REFLECTIONS FROM THE REARVIEW
  • Home
  • Hello and Welcome
  • Blog
  • Random Gatherings
  • My Book
  • FAQ

Hello my Juan, Goodbye Rosalita

11/24/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
“Hello my Juan, Good-bye, Rosalita, adios mes amigos Jésus and Maria You wonʼt have a name when you ride the big airplane. All they will call you will be Deportees.”

This is the chorous of Woody Guthrieʼs famous song “Deportees”. I had the pleasure of hearing the story behind this song up close and personal when Arlo Guthrie did a tour honouring his dad’s music a few years back. (Anybody who has ever seen Arlo Guthrie can attest that you really go to hear him tell stories, his songs are merely adjunct).

Arloʼs dad Woody Guthrie grew up in poverty of the Great Depression. He would read the paper, get incensed about an issue, and write a song in protest. This particular song came about because an airplane crashed over Los Gatos airport in 1948, and the newspaper noted the names of the pilot and crew, while dismissing the itinerant labourers who died, as “deportees”. The marker on the mass grave simply read, “28 Mexican Citizens who died in an airplane accident near Coalinga, California on Jan. 28, 1948. RIP.”  The very gravestone erected in memory seemed to erase the humanity of the victims because it did not dignify them with names. Hence the song, “All they will call you will be Deportees.”

In 2012 a man named Tim Hernandez did something small but wonderful in nature. He reversed this oversight with a simple act of kindness which demonstrated to the world, that people who are often overlooked, do matter. He tracked down the individual names of the crash victims, and descendants of the bereaved were gathered in to honour the dead in a manner that had not been possible in 1948. 

Teaming with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno, Tim Hernandez dedicated a plaque to the victims 65 years later, dignifying each with a name. In 2013, a special mass was held over the grave site where the names of all 28 itinerant workers was spoken aloud in memory. Jaime Ramirez, grandson of one of the victims, led the crowd in reading the names. At the end of the mass, they sang Woody Guthrie’s song together, as if to set right an ancient wrong. 

People can also become passionate about raising awareness as a fait accompli. Awareness however, is merely symbolic. Short of action, it hands out a shiny star prematurely. It might just be a modern version of hollering over a fence at your friends and enemies alike. I get it. Sometimes problems seem insurmountable in scope, and you can holler a long time without thinking what comes next. This is where it might be good to remember the African proverb…  How do you eat an elephant? The answer, one bite at a time. 

Likewise, a manageable way to change the world, might be small acts of kindness - those things which land within the scope of a regular day. Small acts of kindness can go a long way. This lesson was retaught to me recently. I was having a crabby day. My mind was beset with the kind of complexities that can accompany adult life and I was letting this spill over. While I was driving my youngest daughter to school she turned to me and said, “Dad, you seem to be having a bad day. Let me read to you from my book of awesome and it will make you feel better”. This approach may sound naive. While it did nothing to resolve my base problem, it sure changed the channel on my day. There is a reason they say, “from the mouths of babes comes forth wisdom”. It was the intent that caught me off guard, and it humbled me.

Small acts of kindness can also be considered Christian theology. The Apostle Paul talks about them in the second chapter of Ephesians. He states: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Sounds like God had small acts of kindness planned out all along, likely because they are manageable and realistic. 
​
Awareness is fine. But if I can’t fix the world, what small thing can I do now which falls within my footprint? Something very simple can go a long way. Jesus said… even a cup of cold water in my name, will do. The whisper of a simple act of kindness might just surpass the shouting of a woke crowd.
0 Comments

    UNCOMMON
    ​THOUGHTS

    ...about common things. 
    ​

    Categories

    All
    Accidental Story
    Activist
    Adjusting The Recipe
    Adult Admission
    A Flannery O'Connor Moment
    After The Tiger
    A High Christology
    A Little Bit Redneck
    All About Widgets
    Allah Wallahi
    Al Low Vs The Man
    All Saints
    A Long List Of Thank Yous
    Amazing Grace
    A Month Of Sundays
    An Offer You Can’t Refuse
    Antique
    A Pile Of Wood And A Plan
    Are We There Yet?
    Artifact
    At Hand
    Attending To Beauty
    At War
    Bad-Ass Outlaw
    Bad Faith
    Badlands
    Baked Boiled Or Fried?
    Balcony Lady
    Beautiful By Design
    Beauty For Ashes
    Being Human
    Belial
    Beneficence
    Beware Of Men Who Cry
    Big Buts Of The Bible
    Blessed Are The Pew Warmers
    Bound For Beauty
    British Invasion
    Bronte Oak
    Bucket List
    But If Not
    But Is It Sandable
    But Is It True?
    Buyer Beware
    Camp Of The Unknown God
    Carlton The Delivery Man
    Chaos
    Cherry Top
    Class Monitors And Safety Patrols
    Clothing Optional
    Cloud Of Witnesses
    Contra Mundum
    Couldn't Not
    Counting The Cost
    Covid Cut
    Creed
    Crucified Man
    Dangerous
    Dangerous Chemicals Of My Youth
    Dieu Et Mon Droit
    Different Drum
    Distressed
    Doing The Lord's Work
    Do It Yourself
    Do-Over
    Do Something!
    Dreaming And Doing
    Edifice
    Egging Armour Hill
    Even As I Am Known
    Even Me
    Even Stranger Things
    Fallow Season
    Family Bible
    Family Business
    Fellowship Of The Brush
    Field Of Faith
    First World Chair
    Fit As You Go
    Fixing The Machine
    Flawed People
    Flock Of Angels
    Follow The Money
    For A Time Such As This
    Fortissimo!
    French Horn
    From A Distance
    Frozen Man
    Funny Words
    Genetic Lottery
    Gifting
    Global
    Good Bones
    Good God Almighty
    Good Government
    Good Luck Skippy
    Gott Mit Uns
    Greatest Is Love
    Gross Anatomy
    Grunt
    Haka!
    Hammer And Tong
    Hands And Eyes
    Happy Rooster
    Hearing Voices
    Hello My Juan
    Helping God Show Off
    Hidden In The Secret Place
    High Dudgeon
    History Bites
    Hockey Tape And Rubber Bands
    Holy Disorder
    Home Economics
    I AM
    I Cannot Help You
    I Could Be Wrong
    I Dare You
    Idiots
    If You Build It
    If You Get There Before I Do
    Im Khalil
    Impossibly Cute
    In A Strange Land
    Incarnation
    Influencer
    In My Own Time
    Inner FIfteen Year Old
    In The Details
    In The Usual Manner
    Invader
    Judge Not
    Just A Few Words
    Justice
    Just In Our Own Time
    Just Like God
    Keep Calm And...
    Keeper
    Keeping House
    Keeping On Keeping On
    KJV
    Knock Yourself Out
    Kumbaya
    Kybo
    Lamentations
    Lemonade
    Less Is More
    Let Me Count The Ways
    Let's Go RIde A BIke
    Linked In
    Little Boxes
    Liturgy
    Lo And Behold
    Logos
    LOL
    Looking Back On The Forward Looking
    Looking For Some Real Good News
    Lord Jesus It’s A FIRE
    Lorem-ipsum-dolor
    Lost-and-found
    Luck Of The Stable
    Magical
    Make-a-baby-laugh
    Make It Nice
    Maker
    Maker’s Mark
    Ma-pitom
    Marbles-in-spring
    Measure Of A Man
    Memory Box
    Men In Loincloths
    Men's Barber Shop
    Middle Ground
    Middleman
    Mistakes All In
    Montreal Spice
    More
    Morse Code
    Mosh Pit
    My Neighbour
    Myth Of Sisyphus
    My Wife The Movie Star
    Name Calling
    Natural
    Neighbour
    New Day
    New Wine
    Next To Godliness
    Next Year Country
    No Fancy Diagram Needed
    No King But Caesar
    None Deserving
    North Of Ground Level
    Nothing Particularly Important
    Nothing Personal
    Not Waiting For Godot
    No Wonder
    Oak
    One Coffee At A Time
    One Smart Farmer
    One Thing
    On Richard Rohr
    On The Lam
    On Writing Clearly
    Ordinary Time
    Out Of Egypt
    Over And Again
    Paint Over That
    Paper Boy
    Particularity
    Particulate Matter
    Part Of The Tradition
    Pater Noster
    Patina
    Pelagian
    Perfect
    Perfect Crime
    Perfect Ride
    Philosemite
    Pilate's Dilemma
    Pinky Swear
    Place At The Table
    Playing Favourites
    Pop-a-corn!
    Potato War
    Preaching Parrot
    Predators
    Prince
    Print Shop
    Prisoner Of Jesus Christ
    Proof Text
    Psalm 1
    Psalm 19
    Put Away The Books
    Putting Up The Lights
    Reduce Reuse Recycle
    Restoration
    Rosemary And The Drug Dealers
    Sandwich
    Say My Name
    Scars
    Second Naiveté
    Seeing Red
    Seven Sixty-Five
    Shouting From The Areopagus
    Shrove-tuesday
    Silent-witness
    Small-c
    Small-graces
    Sore-afraid
    Squat
    Starting With What Is True
    Street Food
    Superstar
    Take-a-punch
    Takedown
    Talking-head
    Talking Your Parents Down From The Ledge
    Telling-the-story
    Thanksgiving
    The-best-for-last
    The Bliss Of Ignorance
    The Church Invisible
    Thecrossingking
    The Evil Day
    The-general
    The Great Mystery
    The-joys-of-hash
    Themysteryofthecheshirecat
    The-particularity-of-place
    The-quickening
    Therefore-choose-life
    The Table-ness Of A Table
    The Way
    Though One Be Raised From The Dead
    Thoughts On Sixty
    Three Jews And A Gentile
    Thrice Wise
    Throwing The Spaghetti Against The Wall
    Timeless
    Time Vs Time
    Tim Falladay
    Tims No More
    Tonto And Me
    Touching Stones
    Trevor’s Super Bad Day
    Trick Key
    Tubafore!
    Unbelievable
    Under A Bush? HELL NO!
    Uninvited
    Unspectacular
    Use Gently
    Watching Paint Dry
    Wayside Chapel
    Weaker Sex (?)
    We Stand On Guard For Thee
    We Were Waiting
    What Are You Prepared To DO?
    What Lazarus Knew
    When Cows Fly
    When Odd Becomes Interesting
    Why I Still Like Cowboys
    Witness
    Woke
    Wood Show
    Woodworking Lessons In Empathy
    Words
    Words... The Right Tool
    Worthy Adversary
    You And Me And Rob

    RSS Feed

Contact Us

    Subscribe Today!

Submit
Picture
  • Home
  • Hello and Welcome
  • Blog
  • Random Gatherings
  • My Book
  • FAQ