Denise Dresser: A Reason to Go On, Even Though Nothing Changes Denise Dresser - Reforma
go to original January 1, 2014

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl Check it out on Amazon.com

I often hear the question: How do you do it, how do you stay in the struggle? How do you keep fighting for a better country? How do you get up in the mornings despite the fact that nothing ever changes? The corruption. The inheritance of positions. The impunity. The gap between a political class that should represent us but doesn't. The survival of personalities like Ulises Ruiz, Mario Marin, Fidel Herrera, Humberto Moreira, Arturo Montiel [all past PRI governors suspected of corruption and impunity] and Carlos Romero Deschamps [head of the Pemex union], among others. When I hear the question over and over, I think about Viktor Frankl's famous book, "Man's Search for Meaning".

A book written by a survivor of the concentration camps who lost his wife there. A book that doesn't describe the great horrors, but rather the numerous small torments. The untold story of the sacrifices, crucifixion and death of the unnameable. The ones that didn't have famous names or last names. The ones that fought daily for survival, a piece of bread, life itself. Fifteen thousand Auschwitz prisoners held in jails designed for two hundred. Dying of fear, cold, uncertainty. Validating Dostoyevsky’s phrase that says man can get used to anything, as long as he doesn't ask himself how.

In Mexico we have gotten used to many things that we shouldn't tolerate. The untruthfulness of our politicians. The horror of our jails, filled with innocent people. The persecution of a young woman that kills her abuser in a legitimate case of self-defense [a current case]. The proliferation of reforms that don't translate into benefits for the great majority. A country that refuses to measure the quality of its students and the poor education they receive. The daily abuses of the telecommunications companies and the terrible service they offer. The voracity of unions that continue to protect their fiefs, privileges and contracts. Realities that some face with apathy and others with cynicism, indifference or passivity. Few with participative indignation.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

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