The roosters crowed

as six old women woke up ready to die

Detail from a mural in Cherán, MX

Imagine living in the same house for a thousand years. 

Imagine hooligans coming into that house, stealing the furniture your grandfather made by hand, emptying the cabinets that store the food you feed your family, shooting your much beloved dog. 

Imagine calling 911 and no one shows up. 

Imagine that nightmare going on time after time, year after year.

Imagine that one day you just explode and say: Enough!

Thirteen years ago, that’s just what happened. Six old women in a small town in Mexico said “Enough!” Armed with brooms and sticks and shovels, they walked to the road on a chilly April morning and waited for the logging trucks coming to steal more of their sacred trees from the forest that for generations stretching back a thousand years had provided sustenance for their families.

The men driving the trucks were criminals who had been terrorizing the town for years. By now, over half of their sacred forest was clear cut, the spring that gave them fresh, clean water was drying up, sons and husbands murdered, daughters kidnapped and raped. Pleas to police and government had gone unanswered, whisked away by the flood of money feeding greed and corruption.

No help was coming.

Six old women were ready to die

Standing in the middle of that road, lit by the head lights of the logging truck headed their way, six old women were ready to stop a nightmare, ready to give their lives for their community. They had no way of knowing what that day would bring. But, something had to change.

Behind them, though, the church bells began to ring, calling the helpers.

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Pine cone detail from a mural in Cherán

This is the beginning of the story I’ve chosen to learn more about and write about during 2024. It’s a gripping story and an inspiring one. And, currently, one with a happy ending as Cherán held the peace, declared themselves autonomous and set up their own form of communal democracy.

It would be easy enough to think of it as a far-away story, just a tale about a small, rural town in a state in Mexico that has a bad reputation for cartel activity. Actually, however, what calls to me is its deep relevance to our own more prosperous and westernized world.

What can Cherán teach us about freedom and democracy?

How many of us feel threatened and helpless to do anything about the losses and challenges that face us? How many of us feel the build up of frustration about the deep division in our country and as we see democracy being challenged at home and around the world? How many of us feel helpless and fear for our children and grandchildren as we contemplate war, and the threat of war? How many of us are on the brink of saying: ENOUGH!?

I don’t know where researching and writing this story will take me, but I do feel like I’m standing in the middle of a dark road, not sure what’s behind the headlights headed my way. I have my broom (laptop?) in hand and am confident that helpers will show up … they always do.

I don’t know if I’m ready to die, but I am inspired by the old women of Cherán and ready to wake up. We can!

Mural in Cherán: We can!