By David Magallanes / Guest columnist
Tonight I attended a rosary for the father of some friends that I have known for many years. These friends make up a large American family of Mexican origins with an honorable reputation in the community. Their father had instilled in all of them an admirable work ethic, and all were educated and successful, though he himself had only two years of elementary school education and had come to the U.S. as a young man to perform manual labor.
At the time for the rosary to begin in front of the open casket, an elderly Mexican gentleman got up to lead the group in the rosary, in Spanish. The words and sounds of the Mexican rosary reverberated in my long-term memory. It had me recall the distant past when, as a child, I had heard the same phrases being uttered by my grandparents in solemn prayer. Immediately I felt a connection with them across the decades. The three that I knew were deeply religious. I used to wonder why their Catholic faith was so…so…“fanatical” — the term I used to use to try and describe it to myself. I didn’t understand until much later in life when I visited the city in Mexico where all of them had lived, where I witnessed the extreme devotion of the inhabitants of that region.
As I listened to the rosary being prayed, I found myself joining in. Although I had learned my prayers in English as a child, I also learned over the years how to say the prayers in Spanish. As I observed all of us following a protocol that had evolved over centuries, with a complicated but distinct pattern of prayer and actions, I wondered how an “outsider,” from the Anglo community, for example, might view this ritual. Pretty much, I thought, how I might experience a Muslim prayer service, with its rich pattern of rituals and prayers. It would appear to me as something strange and foreign, and yet I feel very much at home with the Mexican ritual, despite an upbringing that bordered on “Anglo.”
I feel privileged to be an American of Mexican ancestry. The American spirit and the Mexican soul dwell within me. This cohabitation has its challenges, but I owe my good fortune to the courage of my grandparents, all of whom had escaped from Mexico as political and religious refugees. They trekked north, toward a foreign land, where they didn’t always feel welcome, and where they had to contend with a strange language and entirely different customs.
My grandparents had to deal with the upheaval caused by war in the land of their birth, only to suffer the bitterness of a harsh readjustment. But then they settled in and were able to watch their children enjoy liberties and opportunities that they never would have had growing up in Mexico. If they had lived to see their grandchildren, including me, become productive members of American society, surely they would have felt that their chaotic flight into Estados Unidos had been worth all the desperation, exasperation and tears that they had experienced. Reflecting on this, and seeing the educated and successful family of the deceased señor during this evening’s Mexican rosary, I recalled this quote by John Adams, second president of the United States:
“I must study politics and war, that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.”
— David Magallanes is the creator of his own enterprise, Real World Projects, a business primarily dedicated to building marketing business networks for the creation of affluence. In this pursuit, Real World Projects constructs distribution outlets for highly reputable products that offer a healthier life and a more vibrant lifestyle, as well as free training and guidance for those who wish to create their own similar enterprise. David may be available for speaking opportunities. To contact him and for more information, you are invited to visit and explore the Real World Projects web site at www.realworldprojects.info
Editor’s note: Please click on links on the right-hand side of the website to see previous guest columns by David Magallanes.