Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala

I went on a mission to the first mission of California, Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala, est. 1769. I have always wanted to check out all 21 of the California Missions, it's kind of a personal thing since I missed the entire 4th grade experience of designing and even taking a field trip to a mission (post on this maybe later..) Point is that since I always had that little gap of knowledge, being the nerd that I am, I decided one day I would travel to each one of those missions and see them for myself, see the history, walk where the missioners had walked and read the history from the literal first hand sources kept at the locations.

**Disclaimer** I know that right now is not the time for "travel" but I am being extra safe, taking my vitamins, using sanitizer when touching absolutely anything outside of my car, keeping 6 feet apart, taking my temperature before leaving the house, wearing a mask and paying anything I need to pay with a credit card. Also, for this particular trip, I called in advance to make sure the place would not be too busy, they assured me that it was a very slow pace, and they had no more than 10 people visiting at a time when it was busy, during non mass hours. I went and there was only one other person there.

I was very excited because I have always wanted to go to this mission in particular because it is essentially where everything started. That entire period when California was still far from what it is today but changing so dramatically into the best state ever in the entire United States (totally biased statement) is just beyond interesting to me. The Religious impact and implication it had for the U.S. and really the rest of the continent and world is just wheew...

This mission is beautiful and peaceful, especially when being there alone. It is very small and easy to walk through and explore in about 2 hours. There are little pockets of art in every hallway, garden and room.

During a non-pandemic time, it would be an ideal location to go early in the morning and have breakfast or lunch in one of the gardens for prayer. The sun shines brightly, warms up the benches for prayer, and the shade from the campanario is perfect. That's not the only garden however, there are plenty of open spaces to enjoy a nice break.

The last I will say about this beautiful location is something that stuck me, and that is, how conflictive it is. It was the first mission built here in California. It planted the seed for catholicism. The missionaries certainly felt they were doing the right thing by establishing this Mission full of faith and "divine right." Those that were receiving benefits from the mission, any type of benefits from the missions, certainly felt they were supporting the "right side." The ones resisting and fighting to keep their livelihood and land as it'd been, certainly felt they had "the right" to do so, it was their home.

And yet, looking at the picture above, is it the "right thing," karma, revenge or an evil act?

Doubtlessly, they were all atrocious acts at the end, with tragic consequences. So this begged the question, is there a "right side" people should procure and a "bad side" people should avoid? Or is the best thought line, to procure the saying, "Your rights end where another's begin"?

Hundreds of years have passed since the date of the picture above, you would think we'd have learned by now.. yet here we are. Wanting to censor everything we disagree with and push forth everything we think is "right" and anyone who disagrees is wrong..

The power of the collective is a dangerous weapon when we forget that the side with less popularity is not in turn the "wrong" side.