I am ecstatic because I went to Oventic today and was allowed inside!!! In a previous post, I mentioned how sad I was when my friends and I were not allowed to enter, but today I feel grateful to have spent my day surrounded by courageous men and women fighting for the rights of women and indigenous communities.
The small town of Oventic is filled with powerful murals illustrating revolutionary leaders (e.g. Emiliano Zapata and Che Guevara), banners explaining how indigenous people have been discriminated against for centuries and paintings of fearless women who’ve become the symbol of the Zapatistas.
I saw men, women and children wearing the symbolic face mask, I shopped at the local stores and markets and I walked through the small town wishing I could capture the passion in the air.
I felt proud to be Mexican because I saw the fire in the men and women who are not giving up the fight for equity. At the same time, I felt disgusted by how much certain communities have suffered as a result of greedy, corrupt leaders.
If there is one sentence that sums up my feelings at the moment, it is this Mexican proverb: Quisieron enterrarnos pero no sabían que éramos semillas. (They tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds.)
May we always stand up against injustice with courage and conviction.
Trails And Travels 