Letter from Beyond

My Hereafter
Cheers, friends!… How are you, fans? Sport brings us together again…

Finally, I have arrived here, to what you call the Beyond, which now I must call the Here and Now.

The welcome has been simple, but very moving. In this, my new Hereafter, everyone is very happy to be able to continue doing what makes them happy. But in this Hereafter, for reasons I will gradually discover, everything is simpler, more peaceful, and above all, more practical.

I saw Roberto Clemente taking batting practice, while Eladio Secades was sharing notes and comments with Carlitos González, Pancho Pepe, and Delio Amado León. I also got to greet and give a big hug to Buck Canel, who told me that Frank Sinatra will be performing in New York soon, on the same day the Yankees host the Brooklyn Dodgers, complete with Jackie Robinson and his brand-new number 42.

And here, in my Here Beyond, that which you call the Beyond, any beautiful, sincere and useful scenario is possible.

Now I'll leave you, because I'm going to enjoy myself and report on all this wonderful stuff… I can't tell you everything, because, well… You'll find out for yourselves. However, before leaving what you call Here and Now, I wrote this last column… I hope you enjoy it.

I no longer have time to do so many things
Every time night falls, it's one less day, so I no longer have time to…:
To die young.

To prohibit children from getting sick.

To see a world without a single illiterate person, without one who lacks a university degree or a trade, without one who feels hunger as a need.
Interview Jesus Christ, Simón Bolívar, José Martí, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, Andrés Bello, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Juan Belmonte and José Gómez Ortega (Joselito or Gallito).

Studying music and composing a semi-classical song for Jesus Christ as a man, because as a man I believe it is the best way to worship, admire and respect him.

Running in eight dawns, wearing a white shirt and a red scarf at the waist, the 48 bulls of the eight bull runs in a San Fermín Fair.
Marrying a 20-year-old Sophia Loren, without Barbarita finding out.

Riding a black horse in a Sunday afternoon charreada in Jalisco.

Singing “México Lindo y Querido”, accompanied by the Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, in the Guadalajara bullring.
To be able to sing like Enrico Caruso, Plácido Domingo, Miguel Aceves Mejía, Armando Manzanero, Alfredo Sadel or Carlos Gardel.
To land on Mars and see Earth from there.

Fly around the world, starting and ending in New York, with four-day, four-night layovers in every city with notable restaurants.

To have a restaurant called "The Single Mothers", where only single mothers work, who would have in the same place a daycare-kindergarten with food, all free for their children.

To see all of Latin America as one nation, and in the hands of honest and good administrators.
See how vaccines against cancer and AIDS are developed.

To live in a society where Black, white, red-haired, and Asian people, gay and straight, are all equal. Everyone with the same opportunity to graduate and postgraduate from the best universities.
To die young.

A world without tyrants, without terrorism, without wars.

To know what lies at the bottom of the oceans.

Seeing everyone laughing, no one serious, no one crying.

Enjoy a world with a single currency.

Seeing myself surrounded by grandsons and granddaughters, and some great-grandchildren who, instead of playing with their cell phones, ask me why my hair is white.

Eating paella and drinking a bottle of red wine, during an autumn, in Valencia, Spain.
To be able to talk with each of those who have signed The Letters From Beyond.
To skydive from the top of three places: The Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and the Eiffel Tower.
To slide down Angel Falls without getting injured.