Viva Cuenca, a city in Ecuador where people are actually HAPPY
At the marketplace in Cuenca today, a curandera told me that I needed to be more positive. Say what? With my very own government committing horrible genocide in Gaza and Jenin for 235 days in a row? With babies, universities and hospitals being bombed to death daily in Rafah -- on America's dime? Sorry, can't do it. I feel guilty even just being alive these days.
And yet here I am, in the wonderful Ecuadorian city of Cuenca -- and damned if almost everybody here is actually happy. And friendly. And hopeful. And I can't even imagine any one here ever being so greedy and evil and twisted as to voluntarily commit actual genocide.
Today was Independence Day in Ecuador and on this warm spring evening, hundreds of families strolled through Calderon Square in celebration. Everyone seemed so friendly and happy and positive and content with themselves. I just stood there and stared. We Americans just aren't all that used to being friendly and happy.
"Viva Cuenca!" I yelled. "Viva Cuenca!" And then I prayed from the bottom of my heart that all the rest of the world could someday be this happy too.
I can't see any (sane) reason why not.
PS: The only thing that really sets human beings apart from the rest of the animal kingdom isn't our prehensile thumb. Or our computer skills. Or our grasp on how to manufacture nuclear weapons. No No No. It's our ability to be loving, idealistic, just and kind. "You're wrong, Jane," you might say. "Dogs, giraffes and monkeys also have that ability." Do they?
PPPS: In Cuenca, indigenous people, mestizos and those of colonial descent all seem to get along together. For the Zionists, however, the preferred way to relate to indigenous people is simple: Extinction. Blow them up one by one.
PPPPS: I just visited a UNESCO cultural heritage site in Ecuador today. UNESCO needs to make GAZA a cultural heritage site too! It's certainly got a unique culture right now. For sure. Here in Cuenca, indigenous rights and customs are honored and treasured. Wish I could say the same for the indigenous rights and customs in Gaza and the West Bank -- but not even UNESCO is saying that right now.
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