El Grito Spirit

Oh Guau! (that’s “wow!” in Spanish), my Zumba cardio class got me in the Mexico Bicentennial spirit this morning! Today, September 15, is when “El Grito” is celebrated, the cry for independence in 1810. It’s actually celebrated throughout the country at 11pm in local town plazas, grandes y pequenas, and usually the mayor reenacts the cry of Father Hidalgo who encouraged his Indian parishioners in Dolores to rise up and join the insurgents from San Miguel and Queretaro. (President Calderon will issue El Grito in Dolores tonight.) Tomorrow is the official holiday (think July 4th in US) and there are SO MANY parades! I’m a happy camper.

Back to Zumba. I’ve taken Zumba in the US, but there is nothing like doing Zumba in a latin country where the salsa, cha cha, merengue, ranchera, etc., moves are so authentic. I mean, these people don’t go to dance classes to learn these steps, they just KNOW…and I feel like an up-tight Puritan who can only move in my head, not my body. Oh well, it is GREAT exercise, and there are days when I actually think I am loosening up.

There are usually 75-100 people in the class and today most of them were wearing red, white and green (Mexico flag colors) clothes, hair ribbons, sashes, headbands, earrings AND flags on headbands with blinking lights. It was awesome. First tune to get the heart and body parts moving was something that yelled “Mexico! Mexico! Mexico!”…I think it is something that is played at world soccer games.

It’s been a looong time since I’ve seen this kind of mass patriotic exuberance in the US — this sense of pride and honor in one’s country. No point in addressing possible reasons why that is…but I have to say it was quite an upper being surrounded by citizens who feel so proud of Mexico.

I had been feeling kind of bummed about all the troubles facing Mexico (in spite of the violence their economy is growing by a healthy 4%-ish), and earlier this week I read an article describing lots of citizens in Mexico feeling bummed in this Bicentennial year and that it was nothing to celebrate. In fact, somebody said that “El Grito” really means “Help me!”.

And I asked myself, what can I do to help? And the thought flitted across my consciousness that I could begin with prayer…affirming what I believe is the true identity of all mankind: we are all free, free to be the good and blessed children of the Divine’s creating. We are free from the claims of violence and terror, and free to express the joy, happiness, exuberance and love that the Divine put in each of our hearts.

I saw this today in my Zumba class, I saw it as I walked through the Jardin as tons of people are enthusiastically preparing for tonight and tomorrow’s celebrations. This is the real Mexico: free, joyous, proud.

Viva Mexico!

What happened to us?

There is so much I remember about that early September day nine years ago. interestingly, it always comes back to the weather: it was a beautiful early fall Boston day, the sky was so blue and cloudless, the temperature was warm but not sticky hot, my favorite kind of day where I think “This is gonna be a great day!”…it was perfect.

And then it wasn’t perfect. Out of that same cloudless sky came messages of hate, terror and destruction that would last, oh gee, we are nine years and counting.

But that’s not how we climbed out of our pit of sadness, remember? After that first day of shock and horror, in the many days and weeks that followed, the only thing that lifted most of us out of suffocating despair was each one of us doing something — anything — to help someone else in more need. The now-iconic stories of firemen and policemen and everyday citizens rushing INTO burning and falling buildings overwhelmed us with proof that ultimate selflessness is possible in this world.

How many of us said to ourselves, if they can do that, what more can I do? You must remember because there were countless acts of goodness from you to your neighbor, neighbor to neighbor, Christian to Muslim, Jew to Muslim, everyone to anyone. We searched within and found our better selves to guide us.

It just came forth — it was as if a critical mass of people rose up and said, in the face of unmasked hatred, “Enough! If that’s the side you are on, I choose the opposite…I choose good.” There was no middle ground. This was OUR “burning building” to rush into…it felt good to be on this side and be counted with, what do you think? — millions taking a stand for what is right.

So here we are, nine years on, September 11, 2010. And I am bewildered. The big news of the day is 1.) whether or not a Muslim community can build their mosque in the general (very general) area of Ground Zero in NYC, and 2.) a Florida pastor and his church community of 50 or so people encouraging a day of Koran burning (he has since cancelled his plans.)

What in God’s name happened…to us?

Is this all we can muster as a proper remembrance for a day and aftermath that impacted three generations of Americans? Oh I can hear all the explanations as to how we got here from there because they are in my head too: two foreign wars, allegedly to stamp out the perpetrators of terrorism; divisive black/white politics; fear-filled unresolved issues like immigration.

We are better than this. We proved it before. Let’s link arms with each other, help each other to rise and find ways to be better than those who hate. One important BIG step is to remember and value all the acts of heroism and kindness you witnessed.  Then remember all the good that you did post-911. Dont ever forget what you did and why you did it. And then, on this day, September 11, 2010 go out and do it again.

“For many years I have prayed daily that there be no more war, no more barbarous slaughtering of our fellow-beings; prayed that all the peoples on earth and the islands of the sea have one God, one Mind; love God supremely and their neighbor as themselves.”

– Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910)

(See this quote on an e-card.)