The Mexico Connection

OK, I am really amped up about a particularly virulent dimension of the Swine Flu situation throttling the globe right now.

This is having to do with Mexico. “Everyone” is blaming Mexico for being ground zero of the outbreak. The US is not only the most vocal, one of the House Democrats from New York actually advocates shutting the border! Uh, first immigration, then the drug violence (which, ahem, is largely due to the ease of guns and artillery purchased in the US, to say nothing about the huge market for drugs in the US), and now disease are the reasons to slam the border door closed.

People, people, people! Will quarantining an entire country actually make a difference? This is clear evidence of fear running so amok that common decency, neighborly care and frankly logical thinking has disappeared.

I had lunch with a friend of mine today who had heard a Mexican government official say that Mexico is very embarrassed  that this purported epidemic is being blamed on Mexico.

Again, people! Doesnt this make you want to HELP not blame? It sure does me.

I cant possibly discourse on how the World Health Organization can determine where a disease actually “starts” (and I am not sure that WHO has actually proclaimed that Mexico is the place), but I do know that hammering on individuals or an entire country ferhevvinssake gets in the way (i.e. closes the mind) of figuring out ways to help.

There needs to be a complete transformation of thinking about Mexico, and now is the time to start.

Enough with the immigration issues: anyone who works in the US and gets a paycheck PAYS TAXES. Which is more than can be said for the thousands of Americans who own property in Mexico and make money from vacation rentals (this is a lot of money and many Americans are not paying taxes here. Hint: the Mexican government has figured this out!)

Stop with the cluck-clucking about the drug violence as if this is some “phenomenon” unique to Mexico. The Mexican government is taking on a HUGE and courageous endeavor to eradicate the long-standing drug industry that has become so gynormous because the market demand for illegal drugs in the US is so huge. Not only that, the drug cartels’ demand for armament to enforce its power comes from…wait for it….the huge supply in the US! Even President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have admitted that Mexico’s drug violence problem is largely due to the US’ insatiable demand for drugs AND gunpower. (Errr, who’s got the problem here???)

Offer a hand to help our southern neighbor in its time of crisis. This is NOT the time to withdraw behind closed doors and masks. This IS the time to help. If you pray for care, support and ideas, as I do, then PRAY. At the very least, help to change people’s thoughts about blaming Mexico and think about Mexicans as next-door neighbors who desperately need help, not derision and blame.

Each person who begins to connect with Mexico by offering a helping hand will make a difference, person by person, heart by heart. Be that person.

Abrazos y besos.

Roosevelt was right

“We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

– From Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidential inauguration speech.

Does anyone else see the connection between the consuming fear of economic turmoil and the new alarm sounded about the potential pandemic of swine flu?

Haven’t you noticed that once an individual (or society) becomes mentally vulnerable to depression, anger, or overwhelming fear, this fragile mental stressful state becomes expressed in some kind of physical breakdown?

It’s not a mystery, according to the medical community: 60-90% of all diseases are stress related.

Hmmm….stress is mental. In other words, one’s thoughts and  the intensity of one’s emotional reaction to circumstances or events, is directly proportional to the amount of stress one feels.

The American Heart Association recommends that in order to reduce stress, change your reaction (fear, hate, anger)  to circumstances. It’s the best antidote to stress and, therefore, reduces the potential for illness.

OK, so how does one reduce his/her reaction to stress?  For me, I cant just “blank out” or ignore stressful thoughts…I have to replace them immediately with something that actually transforms the thoughts into something better. That way, stressful thinking isnt lurking somewhere in consciousness, it is eliminated.

Take the swine flu contagion for instance. Here in my little town on the west coast, hundreds of miles from Mexico City (where the city has closed schools, museums, public transportation in the hope of minimizing the spread of disease), people are refusing to make any contact in friendly greetings: no hugging, no shaking hands and heaven forbid any air-kisses!

I suddenly realized that FEAR is the most contagious thing of all. And that I must not aid and abet it by even benignly consenting to the fear — I must stop it in my own thoughts.

How? For me it is with active, immediate prayer. Prayer that is communion and closeness with omnipresent Spirit. I affirm my inseparability from the divine source of all good, God. And since God is all good, and loves me without measure, how could He create or even allow something harmful to attack His beloved creation? Where, in fact, could flu come from if God is all present? When I believe this to be true, with all my heart, what is there then to fear?

And this prayer isnt just for me, it is for everyone: my neighbors, Mexico, US, Canada, New Zealand — and any other country that is feeling under attack. God loves His entire creation and this love protects from anything unlike God.

Practically, then, every time I meet a friend — and especially when they mention why they are keeping a distance — I am going to affirm that God loves and protects both of us right then and there. There is nothing to “catch” from me but good — my good thoughts (no fear or stress in my thinking!) which are grounded on a firm foundation of man’s inseparability from his loving Creator and washing over my friend with love.

Dont spread the fear, share only love.

The Great Humanitarian

Phew, the book I just finished really really touched my heart in a surprising way. And I must write down my thoughts about it now because I dont want to forget the feelings I have about it.

The book is “Team of Rivals: the Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Because of the title, I didnt expect to get such a deeply personal and spiritual insight to Abraham Lincoln: his courage, strength and humanity. He is a giant among historical giants.

I wanted to read this book for two reasons. First, I had heard that President Obama referred to Lincoln’s executive leadership style as a good model (so I wanted to get insight as to what to expect!); secondly, I wanted to understand better the period of the Civil War in the US because my favorite author of spiritual writings, Mary Baker Eddy, was formulating through scientific discoveries the principles for her seminal book on the Science of being, Science and Health, during this time.

When I studied history in school, we learned the basics of the key people like George Washington and Lincoln. To me, Lincoln’s claim to fame was the Emancipation Proclamation which freed the slaves from all states still allowing ownership. A very big deal, of course, but for some peculiar glitch in teaching, my overall impression was that this president was not much of a leader, let alone a motivational speaker able to rally millions of people through 4 long years of unimaginable bloodshed.

Wrong. So pathetically wrong. I must have been absent on the day the teacher spoke about Lincoln’s powerful intellectual reasoning, his superior (seriously, to anyone else) ability to communicate his logic in common-man language, his deep connection to the concerns of the family on-the-sod, his profound desire to lift ALL men up to partake of the potential of living in the “land of the free”.

Lincoln had translated the story of his country and the meaning of the war into words and ideas accessible to every American.”

How did he do this? He was totally self-educated which, in the early days of his political battles and even his presidency, the Eastern elite continuously misjudged, to their detriment.  In his own words, this is how he saw his mission on earth:

“I must keep some consciousness of being somewhere near right: I must keep some standard of principle fixed within myself.”

In his 2nd Inaugural address, in the waning days of the Civil War with victory for the Federal/Union cause practically assured, he gave this plea to all Americans:

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”

Doesnt this just make your heart sing and soar to hear the Leader of his country — our country — set this standard of right? And not in sunshine days, but in the twilight of a horrific war.

One of his friends described Lincoln’s fidelity to God as evidenced  by his “higher rule of purity of conduct, of honesty of motive, of unyielding fidelity to the right…by his powerful belief in the great laws of truth, the rigid discharge of duty, his accountability to God…” Is not this a model of living for any one of us?

About 2/3 of the way through the book I realized that I was going to have to read about Lincoln’s assassination. Again. And I cant describe the deep sadness I felt…still feel.

It is a testament to the writer, Doris Kearns Goodwin, that I empathized so strongly with Lincoln’s weeping cabinet, most of whom stood vigil as he struggled and died hours after being shot. They loved him so much because he clearly loved them and proved it each day with unfailing kindness, goodness, selflessness. Each one knew that while they had given all they had during the 4 terrible years of war, Lincoln had given more. He was, in all respects, the better man.

The United States is what it is today because of Abraham Lincoln. But his story is also an all-American story and should be praised for its proof of the achievement of moral courage, spiritual devoutness and discipline, unconditional love for all mankind and practical, humanitarian leadership.

Thank you Doris Kearns Goodwin for shining a light on this American giant’s whole self; perhaps, by Lincoln’s example, each of us can learn and practice a new quality of true humanity.

It’s all about the water

Friends from the States have asked me if I still like living in Mexico after 3 months….if there are any surprises or disappointments. My answer is always the same, I love it! It is true  that living in a place where you frequently took your vacations is a very different (hey, Santa Fe is a primo example!) experience.  But there are actually advantages to living here full time that you dont get when just coming for a week.

For instance, building relationships with folks who also are living here full-time…finding opportunities to support the community and improve it…discovering more about the culture on the Nayarit coast and in other Mexican regions. All these activities are benefited by sustained and devoted thought. For me, that is spiritual thought — where I am planted is what I see everyday and gives me lots to pray about and, I expect, to benefit.

But I have to say that the physical surround of the water, the waves, the beach, the warm air is so satisfying to me everyday! When I grew up in Northern California the beach was mostly for pea coats, sweaters, jeans, hats….fog, windy, water temp in the 50’s (just guessing!). In the summer, like mid to late summer, my mom would take us off for a day at Bolinas beach — it was hot in town, no fog coming in, so the beach was going to be perfect for swimming!

Oh joy….we loaded the innertubes and picnic lunch for the whole day. All I remember about those regular summer trips was sitting in my innertube floating on the waves or jumping into them….I honestly dont remember getting out of the water until it was time to go home. Happy happy days. Bless my dear mom for being the lifeguard for us kids…I hope she enjoyed it as much as we did.

So, fast forward to a few weeks ago when I took my first surf lesson. I attempted to get up the first time, fell off the board and thought “Wow, that is the first time I have gotten my head wet in the ocean since summers in Bolinas!” Long time ago.

My surf instructor said that anyone can learn how to surf (eventually), but the toughest nuts are those who are afraid of the water. 

Not me…it is like coming home.