Taco stands, sandwiches, tamales, atole, tortas, cups of fruit on the street; restaurants serving hot food filled with people. Anyone would think this is the offering at a town fair in Mexico or street food in one of its cities. But these days, all these foods are given freely to anyone passing by, to those in disaster zones.
Today more than ever, food is a vehicle and symbol of solidarity, of help. Of empathy for the rescuer who spent two full shifts swallowing dust from the rubble, hoping to save someone. Of comfort for all those who lost their entire patrimony in a matter of seconds. Of applause for the volunteers who went out to carry buckets, to move materials; or those who went out to donate what little or much they had. Food, present as a gesture of gratitude, of solidarity, and as proof that our social bond, no matter who it bothers, exists.
Civil society, organized and united in the face of tragedy as rarely seen. Faced with an inept and ineffective government, which once again shows its limitations in addressing emergencies by omitting an endless list of preventive and resolution actions, civil society demonstrates what it is truly made of.
All over the city, collection centers specify "Collection Center. Direct delivery, without passing through institutions." We have reached this point, where distrust in our institutions—meant to serve the people—leads citizens, in times of crisis, to bypass them and take control of the processes to ensure aid reaches those in need. We have reached the point where anonymous heroes, the dog Frida, and the young man collecting rubble in a wheelchair, become our symbols of resilience and reconstruction, because institutions and the government have failed to protect the people before, during, and after the earthquake.
Controlling the arrival of humanitarian aid with opaque procedures, leaving communities forgotten, turning the distribution of food packages into a political springboard, and lacking compassion in the face of human tragedy is psychopathic. Even by instinct, animals are supportive when they are pack leaders for survival.
Let September 19 change the meaning of the ham sandwich. Instead of being the quintessential symbol of the "reward" for those brought to political rallies, let it be a reminder of the day the people showed that our leaders are too small for us, that the ham sandwich recalls the solidarity and capacity we have to resist, organize, and rebuild. Reconstruction is just beginning; times are coming when the strength of the social bond that unites us all will be needed more than ever. And let all this not be forgotten in the 2018 elections.
#earthquake #catastrophe #security #foodsecurity #solidarity #altruism #socialbond
— This article was originally published in Spanish by Liliana Martínez Lomelí. Translation generated with AI from the original text.