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COMMENTARY AND OBSERVATIONS;
A lot of folks ask my opinion of things, but at this stage in life, I not even that interested in my own opinions. Folks who have questions, however, about issues affecting Mexico can feel free to email me for a private commentary concerning immigration, drug wars, trade issues, press coverage about Mexico and Latin America, and such matters.
My take is a bit different from the established opinion molders and thinkers. My observations come from a decidedly conservative point-of-view. My concern is not so much about helping the poor as it is with the idea of trying to make everybody rich. I have noticed in my years that rich people always seem to have more money than poor people....and that their teeth are straighter and better.
The priest at almost every Episcopal Church where I ever attended mass would almost always declare that "....it is better to give than to receive." So, if it is better to give, it is probably a good idea to have something to give.
Of course, if one has resources but no basic catechism concerning the right conduct of life then it's really no good to have any resources anyway. Reference O.J. Simpson and that poor, fat blond girl whose casket would not fit through the passenger door of the plane taking her remains back to the Bahamas.
In any regard, my observations tend not to be informed by the national press, but rather by personal reading and expericnce. I think I went to a movie once, and I use television programming as a sedative. Some effort is given over to watching FOX News, but I turn off the volume whenever more than 350 people are on screen speaking at the same time. Admittedly, there are a few programs on the learning, science, history, and cooking channels that will catch my attention.....and I have been known to go to sleep frequently while listening to overnight radio.
One thing I have noticed that is of interest while living at our little abode Quinta is the fact that almost all the dogs and most all of the cats in our little community are vacinated against rabies. This is amazing since one would assume that these marauding herds of dogs....these scores and scores of loping, limping mutts, hounds, and scarred canines are simply a natural resource fixture. One could spend a lifetime simply cataloging the number and types of injuries these animals rack up.....they must count themselves lucky to have a remaining ear or four simulateously un-broken legs.
True enough, that even the cats must pay for the privilege of living in this particular version of paradise....for when the Gringo says..."Thank goodness that old Spike the Cat has nine lives...." the local will always correct the Gringo and say "....siete vidas....siete..." And, once again, true enough, rural Mexican cats are given only seven lives when Saints Peter and Francis of Assisi send them down.
I told a girl one time that this was one of the conditions of the the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the war between Mexico and the United States, that the Gringos would have to take one cat life from the normal eight given to all cats at that time.....so that from then and until all times Gringos would have to endure cats with nine lives and Mexicans would only have to suffer them through seven. Therefore, it can be assumed that the Mexicans actually won the war.
But, I diverge.....The truly amazing thing is that once or twice a year a vehicle will move through the community and blare forth that "tomorrow" will be "dia de vacunacion" and better yet..."vacunas gratuitas"...And, almost always "tomorrow" the trucks, the doctors, the nurses all arrive...gradually working their way through throngs of dogs being guided, lugged, hauled, and yanked up to the dogs' notion of what a guillotine must be to them. I shall never forget the image of the woman holding one small dog by the foreleg (clear off the ground) and a cat by the scruff and waiting patiently 20 minutes or so for her turn in line.
And then, true to their words, State of Tamaulipas Animal Health Service and the Federal Secretariat of Health and Assistance remind the folks that the service is "gratuito". Sort of a "your tax dollars at work" so to speak. And almost always, when someone is bitten or growled at too fiercely, the owner of the beast will come out with a ragged paper, officially signed and sealed and dated...."This dog, Napoleon Bonaparte (Garcia) was duly vaccinated on this the blah, blah day of blah, blah, blah". And stranger yet....I have yet to hear of any case of rabies anywhere around......ever. |