Fear, Violence, and Intolerance

This lines are motivated by fear. My home faces grim times, and I am afraid that the darkest hour is still to come.

As many of my dear readers will probably know by now, I'm mexican. Not mexican-american, not of mexican parents, not any of those funny titles racists stick on you so you don't get pissed when they start throwing slurs.

I am mexican-born, from the state of Tamaulipas. You probably saw it on the news tonight and shrugged about it:. Of course, every single day here are news of more executions by the organized crime, or shootouts in public places, or mutilated bodies found with drug-dealer messages.

The reason I am writing this is because I fear not only for my life, but also of my family and friends. Drug-related violence and crime is getting closer. Every day, there is another friend or relative commenting on a person they know being robbed, assaulted, or murdered.

Two months ago, a major politician, who would have most probably been elected new governor, was murdered in such a way that it could have only been an inside job. Weeks ago, the bodies of seventy-two central americans were found, having been executed after refusing to join the drug cartels. Barely two weeks ago, bomb cars exploded, blocks away from my office. Today, 85 inmates have escaped from a jail, by the front gate and without a single shot. Corruption is at an all-time high.

Even worse: the Bicentennial Anniversary of Independence is the next Wednesday. The drug cartels have left messages promising to kill and show the decapitated head of the Governor that day. The tension could be cut with a knife. Everyone in this city knows that something big, huge, is coming.

I search in the internet for uncensored information. All the events I mentioned were completely overlooked by the local news, except for the politicians' deaths, and that barely. Even more than the alarming news that I can find, what disturbs me the most is the comments.

I know that internet comments should never be taken seriously, but by God, they are bad. I don't mean just the "deport the illegalz" ones, but the "nuke mexico", "send troops, kill 1/3 of the people and make it the next U.S. state", "round up all mexicans and shoot them in public, that should send the ones down there a message".

Have we really arrived into such a world that such crimes against humanity are committed, and there is a vast amount of people that think the solution is to murder a race? What world is this, and how do I get out?

My country was never perfect, but it wasn't like this. Once, it was a place where you could live, not with the many luxuries and commodities that so many people take for granted and never appreciate, but you could live a long, fruitful life, with honesty and hard work.

I pray to God that if there are good people reading this, may you live a good life, in a better place than this. Honest and noble people deserve a life of peace and prosperity, something that Mexico has ceased to give for its citizens.

Thank you to all. May God bless you.

When you believe...

Yesterday we had a guest in my Haidong class: A paramedic named Joel whom I asked to give us a first-aid class

The class was alright -at one point including a not-a-drill moment when one of the younger members got a bloody nose and Joel cured him. Good thing he was there, our first aid knowledge is not precisely large.

In case of emergency, point and say "Ha-ha!"

After the class, the sensei and a few of us remained to chat, and Joel told us about how a lot of people were ungrateful or downright hostile towards paramedics.

"I earn more than you do, you jerks."

He said that nobody got into an ambulence for the awesome paycheck, and that he was lucky if he slept more than four hour a day. Then we surprised him: We had all pooled a little money to give him as payment for the class, and the sensei gave it to him, a little over 100 U.S. dollars.

 All yours, buddy.

The poor guy held his tears all the way as I gave him a ride home. When we arrived, he said that he had spent his last money of the month in a very expensive book for his classes at Uni and that this money was a blessing.

It was very moving to see that good things happen to good people, if you give them a little time.

It's on, bitch!

As a part of my job, I have to coordinate events called Health Fairs, that include giving prevention classes to an entire school, and setting up representatives of most departments of health agencies.

Just like World Fairs, except we don't appear in the Simpsons.

Last March, I had to set up one that included a school with eighteen groups, and over five hundred students. There was a vaccine module, arterial pressure check-ups, height and weight measurings, conferences, martial arts demostrations, etcetera.

This month, I have been tasked with organizing a much bigger event in a gargantuan school, with more than fifty groups and over 2500 students.

Metaphoric representation.

I can do this. Bring it on, bitch!

Jump in the Bandwagon! "Burn a Quran Day"!

A wacko's made the headlines again, by being as much of an asshole as he can.

In September 11, and in the midst of all the bigots vs. another religion event of the month, Saint Pastor Terry Jones is attempting to set ablaze as many copies of the Quran as he can find. 'Cuz, you know, burning religious stuff totally harms a religion and its worshippers. Must be some kind of shared psychic pain or something.

Those evil anti-Christians!....wait.

Jones wrote a book titled "Islam is of the Devil," and the church sells coffee mugs and shirts featuring the phrase. "I mean ask yourself, have you ever really seen a really happy Muslim? As they're on the way to Mecca? As they gather together in the mosque on the floor? Does it look like a real religion of joy?" Jones asks in one of his YouTube posts. "No, to me it looks like a religion of the devil."

 The poor kid has never had anyone to burn his holy books for him.

Of course, setting a bunch of books on fire doesn't exactly propels you to sainthood, but still. They've thought of everything. They even have a little army to protect them just in case someone tries to rescue a book from the flames of righteousness.

Bring the children and we'll give them pocket Quran books so they can burn them too! =D

I'd rather like it if the event has a big assistance. Hopefully all the bigots in the country will assist. With all of these sickos in one place and a burning going on... we can hope, right?

The Good, the Bad, and the Real

Recently I came across a very important book: MAUS, by Art Spiegelman.

Go read it. Highly recommendable.

It's always a pleasant surprise to find something that makes you think about your own work. In this case, it made me think about good and evil.

Most fiction makes it easy for the readers, by separating the cast in two easy categories, good and evil. Reality is not always like that. We know that the worst of crimes can be carried out with the best of intentions. So what happens when we put a fictional person in the "evil" role? How do we portray them as the villain we want to show?

That's actually a trope.

I have read piles upon piles of fantasy books that conform themselves with setting the bad guy in a dark tower, where he lives and does dark machinations, mwahaha.

Boring!

That'd be dealt with very easily in the real world. Either the bad guy's lair would be carpet-bombed to kingdom come, or he'd be elected president.

It all depends on Fox News, really.

I think that the real evil isn't out there, brooding in some dark fortress, commanding its minions to come and get us. That's just a little above the old boogeyman tale.

No, the real bad things happen from inside. From people we trust and love. From those you'd expect it the less. And inside every one of us, there is a surprising amount of darkness waiting to take hold.

Don't waste your time looking for the enemy who's looking to undermine your freedom and terminate your rights. You can face it in the mirror.

What are they waiting for?!

I have seen marvels beyond my imagination during my lifetime.

I have traveled over the clouds in potent birds of steel. I have become one with all the nerds in the world thanks to the internet. I have had lasers shot at my face to heal and not vaporize my eyes. I have had entire orchestras playing inside a device that fits in my pocket.

SO WHERE THE HELL ARE THESE THINGS?:

- Something that'll help people park inside a painted square.
- Bottlecaps that won't break my fingers in the cold winter.
- A comic that'll automatically sensor if the reader's an adult and show (female only) nipples.
- A GPS that'll point me towards true love.

Perhaps I will see these things in the 80-something years I have left, assuming I don't die in a way that'll assure a violent revenge.

Shaping up the Novel

My novel is progressing, but it needs a lot of adjustments. For example, the title. Is there anything more childish and stupid than "The Magic Extinction"? And that's the overall trilogy title.

The ones I've come up with for each books are possibly worse. The first book's working title is "The Heirs of Magic". The second one, "Vigerens Fall" (I actually like that one. It's a wordplay). The third one I haven't even thought of. I'm putting all of my mediocrity batteries on the first book for the moment.

The novel, as you might have already guessed from the titles, is a fantasy. Not a medieval fantasy, though, which seems to be the standard for about 75% of fantasy novels out there. And it's not precisely an urban fantasy. The world it's set in has a little modern technology in the western continent, and much moe advanced in the eastern one. That's because of the two races living on them, mages and non-mages, respectively.

There are no elves, dwarves, dragons, unicorns or even horsies here. There are two "magic" swords, and both of them are destroyed by the end of the second book. There are no kings or princesses, o orphan farmboys, no evil chancellors, no dark towers of the evil, evil wizards.

It's the story of a world as it faces it's armaggeddon. It's also the story of a young man who learns his place in the world. There are but two characters I'd call "evil" in the entire story, and they're very human, cruel, and ruthless, and perhaps because of that, more dangerous and harmful than any dark overlord sitting on a dark tower. The true antagonists are forces of nature, beyond good or evil.

It might sound very pretentious, but I assure you that I just want to tell my story. I only hope it's written well enough so that few readers will put it down before finishing it.