Mercedes Sosa related to others in a way that made them feel safe and seen. She related to peasants as well as to presidents in a compassionate and attentive way. She wanted to be everywhere and to embrace everyone, she once said.
This clip shows how well Mercedes gets on with young people. It also shows how she can handle unexpected situations and embrace everyone, including a little girl with Down's syndrome.
Mercedes had a great sense of humor. She laughed easily and made others laugh too. Even if I don't understand Spanish, this clip always makes me laugh; how about you?
When I watch Mercedes on the computer screen, I often feel that she is looking right into my heart with a look that says, "I see you, and you are wonderful." In the book I describe how I began to relate to Mercedes Sosa as a mother figure and healed by doing so.
Mercedes became a mother figure to many. Watch below how she greets a young man that she ran into at la Boca, the harbor in Buenos Aires. Many people have never had this kind of attention even from their own parents.
In the middle of an outdoor performance, all of a sudden a troubled young man in ragged clothes jumps into the river that seperates the stage from the audience and swims his way to Mercedes onstage.
