Thursday, July 21, 2011

doing good -- doing better



The San Miguel education of Steve Cotton continues.


Today was Do Gooder day.


Now, I know a lot of you think of “Do Gooder” as a pejorative.  If you do, you are most likely confusing it with its genetic mutants: “Officious Meddler” and “Make Me Feel Better About Myselfer.”


Babs and I spent part of our afternoon at the real McCoy.  A fundraiser for Mujeres en Cambio de San Miguel de Allende.  The group was formed to provide middle school, high school, and university scholarships to Mexican girls in rural communities. 


Those of you who have read the blogs of parents with children in Mexican schools know of the additional expenses every family faces in keeping children in school.  For rural families, the expense is often prohibitive.  And girls are the first to lose out.

 
The function was held at Patsy’s Place.  A lovely rancho on the road to Dolores Hidalgo.


This was not going to be a soup kitchen affair.  The tables were well-appointed and the women were dressed as if attending any fundraiser in Marin County.  It was a place To Be Seen.


The meal was delicious.  And the pitch was well-delivered when everyone had finished eating.  But, as I watched the hat being passed for donations, the take certainly did not seem to match the outfits in the room.


And this lunch gave me an opportunity to see the side of the San Miguel that made me reluctant to visit in the first place.  I would estimate that 90% of the people in the room were salt of the earth people.


But it only takes one or two to create a negative impression.  The type of people who get their ideas straight for their own publications and can only speak in sound bites.  The repeated use of the phrase “I hate” is usually a dead giveaway that you are about to hear something that is concurrently conclusory and vacuous.


But It was a good cause.  And I enjoyed most of the company. 

 
On the way back to San Miguel, we stopped at the Sanctuary of Atotonilco.  It is another of those 17th century churches associated with a vision.  In this one, Jesus, wearing a crown of thorns and carrying a cross, appeared to Father Luis Felipe Neri de Alfaroion, and requested a church to be built in the desert scrub bush.


And there it still stands.  A new UNESCO World Heritage site.


The sanctuary is interesting historically and architecturally.  The history is fleeting.  But it was from this church that the warrior-priest grabbed the banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe to begin his journey in 1810 to Dolores Hidalgo to declare independence -- and then on to Guanajuato to massacre a bunch of Spanish families.


The architectural interest is the interior of the church.  It is covered with paintings on the walls and the ceiling -- to the point it is often called the “Sistine Chapel of Mexico.”

 


The comparison is apt in the scope of the project, but not its artistic quality.  Much of the painting has recently been restored.  The church is built over an old spring where the Indians would bathe nude.  The humidity has caused a good deal of damage to the walls and the paintings.


What has been restored reflects the plain style of Flemish painters – the inspiration for the series of scenes from the life of Jesus.


As we sat and looked at the opulence of this little chapel, we talked about the many Indian lives that were lost in the conquest, and in the mining of the silver and gold that made these churches possible.  But, even knowing that history, busloads of their descendants pour in to this church to worship.


And that made me remember that hat being passed around earlier in the afternoon.  The peso notes would not have paid for anything in the church.  Maybe that is a parable that when we choose to do good, sometimes we need to do better.


”For where your wealth is, there your heart will be also.” 

26 comments:

Babsofsanmiguel said...

Lovely photos of the interior and exterior of the church.

Steve Cotton said...

Good photographs of a good day.

Marc Olson said...

I re-read your last two paragraphs a couple of times. Well said.

Steve Cotton said...

Thanks, Marc. It is interesting how most thjings in our day seem to link to one another.

Laurie Matherne said...

It has been my experience that wealthy people are quite often stingy, in comparison to their means. Ten percent? Unheard of! And yet, the poor, the ones I work with, will often give of their own daily food to a starving child. I wonder what Judgment will look like. Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. Naked Indians and Ladies Doing Good Works. Makes you think a bit, doesn't it? 

Steve Cotton said...

I thought about your work in Honduras as I was writing the post.  When I worked with the Salvation Army, I often saw some of our congregants who barely had enough to live on reach in their pocket and help another person who had come to the church in need.  And we wonder why it is so easy for politicians to pull the "soak the rich" card. 

John Calypso said...

It is hard to say what people are giving - sometimes people have already committed their budgets worth of dough for some other cause. I tend to never second guess a giver - as you quoted, ”For where your wealth is, there your heart will be also.” It is sometimes difficult to know where someone's heart is.One thing is for sure - there is no shortage of places to help.Excellent pictures!

Steve Cotton said...

All very good points.  I was struck more with the juxtaposition of need and contribution.  As a fundraiser, I know how difficult the task is.

NWexican said...

How's that go, "easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”?    Sumpin like dat.

tancho said...

Having done fundraisers I always found the new rich always gave what they could, but the old rich for the most part thought their presence was sufficient. Also the old rich always wanted their name to be associated with the donation, but the people giving from the heart avoided the publicity.
Perhaps one day the Church of the people will let loose with a more tidy sum instead of owning tons of properties that help no one........
One can pray.
I always found it disturbing that people would come to an obvious fundraiser even and then either not toss in any money or not do anything else except stuff their face and feel that that was their grandiose support.

ANM said...

My guess is that even God, should there be one or two or twelve, would have trouble developing a calculus by which to judge the goodness of the separate lives of individuals. 

My childish dream is that one day a moral control chart, displaying upper and lower control limits of human good behavior, will appear to me in a vision, along with my own individual point plots, giving me a quick insight into how I am doing in terms of the entire process.

I do not, however, really expect that day to arrive.  I doubt Ed Deming is big reading, even in the hereafter.

ANM

Steve Cotton said...

Of course, it is always possible to analyze without quantifying.  One of the joys of Mexico is that quantification is an almost unknown quantity.

Steve Cotton said...

One thing I have noticed about San Miguel is that it has a large number of contribution-supported groups -- and a limited number of people to shake down.  That could also be a factor for the low denomination notes in the hat.

Steve Cotton said...

I think we have hit a theme here.

Mcotton said...

It isn't for us to look into the hearts of others to judge.  It is for us to look into our own hearts.

Steve Cotton said...

I couldn't agree more.

NWexican said...

Agreed and guilty.

Andres said...

Seems like a large portion of the funds went to Patsy's Place rather than Mujeres in Cambio

Steve Cotton said...

You can always count on my mother to set us straight.

Steve Cotton said...

Not so. Patsy and members of the organization's board kindly donated the drinks and food. And Patsy handed over her place for the luncheon. Plus doing all of the cooking. Almost all of the tickets proceeds went directly to the scholarships. I am glad you asked that question -- just in case anyone else had drawn the wrong conclusion.

jennifer rose said...

Realizing that most of the $250 ticket price went to the scholarship fund may explain why participants may have been hesitant to throw more money into the basket. When those of the Charitable Class must attend at least one fund-raiser a week to maintain their membership, that can be taxing upon even the wealthiest. And remember, more of the big money doesn't land in the collection basket but instead is quietly handed over. 

Steve Cotton said...

Good points as always.  Being of the Charitable Class I understand your position.  But it was still a bit jarring to have the two images juxtaposed.  And that is what writers do.  We merely ask people to think.

ANM said...

To objectify is not necessarily to quantify.  I objectify pain from "ain't no thing" to "put a bullet in my head".  Measurement has taken place.  I have objectified the experience.  But no numbers.

ANM

Steve Cotton said...

Ah, sir, I do believe you have merely taken a condition and reduced it to a metaphor.  From what I heard today, that would make you a genius on a par with Tolstoy.

ANM said...

I'll just take that compliment and keep my mouth shut. 

Steve Cotton said...

Ah, the Walla Walla civility route.