26 May Seeing Ourselves in the Eyes Of Others/SPAIN
Pope Francis used to say that we cannot forget the millions of migrants, who are the victims of so many hidden vested interests, and so often used for political purposes, but who are denied solidarity and equality. A few years have gone by, and now that the Pandemic has hit us, we have rediscovered fear, he have become faint-hearted and we have seen how some of the assumptions on which we used to base our pretended “superiority” have been destroyed.
Have we really realised, that we, too, can be hurt…, that we are vulnerable? Have we come to the point when we see that our “great goal” to be autonomous, without having to depend on anything or anyone, has become something quite trivial and out of place?
Have we truly become aware, that we were already experiencing as our own personal option is the same as the Social Volunteers – that Life without others, ceases to be human?
What happens when an “other” (an immigrant or excluded person) approaches us, often with an even greater fear that that which surfaces inside us?
In that moment, do we notice something moving inside us, whichbegins to put us into motion and finishes by prodding us towards a personal encounter with them, which is, at first, disconcerting, fearful and packed with doubts; and which usually ends with the desire to place ourselves at their service.
In order to do that, to serve, it is necessary to become a neighbour (close to, near to) to the other person, to reconcile ourselves with ourselves, listen to what they can tell us, share our lives so as to promote them, accept them, and make them “one of us”
Think about it slowly…
SOLIDARITY means discovering at last, that our success is not so much about finding out what I want to do, as gradually detecting what it is that I have to do; knowing that we are capable of becoming a neighbour, and of finding the way to walk with and take care of them so thatthey canbecome their true selves, with us , who have now become, above all, the “safeguarders of their hope”.
SOLIDARITY is precisely what you experience when you join Red Íncola: being aware of the “other” even though we may not like them; overcoming fear so as to look them in the eye!… and with this gaze, being able to discover our own frailty, through their pain and their hope, so as to, finally, be able to feel with them that Life is a gift, and thatwe cannot take possession if it without spoiling it
—
Eduardo Menchaca Ponce de León
Coordinador of the Foundation Red Íncola.
SINCE 2006 ACCOMPANYING LIVES AND BUILDING HOSPITALITY, NETWORKING WITH THE HANDMAIDS OS SACRED HEART.
