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Faith Journey
By FrankTilley in Ojos Verdes
May 12, 2008

Image A news editor called and dispatched me to the memorial site for the 19 immigrants. There were three gentlemen from Houston who are part of a support group for immigrants from the Potosina Region in Mexico. They were giving the memorial site much needed cleaning, as weeds buried the site from view. They were very gracious with their time and efforts and we exchanged information about the five-year anniversary coming up on Wed.

My Civic was running on fumes so I pulled into the old Chubby's to fill up and get a drink. The clerk saw my Advocate ID and inquired into whether we were doing a story on the site. I replied that were doing a multi-series on the tragedy and following up on the 5-year anniversary.

Obviously he was not in a good mood and remarked that, the place is a mess and forgotten about. I mentioned that most of the family's connected to the memorial lived in either Houston, or Mexico and couldn't maintain the site on a regular basis. When he then said, "they only come around when they want a story,” that comment really touched a nerve in me, because w are all children of God and each individual is responsible for serving our community, regardless of race, ethnicity or country of origin. I told him that anybody that anyone near Fleming Prairie Rd. especially someone that passes the site everyday could surely keep it neat and tidy.
 As I collected my change and began to walk out I looked him firmly in the eyes and said, "any good Christian could do it."

While driving back to the office I realized that the message in Sunday's Gospel, the language of love, the Lord calls upon each of us to Love one another, give aid to the needy and help our fellow man.

 Hey God, I'm catching on.

Suddenly a thought flashed into my feeble brain and right then and I decided that I would keep the site maintained the best I could. Why not me? Why should I think like the store clerk, that it was someone else’s responsibility?

So made a promise to God, the victims and their families, that I would watch over their heavenly ground.