Mexico: A Cautionary Tale

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By: JC Sullivan.

I was warned.

Repeatedly.

Warned.

So many times it lost its potency.

Warned.

By well-meaning friends

living in "safe" gated communities with armed guards

By acquaintances

who have never been here

By media reports

glamorizing and spreading alarm

Who have a different definition of danger. And of what constitutes safety.

Stupid me!

I didn't listen

to any of it.

Adventurous, perhaps with a death wish,

I didn't look.

Worse.

I wasn't careful.

And...

In "dangerous" Mexico,

I was robbed.

Stupid, stupid me!

Yes, Mexico...

stole from me...

A smile.

At first.

And then,

they got bolder

and took...

A laugh.

and bolder still, they ran off with...

my poor self-image.

Which turned into a larger felony: They took ...

time

to fill me with compliments!

Telling me

repeatedly

how wonderful it is...

to be a woman

of experience.

Who smiles.

Who laughs.

Repeatedly.

Time after time. Again and again.

Until

finally, I believed them.

As I was smiling and laughing, and actually trusting myself,

They had the nerve to go and pick-pocket my lingering self-doubts,

my well-nurtured insecurities including

my belief that "real beauty" was limited to youth...

While I was still reeling in shock,

from having been robbed,

and pick-pocketed

Mexico took

the opportunity to kill my previous ideas of what constituted "hospitality",

replacing it with a generosity

that

is frightening

to even try to emulate,

yet so, so fortunate to know.

See how really dangerous Mexico is?

And it got even worse!

I hadn't recovered from such brutal behavior, when

they committed another truly horrible,

almost unspeakable

crime.

They gave me hope and optimism.

Repeatedly.

About who I was.

About who I could be.

About who we could be together.

Amongst wrapping me in love and force-feeding me laughter and compliments and

smothering me in generosity

and unfathomably fabulous hospitality,

I was rendered helpless.

Utterly

helpless.

Stupid, stupid, stupid me.

I did not cry for help

or

run away.

Mexico took complete advantage of my situation and committed the biggest atrocity of all. Once again, they stole ...

my heart --

and my soul.

Now I'm so scared -

deeply, utterly terrified -

that I cannot return the favor.

Never happier,

I steal away...

to wish

this kind of "danger" on everyone.