When It's All You Know - The CIRCO and Ponce Family

Photo by danjaeger

Most of us are the product of who raised us. We either were influenced to be who we are, today, by the roots laid for us during our childhood or the total opposite.

I recently watched an Independent Lens documentary called, CIRCO (Circus), in which the Ponce family only knows the circus life.


They travel through Mexico and other parts to entertain. This had been a tradition for years past for them. Some of the little children have committed spirits for the CIRCO and see it as being who they are until death. This also leads to some of the children forfeiting an education to learn to read and write.

When it's all you know, how can anyone fault their passion and commitment to it?


I do think about many children today and how they have no one to be their role models other than the people who they are raised by, good or bad.


As one gets old enough to see beyond the conditions they once could not control, one wonders if they would want to leave behind the old and enter a world of the unknown with a potential for a better existence or purpose.


Looking back from my childhood to now, I see what was and desire to be more for myself and others. However, being better comes with a price, sacrifice, and hardwork that sometimes goes unthanked, but my "was" is all that I knew and now I work for a better future.


What do you think of the Ponce family story and their Circo life?

Learn more about the Ponce Family and their CIRCO on PBS.org and when it airs at: http://video.pbs.org/video/2208192665/ or watch preview below.

Watch Meet the Ponce Family Circus! on PBS. See more from Independent Lens.