Being an idealistic liberal arts student I dropped out of college in 1965 and applied to the Peace Corps. After 4 months of intensive training I found myself in Honduras with the assignment of rural community development. Honduras proved to be one of the poorest countries in Central America. That country experienced repeated revolutions but I was lucky to be there during a stable time. Political stability allowed my work to be fulfilling for me and a number of projects were completed successfully. The best part of the experience became the way the Honduran people embraced me, cared for me and worked with me. That time stands out as one of the best of my life. Recent news reported in the San Francisco Chronicle makes me sad:
Killings have escalated drastically in Honduras as the drug cartels have expanded their presence and an overall climate of lawlessness has emerged. Honduras now has the highest per capita rate of homicide in the world – 87 murders per 100,000 people. The second largest city, San Pedro Sula, has been declared the world’s most violent city. The Chronicle reports the Peace Corps has pulled out the 158 Volunteers working in the country. How many relationships, how many badly needed projects, how many inroads into a peaceful world were dashed by this action that shouldn’t have been necessary?
Honduras has become the preferred route for 84 percent of the US bound cocaine. Crackdowns on drug trafficking in Mexico and the Caribbean pushed the trafficking to Central America. Why do we need all that cocaine in the US? Are people so un-happy they need to be high all the time?
Meanwhile in Aurora, 12 killed and some 70 shot in the movie theatre. In Oakland the number of citizens killed by gunfire has reached beyond 60 for the year. In the heart of the Silicon Valley, San Jose, 2 people found shot to death in their home a couple days ago. Think back to Tucson and the shooting that left Gabby seriously injured and others dead. And the killing goes on in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and many other locations around the world.
What are the reasons for this seemingly senseless violence and killing that goes on and on? I don’t know what happened to my dream of a peaceful world when I joined the Peace Corps. Violence reigns in movies, in digital games, on the evening news and in the newspapers. There is apparently a huge market for drugs in the US that drives that violence. Why is that?
No simple or single answer to my questions exists. I believe we each must do what we can to make this a kinder, more gentle and caring world. Most of us can only do that in our own relationships, whether it is with family, friends, work associates or people on the streets and highways. Every action has ripple effect.
Stan the Man
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