From the moment of his conception, he is unique and this uniqueness will be impressed on him from as early as he can remember. He need not achieve self. What the Chicano may become is a matter of great pride for both himself and his family. Thus we note the transcendental quality of his ego, but it will matter little if his success is very great, because he will always have that uniqueness that no other person can have. Personalismo of the Chicano does not manifest itself in the same way that the "individualism" of the Anglo manifests itself. The Chicano does not have to earn his personalismo, it is his from first-he only has to discover its nature."
The Chicano learns that his world is full of people each of which have an important place and each of which require his respect (courtesy and respect are the elements that ward off the alienation and isolation in the world in which he must live).
The Chicano learns to work with all people, learns his responsibility; or more correctly, learns to respect the life space of all others. Freedom outside of the responsibility of respect for the Personalismo cannot exist. The insistence (pressed by the schools of this country) on his becoming what the Anglo sees as independent and competitive, drives a wedge between the Chicano and his family. The individualism of the Anglo revolves around his ability to outdo, outshine, or outsmart another individual. The Personalismo of the Chicano is inherent in all being and does not rest on a comparison in the same sense.
Until the Chicano stands on the same plane with the forces, institutions and people that control his life, Chicanos say, there can be no peace. We cannot be given "freedom" nor can we ask for it. Either we are Freedom, as Alurista, the Chicano poet says, or we must make that Freedom, and then deal with other people as equals. Until then, there can be no peace. Chicanos do not ask for or accept charity.
The Machismo of the Chicano is much the same as in the ritual of the bullfighter in his encounter with death. Death is a part of the environment in the world of the Chicano. The Chicano is a part of nature and not independent or separate of it. Death is at the root of his life; it is inevitable and the Chicano knows that he must face death alone just as he must face life alone Machismo is the "warrior" that Don Juan talks about, that must face each living act as if it were to be his last act-alone.
Here again, the "code" that will direct his behavior is integrity, independence, and self-reliance.
