Our last night in Mexico, looking at all the little lights and seeing the big picture

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Never in my life can I recall five weeks going by so quickly. It seems only yesterday the four of us girls met at 5:00am at the doors to the Toronto Pierson Airport to begin our journey. Within this short period of time we have grown as individuals, as a team and have learned so much about ourselves, each other and the world around us.

Sitting here on our last night, it’s interesting to look back and try to pick a favourite day, as each and every moment has been inspirational, irreplaceable and unforgettable. Staying with the nuns in Cuernavaca, meeting with street vendors, climbing mountains, meeting with independent community members, being invited to indigenous church ceremonies and special lunches, exploring the Centre of Human Rights, meeting with Canadian journalists, environmental activists, sociologists, liberation theologists, street children, videographers, English teachers, non-profit organizations and monkeys in the jungle.

I don’t know what I will talk about with my friends and family first; communicating with people in a language I can barely speak, listening to stories of harassment and abuse from men and the government, riding in the back of pick-up trucks, catching city buses, flagging down taxi’s, being dropped off at the wrong place, nice dinners, bad dinners, strong people, funny people, lonely people, swimming in a waterfall, hiking through ancient ruins, climbing massive pyramids, sea doing in the ocean, horseback riding on the beach and laughing up and down the streets of Mexico.

Each day was an adventure and each person I met has given me something that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. As I look out the window of our apartment in Zihuatanejo at all the city lights, for what will be the last time, I think of how every light represents a household and a family, perhaps with more than 5 people for every light.

Looking at them scattered across the landscape they look like a collage of dimly lit candles, some strong, others fading and barely noticeable. I can’t help but wonder what it would look like if all those little lights were grouped together. If all of the people within them worked as one, how brightly that light would shine.

If every light represents at least one person and if we put all those lights and all those people together how strong they would all become and how brightly that light would shine. The cluster would become a ball and if it kept rolling it would grow and perhaps the world would be a better place.
Not only here in Mexico, but for people who live in all those little lights all around the world.