Yesterday, we remembered Ramadan.  Today, we remember a day now a few days past:  Cinco de Mayo.  Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of freedom, of liberation, of knowing that one's oppressors are no longer standing over one's lives, dictating one's every move.  It upholds human dignity.

     Although freedom is a slippery term, subject to all manner of interpretation, we can at least agree that in its most fundamental form, freedom is essential to being fully human.  We cannot be ourselves fully without it.  And while many of us hold many varying attitudes, some positive, some otherwise, toward Mexicans, if we insist that we care about humanity, we cannot help but rejoice on Cinco de Mayo. Moreover, if we go further and contend that we are people of faith, people who believe in a loving God, we demean that God when we parody or criticize, in any way, this day.
     We cannot laud freedom when we despise those who legitimately exercise it.