The Wind Knows My Name

by Isabel Allende

For years, the United States intervened in Latin American politics to defend their economic interests in the region, facilitating cruel repression. In reality, it was a war against the poor, just as had happened in other countries during the Cold War. It was a systematic attempt to root out any and all leftist movements, especially the guerillas.

With the blood of a murdered child they wrote a message on the wall of the school: One dead child, one less guerilla.

No one wants to abandon everything they know and run away; they only do it out of total desperation.”

During the Cold War, the United States tried to end all leftist movements in Central and South America by arming, indoctrinating, and training brutal militaries; they knowingly financed government repression. Here, we justified it as the ‘expansion of democracy,’ but it did exactly the opposite. The U.S. government overthrew democratically elected leaders and imposed vicious dictators; the only thing they were actually defending was the business interests of American companies and the super wealthy.”

I remember green. It’s the best color, because it connects everything,

A lot of people drown in the water and die, but people can also drown from swallowing too much air.

No, we’re not lost. The wind knows my name. And yours too. Everyone knows where we are. I’m here with you and I know where you are and you know where I am. See? There’s nothing to be scared about.

at the end of life, when loneliness begins to weigh heavily on a person, the dead often come calling. The dead were lonely as well,

People change, Leticia, couples change. Nadine and I went through many different stages together.

“I wonder which catastrophe will kill us first, the virus or the fires.”

Was this the beginning of the end? How much longer could he stave off the inevitable deterioration of his body? And his mind? He sometimes forgot words, a name, an idea, and then he’d be flooded with terror at the horrifying possibility of living without being able to think or remember.

affection wasn’t something to be given away freely, it had to be earned.

“He’s wrong, it’s much more American than people think, Selena. Enslaved parents saw their children ripped away from them and sold off. Native Americans had their children taken away to become ‘civilized’ in horrific state-run orphanages. Thousands of those kids died of contagious illnesses and malnutrition, then were buried in unmarked graves.”

“You’re right, Samuel. Here only white children are considered sacred.”

we cannot measure our impact in numbers—we can only measure it a life at a time.