I do not like writing about other people's tragedies. I do not even like being around grief.
And I think I know why. I was raised in a religious tradition where comfort to the grieving and service to the needy was an act of showing God's love. But, just as often, I was a witness to what I have dubbed "grief vampires." They are the people who show up at every funeral or hospital bed seeming almost to live off of the grief of others. There is no comfort. No solace. Merely feeding on the black bread of the morose.
That is why I am reluctant to write on the terrorist tragedy that happened on Monday night in Morelia. A day of national celebration shrouded by the terror that has become so familiar during the last 50 years. Belfast. Beirut. Baghdad. And now -- Morelia.
I do not live in Mexico, but I will. And once I finish my trial run in Melaque, I intend to head to the hills around Morelia. So, in a way, I could feel the joy stripped away when I read Jennifer Rose's commentary on this inexcusable act of terror.
I felt sad. I felt stunned. I felt angry.
But, more than anything else, I realized that Mexico is truly at a tipping point in its attempt to bring the drug lords under control. One side is going to prevail. A long term solution is for the United States to legalize drugs and stop this incidental violence in neighboring countries. But that is the long term.
In the short term, this Mexican government must do what its many predecessors failed to do: take back the country from the drug lords and their corrupt local allies. And that will not happen as long as both groups are protected by their neighbors. And this act of stupidity and inhumanity on the part of the narcos may show how the drug lords have no regard for the common people of Mexico. They are no better than any of the other elites who have oppressed the poor.
As I watched the emergency teams tend to the wounded and recover the dead, I was reminded of another speech given under similar circumstances:
Jennifer is on the front lines of this battle. She has been brave enough to stand up, as a Mexican citizen, to say enough is enough. I hope to be able to do the same when I head south. This incident is not scaring me off. It is driving me to Mexico.
It's their turn to be afraid.
And I think I know why. I was raised in a religious tradition where comfort to the grieving and service to the needy was an act of showing God's love. But, just as often, I was a witness to what I have dubbed "grief vampires." They are the people who show up at every funeral or hospital bed seeming almost to live off of the grief of others. There is no comfort. No solace. Merely feeding on the black bread of the morose.
That is why I am reluctant to write on the terrorist tragedy that happened on Monday night in Morelia. A day of national celebration shrouded by the terror that has become so familiar during the last 50 years. Belfast. Beirut. Baghdad. And now -- Morelia.
I do not live in Mexico, but I will. And once I finish my trial run in Melaque, I intend to head to the hills around Morelia. So, in a way, I could feel the joy stripped away when I read Jennifer Rose's commentary on this inexcusable act of terror.
I felt sad. I felt stunned. I felt angry.
But, more than anything else, I realized that Mexico is truly at a tipping point in its attempt to bring the drug lords under control. One side is going to prevail. A long term solution is for the United States to legalize drugs and stop this incidental violence in neighboring countries. But that is the long term.
In the short term, this Mexican government must do what its many predecessors failed to do: take back the country from the drug lords and their corrupt local allies. And that will not happen as long as both groups are protected by their neighbors. And this act of stupidity and inhumanity on the part of the narcos may show how the drug lords have no regard for the common people of Mexico. They are no better than any of the other elites who have oppressed the poor.
As I watched the emergency teams tend to the wounded and recover the dead, I was reminded of another speech given under similar circumstances:
Terror is not a legitimate system of persuasion. And to those who commit the
atrocities I say, we will no longer tolerate, we will no longer negotiate, and
we will no longer be afraid.
It's your turn to be afraid.
Jennifer is on the front lines of this battle. She has been brave enough to stand up, as a Mexican citizen, to say enough is enough. I hope to be able to do the same when I head south. This incident is not scaring me off. It is driving me to Mexico.
It's their turn to be afraid.
