Living under a coup – day 25.

July 22 is the anniversary of the birth of Karl Menninger, a famous psychiatrist, who wrote a very interesting book Whatever Became of Sin? In today’s Writer’s Almanac, Garrison Keillor noted:

Once, when someone asked him what to do if a person feels he is about to have a nervous breakdown, Menninger replied, "Lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, find someone in need, and do something for them."

This reminds me of what Fr. Jon Seda, now pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Ames, Iowa, once told me. When he was an undergraduate at Loras College, he was puzzled with all sorts of questions about God and went to his religion professor, Paul Allen. Paul told him to go out among the poor and there he would find God.

Today I had a chance to read the first draft of an analysis of the current crisis in Honduras. It is quite good and I await its publication, so that I can share it.

In his recent encyclical, Charity in Truth (#32), Pope Benedict XVI, wrote something pertinent to the situation of Honduras:

The dignity of the individual and the demands of justice require, particularly today, that economic choices do not cause disparities in wealth to increase in an excessive and morally unacceptable manner…. Through the systemic increase of social inequality, both within a single country and between the populations of different countries (i.e. the massive increase in relative poverty), not only does social cohesion suffer, thereby placing democracy at risk, but so too does the economy, through the progressive erosion of “social capital”: the network of relationships of trust, dependability, and respect for rules, all of which are indispensable for any form of civil coexistence.

(Italics mine)

The current crisis is the result of decades – even centuries – in which those with power and money have sought to maintain control and enrich themselves. The poor and their needs have been neglected. And it continues.

Yesterday I was talking with a fairly apolitical Honduran woman who happened to note the terrible state of education in Honduras. As an aside she intimated that the educational system is so bad since those in power don’t really want an educated populace. It’s not the first time I’ve heard this. (She also complained about the state of the educational system and that for many reasons, including teachers' strikes, children have less than 200 days of school a year.)

Some analysts of the coup are also saying that what may have really threatened those in power was the very possibility of participation in government of the poor which the referendum represented. The monopoly that the two major political parties – the Liberal and the National – is for many a cause of concern, since it limits input from the poor who represent more than 60% of the society.

Negotiations were supposed to be held today, but it seems that both sides didn’t send their representatives until this afternoon. Micheletti has sent a new proposal. Yet, to me, Micheletti appears to be intransigent: Zelaya can only return as a private citizen and will be subject to prosecution on arrival. But, there seems to be some dissent within the Micheletti camp. The New York Times reports that his major negotiator is open to the return of Zelaya to the presidency with limited powers.

Marches are being held by both sides – the pro-coup march “for patriotism and courage” was being shown on television this morning. The anti-coup group is threatening a strike Thursday and Friday.

So here I am, living in what was a fragile democracy in a society where the lives of the poor are at stake, not just because of the present crisis, but because of the long history of their oppression. And glad to be here.

Pray for us.