Religion is a mechanism through out which people intend to connect to God.
God is humanly indecipherable, but generally speaking, God is everything that is good.
We humans only know love and kindness through ourselves, through our human relations. Therefore, I think it would be correct to describe God as everything that is good in ourselves: truth, love, respect, compassion, solidarity, kindness.
History shows Religion has been the cause of many God-opposite human actions. In the name of God, people have done all sorts of injustices and cruelties for centuries, and continue to do so.
Why must we all try to impose our beliefs onto others? Who ever said diversity was a bad thing? Why do so many believe so? Why is diversity so hard to accept and embrace through respect and tolerance?
Modernity came upon humanity with secularism and technology, "making life simpler". It's impressive that we yet continue to fight the same fights and behave in the same intolerant judgemental ways, even though we've seen the same ending play over and over again: suffering, hate, unhappiness. The exact opposite of what all humans are after one way or another.
It seems like Religion is once again becoming an existential issue in human lives, other than a social, traditional, cultural, historical mere coincidence no one has control over. And it is dividing people, instead of uniting.
I understand that people turn to God in the search of comfort, consolation and hope. This are tough times and we humans are being challenged in several ways and levels.
We need God. And if we look for it in each other's kindness we'll find God, a universal God that:
- is all love
- is all tolerance
- inspires us all to struggle to overcome all challenges and difficulties
- awakens in us the urge to never stop trying to understand and forgive
- makes us want to never stop trying to be happy no matter what
- reveals the pointlessness of hate and resentment
I know that's the God I want to believe in. And I'm not saying that Religion is a bad thing at all- what I'm trying to say is that Religion should never be confused with God. It is human-made and therefore imperfect. We should never confuse the point of Religion, which is to bring people closer to God (God being everything that is good). Religion is not bigger than God, and God should not be antagonized in the name of it. It's simply not logical is it?
Sunday 8 June 2008
Wednesday 4 June 2008
Dream and/or Nightmare?
Immigration. South-North/East-West.
I've been an immigrant, and I'll tell you, it didn't feel like it was a good thing. I've always been a bit naive, and when i moved to Spain en 2005 i expected the experience to be something like the one i had had in Minnesota, when i was 13 and then when i was 15, as a middle and high school exchange student.
Of course being a teenage foreign exchange student isn't the same as being a university exchange student, and of course it isn't anything like being a middle-aged unemployed desperate undocumented immigrant. But I still imagined my year-stay in Spain would be different. I didn't know many Spaniards and was very unaware of the impact that undocumented immigrants, especially African undocumented immigrants, had already had in the average Spanish mentality and in their attitude towards foreigners.
I don't know about the "being an immigrant" before my time, but for what i read in history books, it was never such a great thing, but it was also never as un-great as it is now.
With Silvio Berlusconi (Italy's Prime Minister) talking about a "project" that would make illegal immigration a crime punishable with jail time (up to 4 years)and the U.S. Immigration Forces operations multiplying and strengthening the measures against undocumented immigrants, being an immigrant seems anything but appealing. The other day I hear on tve (Spanish tv) Spanish professionals talk about also punishing illegal immigration with jail time. And it's not like other European countries like France, Germany, Sweden and Great Britain, haven't already adopted similar measures. They have. The question is: is this the smartest thing to do?
Every sovereign country has the right to choose who to let in and for how long. We each make our own rules (based in a few universal principles). That's the way it works. The problem is, that as simple as it is, this are very complex times- and we need to come up with new, fresh and smarter solutions. We need to look at the bigger picture. It isn't even a question of "humanity" or "solidarity" (although it would be nice); it is about being able to coexist in peace and contentment in this world that continues to prove itself to be completely co-dependent and on the verge of disaster.
Harsh immigration measures clearly have "collateral damage". This damage might make the effort not even worth it. Countries have every right to fight illegal immigration, but they shouldn't do it in ways that intensify xenophobia and racism. This is a high price to pay that can surely lead to bigger problems.
People need to understand that even if undocumented immigrants are acting outside the law, illegally, they are not criminals. Most of the people that take this chance, leaving their homeland, their family, their identity and overall their lives, they are solely doing it in the hopes of giving their family a better life. I mean, do you think that anyone would want to leave their own home to go to a strange country, to live in hiding, constantly scared and excluded? I don't think so. Most illegal immigrants are nothing but hard working people trying to make a decent living, most times not even for themselves, but for their loved ones. It hurts me to see them made out to be criminals and thieves...it isn't fair.
Last month 389 Latinamerican undocumented immigrants were caught by immigration forces while working in Postville, Iowa (U.S.); 287 of them were Guatemalan. They were abused and mistreated. Most of them have been deported back home, and 42 of them remain in prison, after a 5 year-long sentence was dictated on them for the the offense of falsification of documentation and theft of identity. The sentence was later reduced to 5 months thanks to the efforts of Guatemalan Lawyers trying to help.
Day by day, Guatemalans and other Central and Latinamericans pay quantities that go over 3,000 euros to get -illegally- into the U.S.; most of them are caught on the way, and those who make it are aware that there's no safe place, since they can be caught while in the supermarket, the street or at work. Last year 23,062 Guatemalans were deported from the U.S.
So much for the American dream...it's more like a nightmare.
I've been an immigrant, and I'll tell you, it didn't feel like it was a good thing. I've always been a bit naive, and when i moved to Spain en 2005 i expected the experience to be something like the one i had had in Minnesota, when i was 13 and then when i was 15, as a middle and high school exchange student.
Of course being a teenage foreign exchange student isn't the same as being a university exchange student, and of course it isn't anything like being a middle-aged unemployed desperate undocumented immigrant. But I still imagined my year-stay in Spain would be different. I didn't know many Spaniards and was very unaware of the impact that undocumented immigrants, especially African undocumented immigrants, had already had in the average Spanish mentality and in their attitude towards foreigners.
I don't know about the "being an immigrant" before my time, but for what i read in history books, it was never such a great thing, but it was also never as un-great as it is now.
With Silvio Berlusconi (Italy's Prime Minister) talking about a "project" that would make illegal immigration a crime punishable with jail time (up to 4 years)and the U.S. Immigration Forces operations multiplying and strengthening the measures against undocumented immigrants, being an immigrant seems anything but appealing. The other day I hear on tve (Spanish tv) Spanish professionals talk about also punishing illegal immigration with jail time. And it's not like other European countries like France, Germany, Sweden and Great Britain, haven't already adopted similar measures. They have. The question is: is this the smartest thing to do?
Every sovereign country has the right to choose who to let in and for how long. We each make our own rules (based in a few universal principles). That's the way it works. The problem is, that as simple as it is, this are very complex times- and we need to come up with new, fresh and smarter solutions. We need to look at the bigger picture. It isn't even a question of "humanity" or "solidarity" (although it would be nice); it is about being able to coexist in peace and contentment in this world that continues to prove itself to be completely co-dependent and on the verge of disaster.
Harsh immigration measures clearly have "collateral damage". This damage might make the effort not even worth it. Countries have every right to fight illegal immigration, but they shouldn't do it in ways that intensify xenophobia and racism. This is a high price to pay that can surely lead to bigger problems.
People need to understand that even if undocumented immigrants are acting outside the law, illegally, they are not criminals. Most of the people that take this chance, leaving their homeland, their family, their identity and overall their lives, they are solely doing it in the hopes of giving their family a better life. I mean, do you think that anyone would want to leave their own home to go to a strange country, to live in hiding, constantly scared and excluded? I don't think so. Most illegal immigrants are nothing but hard working people trying to make a decent living, most times not even for themselves, but for their loved ones. It hurts me to see them made out to be criminals and thieves...it isn't fair.
Last month 389 Latinamerican undocumented immigrants were caught by immigration forces while working in Postville, Iowa (U.S.); 287 of them were Guatemalan. They were abused and mistreated. Most of them have been deported back home, and 42 of them remain in prison, after a 5 year-long sentence was dictated on them for the the offense of falsification of documentation and theft of identity. The sentence was later reduced to 5 months thanks to the efforts of Guatemalan Lawyers trying to help.
Day by day, Guatemalans and other Central and Latinamericans pay quantities that go over 3,000 euros to get -illegally- into the U.S.; most of them are caught on the way, and those who make it are aware that there's no safe place, since they can be caught while in the supermarket, the street or at work. Last year 23,062 Guatemalans were deported from the U.S.
So much for the American dream...it's more like a nightmare.
Tuesday 3 June 2008
Graffiti series: what Guatemalan people are saying today (III)
"No más muertes" = "No more deaths"
No explination needed for this one...
wet and hungry
it has been raining for days and it's not expected to stop any time soon. i have nothing against rain -especially on a lazy Sunday-, but the truth is that with every drop my heart aches thinking of all the people that are endangered by the rising rivers and the loosened soil. Guatemalan homes, especially in the rural areas, are not exactly what you would call safe or strong. not at all.
as the saying goes, "it's raining over wet soil" (I'm not sure that's the correct translation), because there are so many other issues Guatemalan people are concerned about right now...the number one being their empty, mistreated, unsatisfied stomachs.
i can't believe that oil prices continue to rise in times like this, when there are so many problems the world has to deal with. now food, as pretty much everything you can buy, is getting more expensive, and as more people drop under the poverty line, the people that have been there for a while see their life conditions worsen, when not even they could imagine it possible.
I'm sad and worried. I'm giving all the sweaters and coats i don't need away. this rainy season comes in particularly strong in particularly weak times. a friend told me on Sunday (as he tried to cheer me up) that when the word "crisis" was written in Chinese it was composed of two characters, one of which represents danger, and the other opportunity. it got me! it seemed pretty reasonable, especially after witnessing all that is being made and achieved in the name of the universal cause of stopping global warming and "saving the planet" (=saving ourselves). and just now, as i looked it up (or should i say: "as i googled it") i found that this is a "misconception" or "etymological fallacy"...! oh well, i don't care, I'm sticking to my friend's version...i like it better. i believe it actually makes sense.
as the saying goes, "it's raining over wet soil" (I'm not sure that's the correct translation), because there are so many other issues Guatemalan people are concerned about right now...the number one being their empty, mistreated, unsatisfied stomachs.
i can't believe that oil prices continue to rise in times like this, when there are so many problems the world has to deal with. now food, as pretty much everything you can buy, is getting more expensive, and as more people drop under the poverty line, the people that have been there for a while see their life conditions worsen, when not even they could imagine it possible.
I'm sad and worried. I'm giving all the sweaters and coats i don't need away. this rainy season comes in particularly strong in particularly weak times. a friend told me on Sunday (as he tried to cheer me up) that when the word "crisis" was written in Chinese it was composed of two characters, one of which represents danger, and the other opportunity. it got me! it seemed pretty reasonable, especially after witnessing all that is being made and achieved in the name of the universal cause of stopping global warming and "saving the planet" (=saving ourselves). and just now, as i looked it up (or should i say: "as i googled it") i found that this is a "misconception" or "etymological fallacy"...! oh well, i don't care, I'm sticking to my friend's version...i like it better. i believe it actually makes sense.
a still uncertain ending
the man in charge of the elevator said with a sigh "another day of clear roads" as we were going up to the 19th floor of a crystal see-through building. "no buses today. again" (...) "diesel has gotten too expensive".
this happened on Friday, and the situation has only gotten worse. national police pick-up trucks drive around the city filled with people whose route buses are either charging too much or temporarily out of service. the elevator man told me: "I wouldn't ride in a police pick-up, even if it's a free ride"--- I guess he was old enough to remember what riding there meant during the Internal Conflict years, especially the early 80's.
this happened on Friday, and the situation has only gotten worse. national police pick-up trucks drive around the city filled with people whose route buses are either charging too much or temporarily out of service. the elevator man told me: "I wouldn't ride in a police pick-up, even if it's a free ride"--- I guess he was old enough to remember what riding there meant during the Internal Conflict years, especially the early 80's.
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