Sometimes it takes a green man to wake up comfortable people in the United States. The green man, Arturo, came to Santa Fe this past weekend as one of 110 citizens of the latin states, mainly from Mexico who are traveling across the country in two large buses labeled “Caravanas Para la Paz.” They will be stopping at 27 US cities to hold rallies and spread the news of what they personally have suffered because of our war on drugs. Not only do we ship enormous numbers of arms to this country for the use of their bandits, but we are also the country that buys most of their drugs illegally and keeps most of this trade going.
The green man lost his brother and carries a photo of the young man who was killed in Mexico in a cross fire. Three of our other guests from the caravan had also lost family emembers. One of the women, Maria, had lost four of five sons. These people are willing to talk about their grief and turn it to the use of this cause. They are incredibly flexible, sleeping mainly on church basement floors in sleeping bags often crammed with two people. We were able to offer them beds, which seemed to come almost as a surprise. I do hope you will look at their website and see if their caravan is going to pass through your town. They are hoping to meet with President Obama in Washington on September 12th. I am moved beyond words by their action.
I remember you said “Acts of kindness always make me cry.’