Brief Reflection on Mexico

I just returned from a very rewarding and interesting, if short, trip to Mexico (Mexicali). I spoke to an overflow crowd at a medical school, and was gratified by the response and the clear idealism of the soon-to-be doctors. I appeared on Mexican television where the interviewer asked better questions than usually is the case on American media. I did a newspaper interview to a reporter very interested in the hospice concept. And, I gave two speeches to a very receptive crowd who attended a symposium sponsored by a coalition of pro-life/pro-family groups called Congreso Internacional Vida y Familia. The people were wonderful. I made good friends. I had a wonderful time.

I learned that the socialist party is promoting euthanasia and that its candidate is first in polling to succeed President Vicente Fox. If true, that is bad news for the non elite in Mexico. I learned that there is no hospice movement in Mexico to speak of, which I made a point of urging my listeners to begin to rectify. I learned that Mexico voted to ban all human cloning in the United Nations only after the government succumbed to a strong grass roots political campaign to achieve that laudable end. People were very interested and engaged in the bioethical issues of the day.

Which illustrates a point worth remembering: The issues addressed at Secondhand Smoke are international. Every society is grappling with them in their own unique ways. There is much to do to maintain a culture that values the weak and vulnerable as much as the strong and rich. And, there is much to learn from other cultures who bring their own unique perspectives to the fray.