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Cinco de Mayo, or the fifth of May is a holiday that celebrates the victory of the Mexican army over the French army at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. In Mexican tradition it is a minor holiday. For some reason, it has been chosen here in the USA to be a major celebration. At the core it is the commercialization of a part of the Mexican culture to entice people to buy and eat tacos. By the way, any day is a good day to eat tacos. 

But, by commercializing this part of Mexican heritage it can cause us to overlook more important parts of Mexican heritage and things we can learn from it. It becomes tacos instead of culture. 

We are also guilty of doing this with spiritual matters. For example, a lot of people take the Ten Commandments and make more of them than was intended. Our entire lives become about following the Ten Commandments. We start to worry about our righteousness. We start to judge ourselves based on how well we keep the commandments. Worse, we start to judge others on how well they keep the commandments. Many people believe their relationship with God depends on how well they keep the commandments and many believe heaven and hell are about how well you keep the commandments. 

The Ten Commandments are important, but they are not the gauge for measuring our relationship with God. Jesus taught us that our relationship with God was about loving God and loving others. That is the core.

A person can keep the Ten Commandments and still be prejudiced. A person can keep the Ten Commandments and still be mean-spirited. A person can keep the Ten Commandments and harbor ill will. 

It is not, nor ever has been about keeping rules. It is about loving God and loving others. Ironically, when we love God and love others we end up keeping the Ten Commandments as a by-product. They are a means, not an end. 

So, today I will eat tacos, but I will be grateful and thankful for a culture and heritage that has so much of which to be proud. That is so much more than our commercialized holiday. And today I will try to love God and love others and not worry about the rules.