By
Karen McConnaughey
Some
of you probably read our blogs and newsletters and think that things couldn’t
really be as good as we say it is living in Lake Chapala, especially with the media continuing to hit
you over the head with how dangerous Mexico can be.
I
wanted to share a couple of letters that appeared last month in the Guadalajara Reporter. These
made my heart sing because I feel both truly represented why we love it here
and how welcome we feel in our adopted country. And, the kindness we feel here
is international. The expatriates living here come from somewhere else, and we’ve all left
family and long-time friends behind. This is such a close-knit community that
it doesn’t really occur to us NOT to help someone in need, no matter what
nationality, religion, race…we’re all just members of the same community. Wouldn’t
it be nice if the rest of the world felt the same way!
Thank You
Friday, November 04 2011
Dear Sir,
I want to say a huge thank you to the wonderful Mexican people who came to my
rescue this week.
On Thursday
morning I tripped and fell on a cobbled street in Ajijic and suffered a few
bruises and cuts, one of which bled quite a lot. Within seconds after I
fell there were at least three young men there to help me. They found some
towels to apply pressure and made sure nothing was broken before they would
allow me to move. Once the bleeding was under control they flagged down a
passing family who drove me to the Ajijic Clinic. When I stepped out of their
pickup with blood on my face and hands, a woman outside the clinic ran inside
to tell them I was coming in and needed help.
I was seen and
treated immediately by Dr. Rodriguez and a nurse. When I was ready to
leave the clinic, a woman offered to drive me home. I could not have asked
for more and I seriously doubt that I would have been treated nearly as
well north of the border.
Bill Levy
International kindness
Friday, November 04 2011
Dear Sir,
Last Monday I went
shopping at Wal-mart to buy a large box of chocolates for my kind and generous
Dutch friend’s birthday. I found what I wanted but, unfortunately, the rather
heavy box was on the upper shelf. Leaning on my cane, standing on tiptoes, I
reached for it but it came down on my forehead next to my hairline.
There was a deep
gash which was bleeding profusely. Two American ladies who were standing close
by rushed over with a kleenex to cover the wound and guide me to a chair
outside the shopping area. They then alerted the employees of Wal-mart to get
help. I was in a daze, nauseated, dizzy and shaking. In no time two security
guards appeared: a man with a first-aid box and a woman who cleaned the wound,
treated and then bandaged it. I was given water and an English-speaking
security guard (who later told me that he was born in Arizona) said that he would do the shopping
for me, as I had still three items I wanted to purchase.
He also
checked-out my shopping for me while I sat on a chair.
The guard then
helped me walk to my car, put the stuff in the trunk and waited until I was
sitting safely inside. He firmly refused to take a propina. After sitting a
while in my car to get my bearings, I slowly drove home to Ajijic. I did not
dare to take the Carretera, but used instead the back roads through San Antonio and La
Floresta to 16 de Septiembre in Ajijic.
When I arrived
home and got out of the car to open the trunk, a neighbor from Canada appeared
and offered to carry my groceries to the house. I did not even have to ask him.
When I sat down in
my favored chair, closed my eyes and let the events of the last hour and a half
go by, I realized how kind people are. It occurred to me that this story has to
do with kindness and appreciation involving five nationalities: Mexican,
American, Canadian, Dutch and German. (I am a naturalized American from Germany.) I
feel so blessed living in this wonderful corner of the world where kindness,
especially to the elderly, prevails.
Laura Goeglein
And, while the following letter appeared a
few months back, I had to search for it, because I thought it was a true
indication of how people here look after other people. I really, really love
living here.
Good Samaritans
Friday, April 29 2011
Dear Sir,
I am writing this
letter to thank some people who came to my rescue when I most needed it.
On Wednesday,
March 20, the day before the Easter celebrations, I tried to withdraw money
from the ATM at the Bancomer branch on the plaza in Ajijic. The machine “ate”
my card and never released the money. In panic, I spoke to the bank’s manager,
who informed me that I would have to file a claim with my bank in the U.S. to get
back the money that had been withdrawn from my debit card account. At
that point I began to cry, frustrated and fearing that I would have to spend
the next five days in Mexico
with eight pesos in my pocket.
Firstly, I would
like to thank my dentist Martha Medina Corona and her assistant Blanca. I was
very late arriving at their office for my appointment; there were other people
waiting and I could not pay my bill.
Regardless of this
fact, Martha calmly fixed my tooth, provided me with her telephone to make a
long distance call to my bank on Cape Cod and
told me that I could pay her later.
I must also thank
Mr. and Mrs. Schubert, whom I had seen in the line at the bank waiting to speak
to the manager. Arlene Schubert had handed me her card and asked me to stop by
her house after my dentist’s appointment. I went to her house only to begin
crying again, yet this time from gratitude and simple amazement. Arlene had
returned to the bank and withdrawn the exact amount of money she had heard me
discussing with Bancomer’s manager.
When I arrived at
their house, she laid eight 500-peso bills on her kitchen table and said to me,
“I know that you will pay me back.”
As I left their
house I kept asking myself if all this really happened? Did a perfect
stranger just hand me 4,000 pesos? The answer is “yes” and the fact is prayers
do get answered and miracles do happen. Thank you for my angels during this
Easter season!
Johanna Kallio
And, yes, I do choose to report the
good news…the upbeat letters…that’s who I am. As you move through your
everyday life, what is it that catches your attention the most – things to
complain about or things to appreciate? I believe this statement
wholeheartedly: “Whatever you appreciate in your reality will keep
“appreciating” (growing) in your reality because whatever you give
attention/focus to gets attracted into your experience. When your focus is on
appreciation, you will find that your reality seems to give you more and more
opportunities for appreciation.”
I thought Kathleen Neal said it best
in her closing of another Letter to the Editor when something negative appeared
in the letters where one woman said she was speaking for ‘all gringos.’
“This is an issue that is addressed on web boards
and editorials. Truth is, it really isn’t about …[any one thing], it’s about
all of us having to try and understand the different culture we’ve chosen to
live in. Let’s remind ourselves that things here are simply not like “back
home” and we’re guests in this country. Remember all the reasons you fell in
love with this area and wanted to move here; don’t lose that perspective while
trying to change things.
“To steal a quote from a well known Eagles song: ‘To
call someplace paradise, kiss it goodbye.’”
Kathleen Neal
You’re my kind of people, Kathleen! My daily mantra when I
moved to Mexico was “I
didn’t move to Mexico to
complain about why it wasn’t like the United States.” I don’t know if that was the reason I had so little
culture shock (having lived in Kansas City, Missouri my entire life), but I
also realized that even when I got frustrated about something here, all I had
to do was realize that I probably would have been frustrated in KC too…just
about something completely different. As
international travelers, we all know “Wherever you go, you can find
something to complain about.”
So…please…relax, enjoy, appreciate what you have; don’t
complain about what you don’t have!
Karen
McConnaughey: Operations Manager for FocusOnMexico.
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