Mario Joseph Jesus Alcazar was at the helm of a fairly minor cartel in Southern Mexico. Born into a devout Roman Catholic tradition ( hence the name ), Jesus had grown into his current position in the family business. Traditionally, although their main business was what most would deem 'drugs' & therefore illegal, the little-known Alcazar cartel had their fingers in many pies. While the 'drugs' they processed ( mainly marijuana & cocaine ) were the most lucrative, their efforts were largely humanitarian. While the big cartels further to the North would selfishly enjoy the fruits of their labors while the country collapsed into corruption & dilapidation around them, our friends, thanks to their fairly hefty profits, were able to bring much-needed relief to their neighbors. Their neighbors then, around the world even, because of this relief, helped in shielding the cartel from the preying eyes of corrupt governments.
The mountainous jungle-like region of extreme Southern Mexico, almost extending into Central America, was home to the Alcazars. For generations they had cultivated this area & thus were known & loved by all but the most recent occupants. It didn't take even these newcomers long to learn who their neighbors were & what kind of business they did. While some disagreed, especially expatriates fleeing, for whatever reason, the States far to the north, these new neighbors learned pretty quickly to either love them or leave them ( alone )! If their traffic was disagreeable to anyone, which it was to some, they soon came to enjoy the benefits of what most considered illegal.
Unlike the larger cartels to the North & West, the Alcazars believed in harming no one, no matter the perceived wrong! Treating others as they themselves would like to be treated had been their family's mantra for generations. When confronted by violence of any kind, which naturally occurred in their region of the world, especially considering the 'trade' they did, they met it, as often as they could, with peaceful resistance. As you can imagine, this form of opposition did not always have the desired effect & so the Alcazars were probably just as acquainted with pain & loss as anyone in the area. However, they also knew that what happened to the body in this life was not so important as what one did in their lifetime, so they were happy to suffer for the Cause!
This knowledge had a most remarkable effect, both on how each individual member behaved & also how they ( the cartel ) did business! One negative aspect to doing business thusly, in such a world as we live in, was that they often found themselves being taken advantage of, either by corrupt governments or by the bigger cartels. Strangely enough though, those who brought violent opposition to their door, more often than not, were almost immediately met by karmic forces which either stopped them in their tracks or otherwise removed the threat they posed. Again, this was not always the case, so the Alcazars, like most every family in that region, was more than familiar with the suffering so prevalent in our world.
Considered an 'illicit trade'; the natural 'drugs' that our friends processed & propagated were far superior in quality to anything offered by the Northern cartels. Again, their family mantra, or motto, was 'harm no one'. Doing business the way they did, the Alcazars enjoyed a level of security & safety unknown to others in a similar business. Because they operated so much further South than the larger cartels, they were able, to a great extent, to fly under the radar. Also, due to their relatively small operation in the jungle-like & mountainous region they called 'home', they barely, if at all, registered as more than a 'blip' on said radar. Their humanitarian efforts in their own region, as well as sending aid further North & even overseas, to some extent, provided them, to an even greater extent, with a sort of 'invisibility cloak'.
As the Leader of a so-called 'drug cartel', involved in an illegal trade, Mario Joseph Jesus ( 'Jesus' ) Alcazar slept soundly at night, knowing as he did, that the 'drugs' he traded, although considered illegal, would harm no one. Any harm that might come from the use of these 'drugs' was solely due to the user! Knowing that some of those who purchased & used his products would come to harm saddened him, of course, but he knew that simply keeping them out of the hands of certain people would elicit no change in these people, for if they did not buy his quality products, they would be buying someone else's, of much less quality & which may cause them harm! He also felt confident, knowing that because he was sowing good seed, he would reap as well, even in the corrupted & dilapidated 'world' in which he lived.
Jesus WAS a good man, but More than that, he was a good soul! Like most people in his corner of the world, Jesus had seen more than his 'fair share' of suffering. Suffering, in fact, that might have soured ( jaded ) a lesser man! 'As above, so below', however, Jesus knew that, as more than this biology, Life was of greater importance than what happened to a person; what mattered was what one did in this Life, how one reacted ( actively or passively ) to what Life, so to speak, threw at a person. This Way of Life had served the Alcazars for generations & Jesus knew, by continuing the family tradition, the world was somehow a better place!
Namaste'
Charles Haddon Shank
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