We joyfully left our home in Catrigandí for church last Sunday around 9:30am. While true joy comes from within, sitting comfortably in your recently acquired used car with good air-conditioning helps the joy come out for some people, particularly in the sweltering tropics. After 3 river crossings, about halfway out our dirt road (not gravel), a saddled horse came towards us dragging a rope with a small broken stick tied to the end. It seemed to think it had the right-of-way, so I stopped, and we watched as it headed into our neighbors yard and began happily munching down their beans. A little ways ahead we came upon another horse, saddled, and tied to a tree. A little further ahead, and Colleen hollered for me to stop. I had seen a sack in the road and was passing beside it so as not to destroy its contents. Upon reversing, I discovered it was not a sack, but our elderly neighbor from up the mountain, Simón, in the fetal position with a dirt brown shirt and dirt brown hat providing some protection from the already baking sun.
He appeared to be breathing. I got out to check on him, wondering if he´d been thrown from his horse. “Simón.”… “Simón!” His bloodshot eyes eased open. “There´s a saddled horse loose. Is that yours?”
His eyes widened. “Yes. My horse…” and his eyes faded back closed, the rank smell of last night´s booze wafting around him.
Alcoholism seems to affect every race and nation in some way, while its expressions vary according to many factors: social, economic, and cultural. I heard some neighbors (who also saw Simón on their way out) comment that he had gone back up the mountain without buying any food. The next day, he came down the mountain trying to sell a couple of chickens. I had just bought chicken, and we were preparing for a visit… with a huge pot of soup on the stove. I spoke with Simón for a bit, but in my blindness and to my regret, it did not occur to me to invite Simón in for a bowl of soup. I pray that we´d all have the scales removed from our eyes such that we recognize and act on opportunities to bless others in the appropriate timing.
Con amor,
Los Fosters
