One of the more overlooked sins of the castro regime has been its spiritual and emotional effects on people, particularly families. I'm not going to touch the alleged 8 million CDRs on the island. They deserve their own annal of infamy. And the physical and logistical distance between family members is obvious. No, there is a hidden cost. Sometimes I am reminded of the American civil war, when I hear about x family member who is a comuñanga, as if there are any truly left in Cuba, and y family member who is a gusano.
It came to my mind today when I got word that one of the refugees on that boat in the news recently, the one in which one person lost his life, was my godmother. I don't remember seeing her in the flesh, although I'm sure she was at my baptism in Cuba. In fact, all I have is one picture of her. And therein, lies the problem. Although I bear her no ill will, I've never really communicated with her. As a child and later, I could not not get past the miliciana uniform she is wearing in the photo. My parents, remarkably for them, did not push the issue.
I'm pretty sure it was wrong to write her off, and I will go visit and see what she has to say, now that both she and I are older and wiser. But my situation is symptomatic of the greater problem. How do you effect reconciliation on a much larger scale? And where do you draw the line?
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