Land of Enchantment

Finally, we are out of that B-I-G State of Texas after driving 300-plus miles yesterday to Las Cruces, New Mexico.  As we passed through El Paso, Texas, we played the CD of Marty Robbins’ singing his famous “El Paso” ballad and tried to pick out Rosa’s Catina, without any luck, I might add.  I thought too, of my friend, Alma from Air Force days, who claims El Paso as her hometown.  Every place reminds me of a person—making that place a sacred one.

We are on schedule to be with Luke and family over the weekend in Flagstaff, AZ.  Oh, I can’t wait to see Ethan and Eleni! I wonder if they are excited as I am?    I bet they have grown several inches since our last visit in September.  Just two more days and we’ll be there!

New Mexico’s nickname is the Land of Enchantment ("Tierra del Encanto”) and it certainly is an appropriate one.  But like my “Alabama” people (hospitable and friendly people who are not just in Alabama, but in every state) so I find every place in this great land enchanting.  

Enchantment means “being under a magic spell” or a “feeling of great pleasure or delight.”  Both definitions apply to traveling the “ribbon of highways” anywhere here in the USA.  Human beings have lived in New Mexico where I am now since 9200 BC.  Just think, Billy the Kid use to roam around the village of Las Cruces!  The Spanish Conquistadors visited here in the 16th century and wrote about their discoveries and experiences just as I am doing this morning in the 21st century. 

From the 16th century onward New Mexico was part of the Spanish Empire, eventually becoming a part of Mexico.  Mexico made a huge mistake, however, back in that day.  They didn't build a wall to prevent the hordes of white Anglo-Saxon immigrants from infiltrating their land.  So it was, in 1912, that New Mexico became a state of the United States.  

“Tear down this wall!” was the challenge issued by President Ronald Reagan to Mikhail  Gorbachev in 1987 in reference to the Berlin Wall—yet here we are in 2017 wanting to build another wall!  Reagan said it much better than I can:  “There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.”

Tear down the walls that constrain the human mind, remove the barriers that would diminish the human spirit, and break down the obstacles that separate people.  Tear down these walls and do not build any more!

Ethan and Eleni--March 2016