Tale of two mexicos

For those not in the know, Mexico just had its Presidential election. Although there are three main parties, PRI, PAN, and PRD. Only the candidates from PAN and PRD presented viable candidacies. In one sense this is a milestone. For decades PRI ran the country as a virtual one party state, last stealing a Presidential election as recently as 1988, because of the blatancy of the fraud the Mexican people demanded and got a fair election agency. In 2000 Vicente Fox of the PAN was elected president for a legally mandated one six year term. PAN or National Action Party is roughly equivalent to the Republican party, the PRD is roughly equivalent to the Democratic Party. Due to its decades of misrule the PRI, although technically the largest party, seems destined to become a minor party unless there are major reforms. In my own informal poll I took around here only the old seem to favor the PRI.
PRD is represented by Luis Obrador, a charismatic, almost messianic, former successful Mayor of Mexico city. Therein lies his main problem. While he initially had a large lead Felipe Calderon, the candidate of the PAN, convinced many middle class that Obrador was a Hugo Chavez in the waiting. As of today Elections officials reported that Calderon won by less than 1% of the vote.
What the future will bring I am not sure, Obrador is contesting the results, demanding a recount but he is also threatening massive demonstrations which confirms the fears that many have of him, that he is for Democracy only if it is for him.
The curious thing about this election, and the reason I titled it tale of two mexicos is that the country was mostly evenly split by region with all of the northern states voting for Calderon and nearly all of the southern states for Obrador, neatly flipping Americas Blue Red divide. Like America the northern states are wealthier and the south is poorer, unlike America the north is more conservative, but this divide is strictly class based unlike Americas divide, which is mostly cultural. In Mexico it seems people vote along the lines of economic self interest. This is not to say that there is no cultural divide in Mexico, the southern states are more ethnically mixed with a greater proportion of orginal americans than in the north.
It was interesting to watch an election based more on economics and quality of life and not on other issues like school prayer, flag burning, war, etc. not that I am equating war with school prayer as an issue, just that neither is an issue at all. Security is an issue, but one based more on routine crime prevention and not based on protection from mass murdering terrorists.
Being in China for so many years I missed the spectacle of daily elections, but democracy in America since 9/11 has taken a dark turn where simply disagreeing in politics makes people call others treasonous or fascist depending on their position. I missed elections based on geniune ideas.
As for me, not being Mexican I kept my opinion mostly to myself, my own economic self interests would have me prefer Calderon, the peso would trade at a higher rate under him, allowing me to take more money home. Personally, I would like to see more attention paid to the southern states, which is what Obrador would certainly do.
Being that this is such a close election the thing I worry about it unrest, I would prefer a runoff election but Mexico is not set up for such a system, so it seems whoever is ultimately certified the winner will lack legitimacy in the eyes of many. Kind of like its neighbor to the north.

26 to 43

These are the years in which a man is in the prime of his life. If he is fortunate and has no major setbacks in life then this is the time in which most men settle down, marry, work, and have children. I am not saying life ends at 43, just that I myself am 43. How quickly these years have passed, yet how eventful, filled with many happy and a few sad memories. It is strange how some memories linger, a snapshot of time in which the world seems right.
About 16 years ago, my mother, myself, one of my nephews, my aunt and uncle, my cousin and his wife and their baby daughter went on a picnic to Nockamixon state park, in Pa. It was a beautiful summer day. The park itself has a lake, picnic areas, and 3 swimming pools, one for small children, one for diving and one for regular swimming. My cousin, Sterling Hendricks, who is a few years older than myself, is very athletic. While I can do a simple flip he was able to do a flip and a half. I was proud of my cousin that day. My cousins daughter, Alyssa, was about one years old and that vividness of that day made her remain frozen as a baby in my mind and it was always a bit of a shock to know that that baby was now a teenager. In those 17 years since that baby was born I have lived so much of my life that is meaningful and precious.
I remember when I was a child and my grandparents died how I felt sorry for myself. I suppose it is natural being that it is in our nature as the succeeding generation to carry that loss with ourselves and to go forward into the hope of the future. I expect to outlive my parents as I expect my children to outlive me. The grief that we bear is outweighed by the love we have of our children. When I die they will carry my hope of the future with them.
Spoken thusly, life seems simple, but life is never simple. That baby girl, who was a baby girl no longer, died last week at the tender age of 17. When my friend Tommy Dayon died early last month I mourned, mourned as much for his wife and children as for him, but Tommy died as he lived, full of adventure and a legacy that will last for generations. But this loss... how and why she died is not important, only that she did die. With the death of a child there is no going forward and no going back. It fills me with terror, I have two young sons, I can not imagine my life without them. My cousin, my Aunt and Uncle, what can I say?
To even outlive a grown child, the man who dies of a heart attack in his 50's or cancer in his 60's, is tragic enough, but to outlive your own grandchild...
Neil Armstrong lost a two year old child to cancer. Even though he was the first man on the moon, a man who will be remembered as long as man lives to remember, a man who has fame, wealth, and who experienced the greatest adventure in history, just knowing that he lost a child I know I would never want to trade lives with him.
God bless the Hendricks family in this time of need.