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| 17.7.06 |
| Dancing with a human being |
I am used to finding people from U.S.A. not too much communicative. They do not speak much about their personal lifes except if you make some questions, and sometimes so much questions that I do not feel comfortable. But when I met people from other countries, perhaps because they feel more neccesary communication staying in a stranger place -like me-, this changes. We can go deep in a conversation fast and know a lot of interesting details about each other. And when this happens by chance while you just go out for leisure it is a reward.
Last saturday night I went to enjoy dancing salsa and merengue at "Spanish Fly", a new bar in Columbia Downtown. There I ran into a man from El Salvador, and he told me a really sad and hard story about his life in his country and what he experienced to get here. A story that we can easily find on the media news, but the influence of knowing this directly from a person who has lived it is much bigger.
He was fighting in the Civil War of El Salvador -which lasted 12 years- and he does not know if he killed people, but for him there was not another option than shooting. The then-Gobernment recruited people with a simple proposition: fight against the communist side or been killed in the same moment. I think that the war is not a good idea to resolve a conflict, and I never thought being comfortable with a person who has killed somebody, but after listening to this... could I say that this person is really bad or wrong for doing this? When your total life, your survival depends completely on the death of others, could we ask somebody to be a martyr? Is the human being a hero when she/he gives more value to the life of others or when her/his instinct and nature cryes out for survival?
Talking about this Nietzsche and his philosophy knocks on my door, and specially the texts from his book "The Antichrist". I really think that Christian religion, with a lot of years trying to model people, has made a big influence in the distinction between good and bad, either we are Christians or not, either we believe in god or we are atheist. And here I am trying to find an answer for all this questions and I cannot and I cannot judge this person. And If I wanted to find somebody guilty, it would be the then-Government, just because it did not respect the most important: the freedom of this man to decide.
After the Civil War he came to U.S.A. as many other immigrants do: without the legal permission of the Gobernment of The United States of America, just because they decided, and just because of this living a lot of risks. Crossing the Mexico dessert during days only with a bottle of water, riding in the low part of a train or a truck..., almost dying. I cannot even imagine it. The same person who was taking part in war, was later suffering because there are people who think it is morally good to determine other's life and put punishment if they do not do what they want others to do.
I never stop to be amazed of my species. Was I dancing with a killer, with a victim? I was dancing with a human being. |
posted by Laura R. C. @ 18:25   |
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| Quién es Yo? |
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 This is a bilingual -Spanish and English- space to set free
creativeness and uphold communication. It is the negation of the maxim that recommends people to be conformist and quiet: "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". See, hear and speak with me!
Laura R. C. Columbia MO (USA).
Para curiosos/Glance at
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| mirada objetivada |
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| el bolso de Poppins |
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| salgamos a pasear |
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| interesting columbia |
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