Experience is the Best Teacher

Posted here because there is a much higher signal-to-noise ratio among the passionate secret society folks than in general conspiracies.

It's no secret that I am a Freemason. It's a little bit of a stretch for me to make this relevant to Secret Societies, but I will try.

In Freemasonry we talk a lot about spreading the 'cement of brotherly love'. I try to do this in life by helping out all my brothers and sisters in the human family.

Every year my church takes two missions to Juarez, Mexico, to build homes for impoverished families. Last year in March I reported about the claims of violence, war and terror being overblown.

I returned from our annual trip on Saturday. We took our largest group ever, 18 people. (I should note that these are Methodists, not Freemasons).

The week before we left the news reports were screaming about chaotic violence, murder of Americans, and the spillover into the US.

Despite my firm conviction that we would be safe I have to admit that I was a little anxious.

Once again I found that the MSM reporting was (to paraphrase the Mexican Ambassador to the US) "inaccurate and disengenous".

This is not to say Ciudad Juarez doesn't have problems. I wouldn't dare travel anywhere near the airport or southeast colonias. However, for the most part, it is a beautiful and peaceful city.

We had several new folks on this trip. Since I work for a company that produces mathematics and scientific software I decided to pull all the research I could find and came up with a staggering but useful statistic.

We live near Chicago so I used it as an example for comparison to the risk of violence in Juarez.

I will spare you the math but the figures are available from the State Dept and FBI for 2009.

On any given day in Juarez the odds of a US Citizen being murdered are 1 in 3,974,000+. On any given day in Chicago, IL, the odds of an US citizen being murdered are 1 in 210,000.

The people of Juarez (and Anapra where we work) are kind, happy and simple folks who live peaceful lives. The soldiers and Federal Police are professional and courteous, although I will admit they have more leeway to enforce the law than US police.

The first thing we saw crossing the bridge into Juarez was a birthday party in the park with balloons and dozens of children. Next, we saw more than a dozen youth soccer games taking place in the soccer fields.

Families with children dressed in clean white shirts were making their way to churches and vendors were selling mango (ON A STEEK!) in the streets.

No one was holed up in their homes, terrified. There weren't armed Aztecas and Zetas roaming the streets manhunting Americans.

Every day our work bus drove directly over the spot made famous by the picture of the Consulate worker's SUV after the murders. Every day we drove past checkpoints manned by armed soldiers wearing face masks so they couldn't be identified by gangs and targeted. And every single day we saw children playing in the streets, running back and forth to school and carrying on with their lives as they have for years.

I will post a couple of sample pictures from the trip, but I just wanted to reinforce what many ATSer's already know. Most of what we see on the news is simply BS.

Here are some photos from our trip:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/911aac4aed72.jpg[/atsimg]

Children of the family we built two houses for.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/0f53209a1acf.jpg[/atsimg]

More kids from the neighborhood.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5d213e3d1f0e.jpg[/atsimg]

The family with one of the houses in the background.

Experience is indeed the best teacher.

Strictly on a personal note, great job in what you and your friends helped to do for those people.

To address the topic, it once again proves that you need to educate yourself on what is happening in the world and stop relying solely on others to do this for you.

reply to post by emsed1


Fantastic post!

Great to see that its not every man for himself.

God Bless you.

reply to post by emsed1


it appears the structures there were made of brick. (cinder block) Am I to assume you built a structure with stone? Why that would make you a ......
na, couldn't be.

Great to hear good news about good people.

Great post emsed. I have to agree, first hand experience always trumps.

Kudos also for building the houses. Several years back I went on a college trip to Honduras to give aid and help the missionaries build. Most everyone flew, but I was the one who drew the short straw to drive the supplies down. Talk about nervous, but I made it.

Good thread, and very true. And props on going down there and helping out those kids and their families.

[edit on 31-3-2010 by jeasahtheseer]

While I appreciate the kind words I hope I haven't left the impression that this work was anything more than brotherly love and relief for fellow humans.

Last year while working on a house (literally spreading mortar) I had a sort of epiphany. One of the phrases we use in Freemasonry is "spreading the cement of brotherly love". While this is a figurative statement it struck me that we were LITERALLY doing that.

Anyway I guess what I am saying is that we don't deserve credit for these missions because the work is dedicated to God and is our obligation both as Freemasons and as followers of the religion of our choice.

I strongly believe that whether a person is Atheist, Agnostic or follows a spiritual discipline, the ONE thing all of us can agree on is that helping others makes you and them feel good.

I have no quarrel with a man or woman who rejects the idea of a supreme being, but still gives to their neighbor. In fact, one of the most altruistic and impressive men I ever met was an Atheist. It was exactly that feeling of having a limited time on earth that inspired him to help others while he was still able to.

You don't have to be a mason, or a christian, or a muslim to love others. Personally I believe that every act done out of love is noticed by God and is positive for humanity.

Would our society be in a better place if we took responsibility for others? Yes.

I also believe that every one of us has all the information we need to fix all life's problems within us.