REMEMBERING
(from this month’s blog)

Because God acts in mysterious ways, because life puts you in the right place and time or because of chance (you can choose any one you want), I had the honor of being at Constitucion’s 216 years ceremony.  This southern Chile city was the one who suffered the most in February’s earthquake.  The city was hit not only by the earthquake, but by a tsunami as well: many people died and the destruction changed the landscape, maybe forever. The ceremony was a mix of happiness and sadness, but overall it was a moment of remembering and appreciating. It is necessary to remember the ones who died and it is wise to acknowledge the ones who made a difference. Constitucion’s Mayor deeply thanked a lot of people involved directly in saving lives and reconstructing the city: soldiers, firemen, policemen,  the private sector. Some heroes were born:  the paramedic who worked for countless hours in spite of the fact that his family died; radio operators who acted as eyes and ears of the city, and regular people who made the reconstruction of Constitucion their most important goal, sometimes putting their families and regular jobs aside.

There is a concept called resilience, that stands for the ability of facing extremely stressful events in a healthy and positive way.  Boris Cyrulnik, who have studied resilience all his life says that in order to healthy respond to stressful events, such as the earthquake and tsunami, people have to reach three things:  act, find meaning and help others.  All these heroes have done exactly that, and in doing so, they have become better human beings.  We have learned (or remembered) that life is a never ending path that inevitable takes us through the road of learning, growing and evolving.  And we do so by different ways: enjoying, loving, suffering, living.