FINDING LOST CIVILIZATIONS This

Chapter 10Returning tothe BeginningIt had been a wonderful journey, but our time was comingto a close in Mexico. Both my father and I wanted toreturn to where it all began, the 13 Stations of the Cross. Weasked ourselves if it had been fate, circumstance, chance,or a predetermination beyond our control that set us on thecourse that opened a window to the past for us.As we slowly climbed the 152 steps toward Pedro’scross we pondered the circumstances that took us on ourjourney. Upon reaching the summit the splendor of JaltembaBay opened its warm and caressing arms to us. We are eacha world unto ourselves, but standing under the cross andseeing the natural beauty before my eyes I felt almost insignificant.Norman Vincent Peale once said something tothe effect that the mundane world is only clumps of earthclinging to a rock spinning into nothing, and that we mightconsider other realities and leave the dust behind. The worldis not enough and we should bear in mind that we are onlystewards of moments in time, which is all the time we everreally have.Many people live with the demons of their past, cloudedby some wrong or circumstance, perceived or actual, ordreaming of some anointed place in the future. But the timeis now and it is ever so fleeting. Unfortunately, living eachmoment to its fullest is not always possible. As I stood underPedro’s cross I felt I would always be grateful I was able tolive the moment to its fullest with my father as we followedthe thread of lost civilizations.Standing atop that hill I recalled my amazement uponlearning that most of the indigenous population died withina hundred years of the Spaniards’ arrival in this region.History is a teacher and provides us an opportunity for thefuture. But, I wonder how much of man’s nature has trulyprogressed. Sectarian, ethnic, class, and political violencecontinues to this day. If we do not learn from our past follies,how can we continue? What shall become of us? EdwardGibbon, a British historian discussing the decline and fall of43