Bienes Raices

Someone slapped a sticker on a steel box right outside of Colegio Rex, Andre’s school. I know the basics of Spanish vocabulary now but even though, I had to ask Rick several times what Bien Raices meant, it would not stick. I read it every day and every day I asked myself over and over what the hell does that mean. It means good roots. I have seen it on other signs around Mazatlán and have come to learn it’s a construction development company name.

It had me thinking. In Mexico there are good roots. Mexicans have strong roots. They have strong healthy family bonds that you can see and feel walking through a mall or down the street. The foundations of all that the Mexican people are, are in their roots. Their traditions, their values, their work ethic.

So, although it was just a sticker of a development company, I realized that there are strong roots that go back hundred and thousands of years here. The United States is falling apart right now. Their roots are weak and always have been. The country was formed ripping away and stealing land that did not belong to them. It began by destroying families, the earth, the people who were here first. After it was raped, it enslaved an entire race of humans that is rooted in the racism still going on today. The roots of the United States are very young and shallow in comparison to other countries around the world.

Just to sharpen my point, the United States is 249 years old while there are records of Mexican settlers that go back 13,000 years. There are traditions today still practiced that go back thousands of years .Dia de Los Muertos (the day of the dead) is a holiday that is still celebrated today that dates back to 3,000 years. The Aztec Calendar that is still considered highly complex for the time it was created goes back to 1479 AD it is still used for ceremonial and traditional purposes.

Mexico can fall back on their roots with pride and although they are not immune to ancient human atrocities’, they have learned from them, grown from them and moved forward. The roots are good. Bien Raices!