I've come up with a bit of a "marketing strategy" on Facebook for promoting it amongst my friends since I don't feel all that comfortable giving strangers a way to contact me. I've found that being safety-conscious in Guatemala is a literal lifesaver. It's not enough to be a "tough target" as they say, since there is a great deal of serendipity involved. Wrong place wrong time is a harsh truth that entirely too many people have come to meet in this country (though I'm sure we're not alone in that!).
These past couple of weeks have been really bad. Two, Three, Five violent deaths a day for two weeks piles up quite the body count! So many people gone, poof, just like that. Children left fatherless, Parents left childless and wives left widows. It breaks my heart to think of it. It surprises me that the police usually find the occasional evil-doer much the way a blind squirrel finds the occasional buried nut.
It can get especially frustrating because with all the killings that have gone on lately, the only person that they've managed to arrest for murder was a guy who killed a thief who was in the middle of robbing a cellphone in the middle of rush hour at gunpoint from a motorcycle. When citizens step in to pick up the slack where police are either unable (or unwilling) to do so are, of course, summarily and thoroughly punished.
Such are the frustrations that one must live with in a country such as this. But in the midst of it all we all find a way to live our life. Live it fully and cherish it completely for we get but one life to live and must make the most of it. Do all you can, love all you can, give all you can and when your time comes you will go with a smile of satisfaction and with peace in the knowledge that you have given it your best and made God (and Mom) proud.
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