The past is not even past.

Ultima to Antonio : "You are growing, and growth is change…make it a part of your strength." Bless me Ultima.

Latin America’s past lives in the present.  Our memories are absolutely connected in the daily lives of its people.  Collective memories exist presently in the cultural reality of Latin America. The past of Latin America is what we live because it is what we remember.  In the same way we grow as a culture because we learn from it, and it is from these memories that we can come to understand its people.  The past will never die as long as the memories are alive in the people and culture.

Latin American culture has a specific characteristic and ability to smile and be happy with very little material things.  But, it may be during these times of happiness when suffering emerges in their eyes.  Where does it come from? Personally, I don’t think that these sad memories emanated from the Latin American people come from the idea that the past was better, but moreover the feeling that something is absent in our today; the virgin jungle of the amazon, the smell of fresh bread coming from the Panaderia (Bakery), the brother lost in the military coup, the sacred books gone up in flames, the country free from dictators, that seem so far because of the time that has past but is still so alive in our memories.

In the book Bless me Ultima, while Antonio is growing up he does not wish to return to his childhood because during the maturing process he comes to understand himself, who he is, and the world around him. Antonio grows thanks to Ultima’s help, and he comes to understand that the memories, the ones that decipher who we are, transform us into our strengths as we find our identity. Memories help us to grow and understand who we are.  Last week I suggested that in order to get to know the soul of Latin America, we must look at it through the eyes. I believe that the more we try to hide the past or our memories, the more our eyes betray us.  Through the help of memories, we can then reach the hearts of the people, the heart of Latin America, where they hide their secrets and their history.

If the formula is to come to know the soul of the Latin American Culture through their eyes, this week I propose that it is through the memories of this culture and their history that we can reach their hearts to understand them.