"What do you mean by Libertad?"
"Libertad is when I can do what I want!"
"But suppose it hurts somebody else?"
He shot back at me Benito Juarez' great sentence:
"Peace is the respect for the rights of others!"
I wasn't prepared for that. It startled me, this barefooted meztizo's conception of Liberty. I submit that it is the only correct definition of Liberty—to do what I want to! Americans quote it to me triumphantly as an instance of Mexican irresponsibility. But I think it is a better definition than ours—Liberty is the right to do what the Courts want. Every Mexican schoolboy knows the definition of peace and seems to understand pretty well what it means, too. But, they say, Mexicans don't want peace. That is a lie, and a foolish one. Let Americans take the trouble to go through the Maderista army, asking whether they want peace or not! The people are sick of war.
But, just to be square, I'll have to report Juan Sanchez' remark:
"Is there war in the United States now?" he asked.
"No," I said untruthfully.
"No war at all?" He meditated for a moment. "How do you pass the time, then...?"