When you visit a place for the first time, you should always ask yourself whether you would like to come back again. Sometimes your heart tells you no, such as Cancun. Other times it’s a yes, such as Spain. Whether you will really revisit or not is another story, but it tells how much you enjoyed the journey.
If there’s only one thing I could remember from this trip, it should be the bullfighting. It’s shockingly great. Shocking is in the literal sense. Because none of us realize the bulls are actually dying in the bullring miserably. We all have seen bull fighting photos and videos somewhere and somehow we never connected the dots between fighting and dying. Until we sat in the bullring in Madrid and watched it with our own eyes.
But I have to say if you only see bulls dying in a brutal sport you miss the point of bullfighting. It’s a sacrificial ritual that celebrates human life. In a cold afternoon in Las Ventas Bullring, the matador faces the thousand pound bull charging at him like a locomotive. He swiftly shift the muleta (the red cape) and effortlessly dodged the charge. Then he walked away from the bull, held his chin high and in choreographed steps. The bullring was his stage, the raging bull was his supporting actor and this was the ceremony of his courage, skills and triumph.
Six bulls died in that afternoon. Yes, it was brutal. But so is life. One thing we share as humans in common, from centuries ago when bullfighting started, to centuries later when humans migrate to other planets, is the catastrophy of life: the raging bull is going to charge at us. War, famine, disease, persecution or a simple accident. History books are soaked in blood. Life is brutal. What are you going to do then? Run away? Or have the audacity and talent to face it. Not only just face it, but also hold the chin high, turn the pending disaster into glorious triumph. That’s the essence of human life, isn’t it? Matador’s way is the only choice that grants life dignity. With that, I wholeheartedly hope Spaniards keep this fossil of ancient sacrificial ritual for all of us.