A MEMORABLE NIGHT
BY FERNANDO PELAYO BRAMBILA
In an unforgettable setting at EOCI on February 26, 2024, a group of pliable souls met and formed an eclectic set of “drawings.” The intention was to inspire writing about love. Our instructor and inspirator said, “We express our love with words, and they may come in writing.”
That night as I walked around the square, I noticed my lack of self-confidence and the lack of trust in others — looking back to see if I would mess-up their work-in-progress-drawings; I doubt they were expecting my mark would improve theirs. When “completed” we contemplated our cooperative weaved “symbols” into what looked like an interesting demonstration of togetherness. This paper is part of the product of what was born in me that evening. It is hard to trust, but we suffered no harm by allowing the many marks that transformed our original card.
If you ask me about the love I hope for, I will answer that it is easy to say what love I want to receive, but it is hard to offer others what they desire. I perceive our love deficiency is the reason some distancing and lack of commitment exists from people around us.
The love I love to receive is the love I have come to know as unconditional love. Do not some of us want what we might fail to offer? This love I am talking about cannot be learned about, one needs a new nature, a reborn one. A love interlaced before a mother conceived, before a mountain rose up, before the clouds or the rain.
The hearts of many have grown up cold. I have seen the faces of the annoyed, the tired, the sad, and the unforgettable expressions of an inner and/or outer state of being. Oh! How easily we convey a message, with a simple look we tell of our acceptance or rejection. We can plead someone to stay or urge them to leave. Facial expressions entail a fast way of communicating. In general, we use written or spoken words to inform, to impose, to persuade, to instruct, to warn or entertain our audience. The brokenhearted are incapable of hiding their sorrow — their very bones dry. They are tormented while they are still alive.
I pray that those who distance themselves and refrain from loving the “unlovable.” Elect to love instead. You can be the salt of the world. Practice compassion, look to the Lord. | FPB
FERNANDO PELAYO BRAMBILA WRITES: “I HEED THE WORD AND PAY ATTENTION TO THE LIGHT WHICH ILLUMINATES THE WAY IN FRONT OF ME TO A SAFE PILGRIMAGE. I TRUST IN MY DELIVERER TO KEEP ME FROM THE TRAPS OF MY ENEMY.” HE IS FROM JALISCO, MEXICO AND SPANISH IS HIS FIRST LANGUAGE.