I have a lot of hate within me to say the least. My life has given me a unique perspective of the world and the people I share with it. Yet when soo many people are killed on a daily basis here in Los Angeles, California, the U.S, North American, South America and the world, there's an extreme feeling of helplessness and frustration that comes with it. There always a feeling of rage and extreme anger at the same time, but those feelings don't last long, I know.
Today I saw the documentry "Killers Paradise" and all of these feelings and emotions hit home in more way than one. I have three younger sisters and the person I look up to the most in the world is my a'ma. She gave me life, she help guide my sense of direction and she is the only person in the world who cares about me the most. No one else will care about me like my a'ma does. That's why it's easy to feel frustrated and furious about what is going not only in Guatemala, but in every country in the world.
Woman are being raped and killed for no other reason than because some idiot who dares to call himself a man, wanted to have his way. The worse part about all of this is that the local police and governments don't do anything about it.
No one knows anything and killers are roaming free, protected by systemic impunity. The justice system is corrupt and police are afraid to investigate. Witnesses are afraid to testify and bereaved parents are afraid to agitate for action. Even the interior minister himself speaks darkly of the "parallel powers", those really in charge.
People at the screening got extremely emotional because some there survived it or it hits home personally because they're from Guatemala. One guy let it all out cursing at the top of his lungs and breaking down into tears. I was right there with him.
For me things are different though. I realize that people will see the documentary and they'll go on to spread the word and continue to fight for the injustices. However not everyone can be reached and touched like that. For most people it's easy to ignore the bloody truth because of the huge disconnection that make it seem like these problems are worlds away, when in reality, it's right next door. Everything is tied together and what happens there affects what happens here. It's easy to get lost in our personal lives because some of us have personal crusades and missions already in progress. Others are just full of themselves and don;t care about anything but getting more things to fulfill their materialistic needs. What ever the reasons, I'm not the type of person to forget about the injustices of the world.
Today it was Guatemala, tomorrow Asia, Africa and other countries because it never stops. It'll never stop because as sad as it is to say, destruction and death have become part of human nature. At some point everything lived in harmony, but those days will never come again. For now all I can do is look to the future. The past is gone and there's nothing I can do for all of the woman killed in Guatemala, Juarez, Africa and other parts of the world. What i can do is educate and inform others of what is going on right now and help.
Just being an example and treating woman and life with respect can go along way sometimes. The roots of these problems is because there was never someone there to be a right example and show others what respect for others really means. I joke around a lot with friends, but I still respect them, that's why I joke with them. I deal with life with laughter, that's my coping mechanism. Not a lot of people can understand it, but we're all different and we deal with things differently. Now more than ever I know that I'm still on the right path. The people I meet and the work I do only means that there are bigger things to come.
FOR INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON IN GUATEMALA AND HOW YOU CAN HELP CHECK OUT MUJERES INICIANDO EN LAS AMERICAS.
