Cinco de Mayo, Quilt part 7

When we lived in the heart of the West Side of St. Paul, a Hispanic part of town, we came to love the Cinco de Mayo holiday every year. Cinco de Mayo is the 5^th of May and is a celebration, not of Mexican independence as some believe, but of the occasion when the Mexican army defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Puebla, on May 5, 1862. Napoleon had used Mexico’s perceived weakness to attempt a take over as part of his quest for world domination. The Mexican win is credited with dissuading Napoleon from joining the Confederates in the war between the states and possibly tipping the balance there.

Cinco de Mayo is a minor holiday in Mexico but has become a major celebration of Mexican heritage in the United States with parades, food vendors, political speeches and the like. I have three short stories about it:

1.   Alex was a preschooler and we all would walk the few short blocks down to what was then Concorde Street and is now Cesar Chavez to watch the parade. There were a lot of local politicians waving at the crowd and tossing candy, all kinds of local businesses waving and tossing candy, civic clubs waving and tossing candy. We loved it! But the best part of all were all the marching bands and the one vendor selling his BBQ spare ribs.

2.   You will note from the shirt that the eagle is holding a beat-up French flag on a broken staff – an excellent depiction of the event from the Mexican point of view. I was wearing the shirt one day on an excursion to Disney World. We were in line and there was a teenager behind me with his Mom. I noticed that he was studying my shirt and speaking with his Mom about it – in French! I learned from that experience that one person’s victory is another’s defeat and I have been a little more circumspect about where I wear the shirt.

3.   Then there is the Cecil story. My dad was named Cecil May. My older brother is Cecil May Jr. and has a son named Cecil May 3, sometimes called C3. Cecil 3 has a son named Cecil May 4 who has a son named Cecil May 5. From birth Cecil the 5^th has been called “Cinco” for Cinco de Mayo.

More About Change Agents

We were in a church once where the leadership thought any “change agent” was a subversive character out to destroy the integrity of the church. After one of the leaders had taught a class along that line, repeating the term “change agent” several times almost with a sneer, I approached him for a discussion. Here is the gist of our conversation:

Jesus said we are to be salt and light in the world (Matthew 5). Both are change agents: salt both as a preservative and as a flavor enhancer, light to illuminate a topic or a situation. He also said go tell everyone the good news (Mark 16:15), presumably to convince them to follow him.

And we all know of churches where we wish something were a little different. Paul for example was constantly writing to churches encouraging them to correct their errors. Take the Corinthian letters as an example (e.g. 1:10). And Jesus, speaking through John in the Revelation, had corrections for five of the seven churches He directed letters to in the beginning of the book. See the letter to the church at Ephesus for example (2:4-5).

But perhaps the most important aspect of being a change agent is our constant duty to encourage each other to show love and do good works (Hebrews 10:24-25). My hope for all of us is that we will not just “go along to get along” but will be change agents for good both in the church and out.

Victims, Change Agents and Babies

There are, of course, many more than two kinds of people in the world, but it can be fun and sometimes educational to think of people as if they all fall into one of two groups. So, bear with me for a bit and let’s think of people as being either a victim or a change agent. This thought occurred to me the other day as I was thinking about our newest descendant’s future.

I am thinking mostly in terms of how people see themselves. Just listening to people talk, a lot of them seem to see themselves as victims of whatever comes along. They tend to look for the ways in which they are personally negatively affected by whatever happens. It is a “Woe is Me” lens through which to view the world. Not to mention how it affects people around them, it must be a miserable way to live. Though some of them do seem to enjoy it.

On the other side are those who see themselves as change agents. I suppose you could further divide the change agents into subgroups. For example, bullies might see themselves that way, but I like to think about the change agents who use positive means – those, influenced by Jesus, who approach the world and all its troubles looking for where they might make a positive difference. Using gentleness, kindness, forgiveness and patience as their tools, they approach each situation looking for ways to make it better. My prayer for little Ginny is that she will be a change agent and not a victim. 

[She is, of course much cuter than this clip art.]