The classic Mexican pinata is but one of many dolls and figurines that are on display on the 5th of May, which is festival day as celebrated today in San Francisco as much, if not more than in Mexico City. For by 1862 it was now long past that David Henry Thoreau had gone to jail in the 1840’s rather than pay for his American army to march on Mexico City. David Henry’s deep pocket friend Emerson likely paid his bail, or Thoreau might be in a corner of his cell yet. Although, now Abraham Lincoln was in the White House.
Under Lincoln, America actually came to Mexico’s aid to fight off a French invasion in 1862, on the Cinco de Mayo 1862. Unfortunately for Mexico, America was too distracted trying to save itself that soon another latter day French Napoleon did take over Mexico for a short time, until the forces of man and nature pushed him back over to France. The Munroe Doctrine still held rule: America was for the Americas. Mexico and the United State have generally enjoyed a peaceful border since then, give or take a Pancho Villa who terrorized his own people as much as he did to El Paso.
Now it seems many want border walls, and that seems such a shame. As the Economist magazine noted the Mexican worker shares Christian values, work ethic, the desire to integrate and none of the hatred many other peoples seem to feel towards America right now. They are keeping their best friends out, who are they meal ticket for labor as they retire, in contrast to Italy, Germany, Japan, even China, in decades too few hands to feed too many elderly mouths. This is America’s salvation, not it’s destruction.
Unlike Europe who stagnate or allow very alien cultures who disapprove of much of the ways of their host country, an d who lack the skills to be good future providers to their now able hosts. The future is coming, and the sooner we learn to make plowshares from our rifles, and hand out dolls and play with pinatas with children while we perform more Peace Corp to heal. And this leads again to our high esteem for the recent actions of the American Military Command to be sending soldiers on their way home from tour duty in Iraq to be diverted to social disaster areas caused by nature.
And we see happy soldiers just off a military craft from Iraq, parking their rifles and grabbing sacks of foodstuffs and starting a chain gang to eager recipients whose hands are reaching, faces smiling. And to walk with a soldier carrying a small child with a wounded leg, holding a small doll he had provided, as well as her full tummy, and hear him say that after nineteen months in Iraq, you pretty well knew they all wanted you dear or gone. And here, how good it felt to be so welcomed while we got a chance to feed them.
Then the fun stuff is after they are cleaned up, dry clothes, fed, you get to spoil the kids a bit, give them chocolate, a toy or doll. We have a volunteer group of guys building a temp quarters up on higher ground, the locals need help plenty and I can handle this rain if they can. And when we give a doll or care package to any one in need, we know it makes God smile.
About the author of this article:
derek dashwood enjoys noticing positive ways we progress, the combining of science into the humanities to measure politics, wise use and mis use of power and protective love at
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