The Carnival of the Mortal and The Immortal
04/02/2008
- Opinión
The vanity section frequently appears in the society pages of the newspapers. There are fights to get into the closed clubs where the "celebrities" are, usually fashion "models" or famous movie stars. Veritable battles are carried out to get a first row seat and gain visibility. Now, during carnival, this reaches its paroxysm. In the halls of government, politicians attempt to be physically near the Chief. Photos in the society columns show glamorous persons apparently happy, eating, drinking and celebrating.
But just by perusing the pages of the same newspaper one sees the other side of reality: widespread violence, confrontations between police and drug cartels, assaults, murders, political scandals that never end, the growing "favelization" of the cities and, lastly, the threat of devastation on the whole Planet. How can one combine these two scenes?
The story of the flood spontaneously comes to mind. Indifferent to the evil spreading throughout the world, people — so the Biblical texts say — "ate and drank without paying attention to anything, until the flood came, and destroyed everything."
The flood is not necessary. The certainty that all, even the glamorous, are mortal is enough for us. With time, beauty vanishes, aches appear, old age turns out to be unstoppable and, finally, we all die. We carry with us only the good we have done, and nothing of our glamour or fame. It is very important never to forget that the human condition is neither frivolous nor ridiculous.
Another scene. Working as an advisor to popular groups, I find another social scene: people of the periphery, dwellers of the poor communities known as "favelas," people who are mainly honest workers, who daily face the hard struggle for survival. Rugged countenances, calloused hands, and decisive eyes, betray a very hard struggle for life. The glamorous ones view them with a degree of scorn, mistrust, and a great deal of pity. They do not remember that they are like them and that they are immortal.
Looking at them carefully, a scene of the Apocalypse comes to mind. One of the elders asks: "And all these, who are they and where do they come from? And the Lord answered: these are those who come from the great tribulation... the Lamb will pasture them and lead them to springs of living water and God will wipe the tears from their eyes." I see them, those of great tribulation, even though they may be mortal, in their immortal dimension. Because within each person, but particularly in them, God is being born, making them sons and daughters of the Divine, bringing them into a destiny of immortality.
If we saw them from this perspective, our attitude would be different. We would give truth an opportunity to overcome our prejudices. We would discover that we all are immortal, even the glamorous mortals, because this is how we were made, and this is the design of the Creator. Jesus wanted nothing more than that we treat each other as brothers and sisters, and that we reveal to each other, God as Father and Mother.
Every morning when we awake, we have to decide: do we want to behave as mortals or as immortals, to live in the deceitful appearance or in the reality pure and simple?
How monotonous and repetitious is the life of the mortal celebrities! How diversified and epic is the life of the immortal simple people!
(Free translation from the Spanish provided by Melina Alfaro, done at Refugio del Rio Grande, Texas.)
But just by perusing the pages of the same newspaper one sees the other side of reality: widespread violence, confrontations between police and drug cartels, assaults, murders, political scandals that never end, the growing "favelization" of the cities and, lastly, the threat of devastation on the whole Planet. How can one combine these two scenes?
The story of the flood spontaneously comes to mind. Indifferent to the evil spreading throughout the world, people — so the Biblical texts say — "ate and drank without paying attention to anything, until the flood came, and destroyed everything."
The flood is not necessary. The certainty that all, even the glamorous, are mortal is enough for us. With time, beauty vanishes, aches appear, old age turns out to be unstoppable and, finally, we all die. We carry with us only the good we have done, and nothing of our glamour or fame. It is very important never to forget that the human condition is neither frivolous nor ridiculous.
Another scene. Working as an advisor to popular groups, I find another social scene: people of the periphery, dwellers of the poor communities known as "favelas," people who are mainly honest workers, who daily face the hard struggle for survival. Rugged countenances, calloused hands, and decisive eyes, betray a very hard struggle for life. The glamorous ones view them with a degree of scorn, mistrust, and a great deal of pity. They do not remember that they are like them and that they are immortal.
Looking at them carefully, a scene of the Apocalypse comes to mind. One of the elders asks: "And all these, who are they and where do they come from? And the Lord answered: these are those who come from the great tribulation... the Lamb will pasture them and lead them to springs of living water and God will wipe the tears from their eyes." I see them, those of great tribulation, even though they may be mortal, in their immortal dimension. Because within each person, but particularly in them, God is being born, making them sons and daughters of the Divine, bringing them into a destiny of immortality.
If we saw them from this perspective, our attitude would be different. We would give truth an opportunity to overcome our prejudices. We would discover that we all are immortal, even the glamorous mortals, because this is how we were made, and this is the design of the Creator. Jesus wanted nothing more than that we treat each other as brothers and sisters, and that we reveal to each other, God as Father and Mother.
Every morning when we awake, we have to decide: do we want to behave as mortals or as immortals, to live in the deceitful appearance or in the reality pure and simple?
How monotonous and repetitious is the life of the mortal celebrities! How diversified and epic is the life of the immortal simple people!
(Free translation from the Spanish provided by Melina Alfaro, done at Refugio del Rio Grande, Texas.)
https://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/127750
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