I live in the land of the quakes, California. We are no stranger to rocking and rolling. Since I moved to California at 17, I have seen my share. There was the 1984 Whittier quake measuring 5.9, the 1989 San Francisco quake measuring 6.9 with its collapsed freeways, killing people and causing untold damage...the 1994 North Ridge quake measuring 6.7... you get my point. It hasn’t stopped and it won’t.
Yesterday, when I read about the Puerto Rico 6.0 quake, I heard my grandmother's voice in my head saying, "Ave Maria, purissima,“ meaning, "Hail Mary." She was a woman of profound faith and when trials kept rolling in, my grandmother would say that and then get on her knees, sometimes for hours on end. She would tell me remember to keep having faith and be grateful. When I think of my homeland island of Puerto Rico and its recent troubles, I want to tell my Puerto Rico family the same thing. I think of the wise words of Mahtma Ghandi: “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” So, we learn to roll with the punches and roll with the earthquakes, and the hurricanes and the paper towels getting thrown at us. Winners keep their heads up and we keep going, and when it rocks, we roll.