Breathe
By Juana Ramírez
As I write this column, "Lucca's Two Hemispheres" -themovie based on the book of the same name written by Barbara Anderson, columnist also of Opinion 51- is already the second most watched on Netflix and is sure to reach the first place. Simultaneously Trump and his fans celebrate the deportation of hundreds of Latin American migrants accusing them of being responsible for heinous crimes, while the dreaded 25% tariffs on Mexican products are ratified, the rights of the LGBT+ community are projected to be disregarded and the official discourse seems to polarize in favor of the white, strong, dominant, rich and battering white man. More than a thousand days have passed since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while the war in Gaza has already left more than 40 thousand dead.
Sunday to have a cup of coffee, read the press and some chats - my favorite is still the one with the columnists of Opinion 51, which Barbara herself rightly called "comadre hood" - and it is inevitable not to think of this world as that of two disconnected hemispheres.
Our brain is divided into two halves that, although anatomically similar, functionally have substantial differences. The right hemisphere is often associated with imagination and artistic expressions such as painting and music. In contrast, the left hemisphere is given the more scientific and mathematical abilities, because it processes information sequentially. In fact, its specialty is written or spoken language, thanks to its ability to process information that it can translate into codes and rules that it receives, orders and stores. The right hemisphere controls the muscles on the left side of the body and the left hemisphere controls the muscles on the right side, and therefore it is necessary for there to be a balance between the functioning of both through a complex network of neural connections, from where the muscular and sensory control from the face to the rest of the body is derived.
The world is also ordered in a similar way: if the reference is the Equator, the Earth is divided into northern and southern hemispheres . Most of the strongest and most developed economies are in the northern hemisphere: the United States, Canada, Germany, Japan and several Western European countries. In contrast, the southern hemisphere is home to most of the world's young population, but also to developing countries.
From a socio-cultural perspective, the world could be further divided into eastern and western hemispheres. While this does not imply a geographical division, it is a social, cultural, economic, political and religious division. On the western side are again the more developed and advanced economies such as the United States, Canada and most European countries that have a higher GDP per capita than most countries in the eastern hemisphere. In the West, societies are more individualistic, but there is also a greater orientation towards democracy, human rights and individual freedom, compared to the Eastern Hemisphere, where social and gender gaps tend to be more pronounced, although their societies tend to identify more with values such as collectivity, respect for authority and tradition.
But back to Lucca. A few days after his birth, Barbara was told that her son had severe brain damage that would prevent him from walking, talking or eating without help. Thanks to the book and now the movie, millions now know this story and know that Lucca's cerebral palsy became the cause for his family to cross seas and mountains to India with Dr. Rajah Kumar and his Cytotron, which stimulated tissue regeneration, generating new and hopeful connections in his brain. After four trips to India, Lucca has made great strides: she is finishing elementary school - not without several of Barbara's battles for children with disabilities to be admitted to schools - then debuting her voice with the words "Kumar" and "mama", she continues to make progress in language and has begun to walk.
It is not a fantasy and it has not been easy. It's the result of many things: of the loving society of his foolproof parents, of the witty genius of his brother Bruno, of the care, of the effort, of the family subversion of not giving up, of science and of the magic that happens when all this is combined. As Dr. Kumar himself says in the film, "It's not a miracle, it's pure science: 33% the Cytotron, 33% by his parents and 33% by God."
This world seems almost always a desolate space in which the hemispheres are painfully disconnected and yet, from time to time, Luccas and Barbaras also appear to remind us that giving up is not a possibility. The world is wounded, yes, but not mortally. These dark moments for freedom, diversity, equity, inclusion, democracy and progress, which make us think of a lost war, are only battles. We will have to rise again, as Lucca's family does every day, to keep fighting, caring and celebrating the small victories: " Master Lucca's brain has a wound that does not allow his two hemispheres to connect. But the fact that he took a step with one leg and continued movement with the other means they now work together." -Dr. Kumar.
Let's all move to the empathy hemisphere and from there let's work each one of us from our own front to generate in an intentional and subversive way all the connections, all the points of collaboration and respect for a humanity that needs to celebrate the differences because therein lies the opportunity.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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