Costa Rica Parables

By Trudy Corry Rankin

Costa Rica is a frequently visited country because of its beaches, mountains and beautiful vistas. But the country is the people and the expressions of its rich culture. Through these Parables, readers will know the personality of the Ticos as seen through the eyes of a Norteamericana. Each chapter is a page, to pick up for quick reading and reflection. The chapters are filled with descriptions of the rituals, celebrations, and traditions that this American family came to love. The chapters are the authors reflections from reading a variety of literature and end with a prayer offered for the reflections. These 28 chapters are a quick read, with depth and expansion of ones worldview.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504913171

Trudy Corry Rankin

This is the record of a wife, mother and professional woman who lived with her family in a lower class barrio in Costa Rica in the ‘80’s. This writer uses the demands of everyday experiences in a new culture for individual reflection, personal growth, and spiritual insight. Through the reading of these one page Parables of story telling, the reader will have a new appreciation of the impact of global living on the expanded world view of an individual and a family. The writer is a young wife married to an global thinker who wants to raise his two children in a Latin culture. She is a professional health care provider, who found means of self expression in this culture through education and service. The reader will find the pages to be filled with written images that make the culture and the people of Costa Rica come alive!

Book preview

1. Celebration through Death

I was reading the writings of Anthony Campolo in the Power of Delusion. He said that if we act like we don’t want another to give us anything, we don’t give them the chance to be graced by the act of giving what they have. I continued to reflect on this passage as we were invited to Juan’s mother’s funeral service. Costa Ricans have two customs in remembering a loved one who has passed that give me pause for reflection. We found great similarities in what we experience in the States, except that the Wake/Service was much more immediate. Also, the other difference was after the Service. The casket is brought to a waiting car which carries it to the cemetery plot. All those that participate follow in a procession on foot behind the slowly moving vehicle. This healing act seemed to be the final walk with the loved one. The deliberately slow movement makes the act much more meditative and expressive. The mourners are supported as they walk by others who can use the time of this long walk for consoling. I would have appreciated this act of taking a final walk with Dad, if the opportunity had presented itself.

The second custom is the invitation made to all friends to rejoin the family on the first anniversary of the passing of the loved one. This reinforced my belief in Resurrection and the close availability of the loved one. A short discourse of the person remembered is given, with a scripture, singing and prayer.

I remember the anniversary of Dad’s death. I knew I wanted to find a form of remembering him out of respect for his life, but didn’t know exactly how to go about it. This remembering ritual would have been just right.

God, Giver of all life, help me to envelop the customs of others that can give my life more meaning. Help me to be open, not believing that my ways as a North American are the only ways that are right.