Veneration of our parents is seen in this light, not as an obligation difficult to fulfill, but rather as an easy inclination of our affection. We gr… - Rosario Castellanos

Outside the family circle, friendship evolves into good will. In the workplace this allows us to manage without despotism, and to follow orders without resentment. In society we will learn to intervene without violence, but also without servility. And we will be able to look beyond the geographical borders of our own country, our customs, our race, our religious beliefs, and our political ideology to see that humanity is an attribute of all mankind.

Don Agustín, who had no taste for liquor or tobacco, who had rigorously abstained from carnal pleasures, was a slave to one vice: conversation. He hovered around the town squares, the marketplace, even the Cathedral to trap people into conversation. Don Agustín was the first to dig up any gossip and to uncover scandal, and he lived to have others confide in him, to be the depository of secrets and to provoke intrigues.

Of course, there have been commentaries. And, of course, the gamut of these commentaries has been exactly what one might expect. From foolish outbursts and impudent plays on words to the rending of garments in the face of this new apocalyptic sign that heralds the decadence and perhaps even the death of our civilization and culture.