A story worth dying for?

Have you ever celebrated Lent or for whatever reason fasted or given up something you love?

Can you imagine running for 212 consecutive days or going more than 133 days without eating any sweets?  I couldn’t. But, every moment since I made these commitments areas of my character that previously laid dormant were exposed.

For any person to change a habit or give up something they love there has to be an internal motivation that gives them the strength to keep going when the going gets tough.

Each of us has dreams, passions and interests that we invest ourselves in, but how committed are we to these things? Are we willing to die for them?

I don’t mean a heroic notion celebrating our life’s accomplishments, but a truth gripping, silently brutal, lonesome and painful death.  Are you willing to die as a seemingly nameless human being?

Thousands of Mexican journalists, bloggers and citizens journalists have been threatened, disappeared, been kidnapped and or murdered for daring to report on cartel activity.  Their deaths and disappearances are underreported. . . and tragically, the majority of their stories will only live on through their loved ones and the ones that were left behind.  But, there are those whose death shakes and inspires others to live boldly.

Last week, “Felina” an online citizen journalist who was notorious for speaking up about cartel violence was kidnapped and murdered.  Her kidnappers gained access to her Twitter account and tweeted photographs of her before and after she was killed.  Felina is only one of the many Mexican journalists who have lost their lives fighting to tell the truth.  She lived and gave her life with an extraordinary courage that makes me wonder: what made these stories worth dying for?  What would drive a doctor by profession to put her life on the line when countless others choose to stay silent?

“An angel that gave her life, her future, her security, for the good of the people in our state. Today Miut3 stopped reporting, but what criminals do not know, is that Miut3 is in our soul and she will never leave us, or surrender to organized crime.”  – Valor Por Tamaulipas posted this on their Facebook following her death.

Her life was threatened several times before and a bounty was offered for her, but none of the threats ever stopped her and her colleagues from reporting about cartel activity.  Telling the story of her people and even giving her life to be a voice meant more to her than life itself.  Truly, how many of us when faced with death would it embrace it so boldly and valiantly?