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FeedThe Fantastic Mr. Fox
The former President of Mexico looks to San Diego for help in fixing his country
(page 1 of 5)
Vicente Fox
Vicente Fox and his classmates wanted their 10-year college reunion to be something they’d never forget. They rented the University Club in Mexico City, one of the swankiest rooms in the city; they made sure the food was exquisite, the liquor plentiful, the cigars imported, and the women beautiful. They wanted to remember this reunion for one thing in particular: They wanted to impress each other.
Some of the classmates were bankers, some were presidents of manufacturing companies, some were CEOs. This was the nation’s elite—including Fox. He was president of Coca-Cola in Mexico, at the ripe young age of 32. It was a night for bragging.
They had attended Iberoamericana University in Mexico City, a school run by the Jesuit Order of the Catholic Church, and they invited their main professor, Father Schiefler, to help them congratulate themselves. Schiefler mingled with the newly enriched graduates, watched as they preened in front of each other like so many peacocks, and then called for their attention. The classmates became quiet, in anticipation of the praise that would follow. What the priest said changed Fox forever.
“He thanked us for inviting him to the dinner and said he was pleased to be with us, but then he paused,” Fox said. “He said ‘I feel very sad and sorrowful tonight. I think I failed in my teaching and my education with you. I tried to teach you to live for others and not for yourselves, to promote opportunities for others and not just enriching yourselves. I am disappointed. I am not going to stay for dinner with you. Good night.’”
Schiefler left the party, and the crowd stood in stunned silence. Fox said they felt ashamed of themselves and did the next best thing.
“We all got drunk,” he said.
But he got the message, and began thinking about what he had learned in college. He had studied Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. He remembered that Ignatius was quite self-absorbed, much like Fox’s graduating class. The Catholic Encyclopedia describes Ignatius as a man “affected and extravagant about his hair and dress, consumed with the desire of winning glory.” At the age of 30, Ignatius was wounded in battle and, during a long, painful rehabilitation, had a spiritual revelation that propelled him into serving and educating others.
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Reader Comments:
I loved the image of the hummingbird beating against the fabric. A vivid portrait of an interesting character. Admirable the way he is constantly looking forward, despite such an awarded past. Excellent article.
By allocating the market for providing addicting drugs solely to illegal sources, an artificially high compensation is created that motivates and rewards not only the cartels but the drug dealers that are home grown in the USA. Such a lucrative way of life for those willing to risk legal repercussions involves a horde of salesmen that avidly expand the usage of these drugs.
I favor a legal domestic source for all these drugs. I would discourage their use by education, treatment of addiction, mitigation of harm to health, regulatory constraint, appropriate testing, etc. However, the re-creation of a black market must be obviated, We have legal sources of cigarettes, but who thinks that confuses the message of national policy discouraging the smoking of them. I believe that public advertisement of the drugs should be proscribed. Sorry ACLU. I believe the courts could hold that such a ban is in the compelling nation interest.
The profit from the sale of the drugs would be determined by a free legal marketplace and be much less than that which drives the expansion of their use currently. The government should not own the legal outlets nor apply sin taxes to the drugs. When government gets revenues from sin taxes, it soon becomes complicit in the sin. People don't steal cigarettes until the government taxes them unduly. In the legislature, an argument against raising the smoking age to 21 was it would lose revenues for the state.
The term "legalizing drugs" connotes to many a free-wheeling use that is contrary to what I am depicting.
Those most resisting such a move would be the many who now profit from the trade and people who are morally driven, incapacitated from considering the lessening of evil by having legal sources. Unfortunately, the first group will involve many in the law enforcement and judicial communities.
David F. Thomas, MD