The aftermath

With the police strike on Wednesday and all of the stories I have read or heard or discussed, there are many questions to ponder.

Why was the governor in another country at the time? Why had he not considered beforehand to raise the salary of the police, who earn less than half of the bus drivers? (Bus drivers, on average, do not have more than a high school education.) Why did he send a message through Twitter asking for help?

Where was the president? What did she do? Even if she does not have a good relationship with the leader of Córdoba, these are still her people. Did she really send gangs to join in the looting?

My fear, after talking with Cristian, was that the other provinces might follow suit, putting even more people in danger. Sure enough, the provinces Catamarca, Neuquen, and Río Negro held strikes on Friday. (Read here).

When I read more of Argentina's history, I took note of the violence that is rooted with the government that has formed more or less beginning in the 70s. I suppose with that sort of start, what can one expect?

A similar effect has occurred since the fall of man.

The article explains that 136 arrests in Córdoba have since been made of the looters. Most of them were caught by the photos they had put on Facebook, showing off the many things they had stolen. With all the destruction I have seen in the city center, I know that thousands should be charged.

I talked with someone who lives in the slum area, to make sure she was all right. She said that everything was fine. Peaceful even, because everyone had left to steal from the wealthier neighborhoods.

Perhaps the bigger question is best described by one of the members of my team here in Córdoba.

"Where are our values? If we base our values on whether or not someone is watching, they really aren't values at all. The test comes when you take away the authority figure."

The challenge then, is to find where do we base our values. Digging a bit deeper, where do we base our Christianity? If we believe in God because of what we have been told all of our lives, nothing we have with God is real. When we have to choose following Christ even when the circumstances aren't in our favor--even if it means losing sleep on a Sunday morning, losing our job, losing friends, etc.--that is when our faith is real.

We realize whether we are following Christ or not when no one is looking.

This is my conclusion from the crazy 24 hours between Tuesday and Wednesday of the police strike in my precious Córdoba.

love and chau.