Cause and effect of the things that apparently wouldn’t have something in common…

In the last few days I have had in my mind the words I heard a few months ago, during my book “Días Azules” (Water Days) presentation, regarding the cause and effect of things… Because while I talk about the cause and effect of certain situations, I would like to share the following with you:

On August 18, around 6 am, while I was waiting for the starting whistle for the Ederle Swim a lot of things went through my head, lots of expectations and excitement, anxiety, a little fear, I was also hungry and cold, the sun was not out yet but the horizon looked grey and the air felt loaded with humidity and while I was waiting to start my swim, thousands of kilometers away a woman went into labor…

When I heard my number on the speaker, I dived into the water and started swimming. It was a spectacular swim! After swimming approximately 28 kilometers in 5 hours 50 minutes I came out of the water walking down the beach of the little peninsula of Sandy Hook in New Jersey.

When I came out of the water I was very happy! With a huge satisfaction of accomplishing my goal, reaching an objective, enjoying the swim, knowing I made this dream come true and with a huge smile I lifted my arms up to the sky and said: Thank you! While I was thanking, with my hart full of happiness, at the same time, thousands of kilometers away, the woman I mentioned before, gave birth to her first baby…

These would appear to be two different events one from the other, how would my swim in Manhattan, NY could be related to a child birth in Mexico? Well the baby was born with Cleft Lip and Palate. I have swum many kilometers in my life with the objective to turn this effort into benefits for kids born with this condition. A few days ago, the Alfredo Harp Helu AC Foundation, gave me the wonderful news, my Ederle Swim kilometers, would be turned into surgeries for kids born with CLP, through the project “Quiero Sonreir (I Want to Smile)”.

Things we might think have no connection to each other, that do not make any sense, have a cause and effect that with ingredients such as effort and discipline and  generosity and commitment can transform a human being’s life and give him the opportunity to smile.

Today I want to thank life because The  Alfredo Harp Helú, A.C. Foundation came across my path, the cause and effect of this encounter turns into the smiles of so many children and as I have said before, when a kid smiles, the entire universe smiles with him.