malas noticias

Since arriving back in Mexico I have been going running every morning with my host sisters at Parque Juarez, a small park relatively close to my house. We leave the house at 8 AM, run until we're winded, then return to shower before our 11 o'clock classes. Today, however, I wanted to check out a class at 8 AM and had absolutely no urge to get up earlier and run before the sunrise. We decided, therefore, to skip running today.

My host sister Martha just came back from visiting a neighbor and gave me the following news: this morning in the park a woman apparently committed suicide by hanging herself from a tree. Morning joggers found her body, images of which have been pasted over the television all day. Had we arrived at our normal hour we would certainly have been among those to witness the gruesome scene.

I feel unusually overwhelmed by this news. I'm very full of two very distinct emotions: complete comfort that by the strange workings of the universe I avoided what would surely have been a traumatic experience, and also profound sadness for the woman and for those who discovered her body.