On Animal Sanctuaries and Puerto Rico

I’ve always thought that a man’s character is defined by the way he treats animals, but I never thought that it would actually come to define not just one man, but a whole country. Puerto Rico is coming to be defined by their constant abusive, unpleasant and elitist behaviors of abandoning the weak and innocent while feeding the arks of the rich and rotten. 

Not so long ago, it made it made headlines all over the world how a bag full of live dogs was dumped over a bridge and into a crowded street here in the island of Puerto Rico, well, what is happening now with the animal shelters and sanctuaries feels exactly like that is happening all over again. Thousands of animals are suffering a cruel and uncertain fate because of the ignorance of the human race.The political parties and the government are so entangled in their own shady amoral agendas that they are forgetting who they work for and why were they placed in their stations in the first place. Animal shelters flooding and losing everything, the government ignores them, animal sanctuaries being used as pet dumpsters, the authorities do nothing. Laws to protect animals are passed but not acted upon. Illegal breeding mills and dog fights happening all over the island, the authorities prefer to ignore them. And then we dare to have a tourism slogan that reads "Puerto Rico does it better".

 But I don’t wish to dump all the guilt unto the government’s hands; that would be like blaming the sun for being hot and lethal for I believe the key element here is people. Our actions as individuals are defining and marking the image and fate of our beloved country. Pet owners who are constantly acting in irresponsible ways, treating animals as is they were property that can be bought and disposed of at will when you no longer feel like owning it.  He who owns a pet and is capable of disposing of it like disposing of a bag of garbage is capable of abandoning a child at any moment, no remorse felt.

More than sad I believe it to be shameful, and it takes to say that I am ashamed to live in a country where life is not respected, where humans think themselves superior to any other creature in the planet, but treat each other like scum. a place where animals are not respected but humiliated, mistreated, abandoned and killed without hesitation. It is time to stop worrying about political affiliations, if X candidate visits sex shops or if Y candidate loves to eat donuts, and start thinking about quality of life, the state of our morality, of our souls  and whether or not we have lost of our true purpose on Earth.

On confrontation and independence

The last couple of weeks have given a very loud and clear message; some people hate confrontation. They hate to be confronted or to confront others around them, even if those people’s actions are affecting your life for the negative. As I was talking to a friend today, I got a plausible reason for this evasive behavior. It’s simple, it’s just a matter of manners, and you don’t want others to perceive you as hostile, aggressive and impolite. Therefore, you prefer to suffer in silence that which is killing you softly.

 I disagree. No, I will not deny that confrontation is a hard thing to do (especially if you are a woman who has been raised to be polite and obedient, you know, to be a “good girl”), but it is necessary for you to live YOUR life. By confronting those who make us uncomfortable we are removing obstacles from our lives and at the same time standing our ground, something that will let other know clearly, specially to those being confronted, that you will not tolerate manipulation, thrash talk and/or abuse. In life, part of growing and being an adult is claiming your independence, and personal independence starts by loving, supporting and respecting yourself and your decisions.

On Cars and Car Accidents

     My husband is always accusing me of being a bad driver and yet, I haven’t caused a car accident in the 6-8 years I’ve been driving (yes, I got my driver’s license a bit late in life) however, that does not mean that weird things have not happened to me on the road and considering the latest one I would like to share a few of those experiences. Maybe you have been in the same situations.

With the KIA

1. Brake Trouble- the brakes of my car got stuck and then broke while I was stopping at a red light in the highway on my way from Isabela to Aguadilla, there was a loaded truck behind me.

2. The car went crazy and turned itself off, refused to turn on again and when my husband arrived to help me, the car just started, just like that… as if nothing was wrong…douchy car!

With the Corolla

3.It overheated while I was stopping for a red light in “El Mani” on my way to Mayaguez and that’s not the worst part, it turned itself off so I had to push it out of the way…by myself…under the rain…wearing heels and a dress. I’m 5’3’’ and at the time weighted 115 pounds. So you can imagine how easy (NOT!) it was to get my car out of the way at 9:00 am in a crowded highway.

 4. A student rammed me in the parking lot when I was already parked, she just pressed the gas while talking on the phone… and the rest is history.

      So as you can see here, my accidents have been that, just accidents, caused by forces outside of my power. Still, there is a lot of crazy people driving out there that have lost respect for their cars and the power these have to be turned into weapons and damage others as well as yourself. So please, if you are driving, be smart, use a hands-free or the speaker-phone, do not text, be courteous to other drivers, and pay attention to the road. It can save your life as well as the life of others.

Re- designing

Today I took my car to the repair shop because the AC  was not working (and in this tropical weather AC is a must), turns out it had been a mistake from the mechanic, he left one cable adrift, and that messed up the car. And that took me to think, how many times does the domino effect destroyed something you have been planning for quite a while? Just one thing is left unattended and BAM! in your perspective, everything else goes to hell. Well, in that case we have to adopt a new term, re-design. If you are focused on everything that has gone wrong you will have no space in your mind to enjoy the things that actually go ok. So let's learn to move with the flow of things, and everything will end up just fine I don't know, it seemed kind of important for me to share this.

Welcome to Puerto Rico, A Paradise!

A 19 year old mother of 1 is assassinated by her "husband" in their own bedroom. 
http://www.elnuevodia.com/victimadelsilenciodelossuyosjovenmadredecomerio-1216606.html

 A man jumps from a bridge into the highway to kill himself
http://www.elnuevodia.com/hombreselanzadesdepuentedelaautopistaluisa.ferre-1216997.html

Kidnapped man in the town of Humacao
http://www.elnuevodia.com/secuestranahombreenhumacao-1217085.html

Townspeople kick the crap out of guy after finding out he killed his underage pregnant girlfriend
http://www.elnuevodia.com/palizaalsospechosodeasesinaramenorembarazada-1213360.html

Public school in Rio Piedras goes on strike
http://www.elnuevodia.com/paroenescueladeriopiedras-1216759.html

Raid in a club that was hosting "parties" for minors
http://www.vocero.com/puerto-rico-es/ley-y-orden-es/continua-abierta-discoteca-de-menores

Man shot and his wife wounded in their own home.
http://www.vocero.com/puerto-rico-es/ley-y-orden-es/asesinan-a-hombre-y-hieren-de-bala-a-su-pareja


And it's only Tuesday!

What Fairy tale is your life? The one in which everyone dies and no one gets the happily ever after...Oh, wait!

As I was browsing through Facebook and thinking about news that I had just received, I saw this little ad that said ““Plikity Plank”(for privacy purposes no name shall be revealed) is using “What Fairy Tale is your life” app, would you like to use it?” and  that sent my brain into overdrive.

 In order for everything to make sense I have to share the news I had just received, my half brother had an accident yesterday and is in critical condition in the hospital and piecing all the info together took me to the formulation of a conclusion; no life is a fairy tale, and to make people think that their life can become one or end like one is a cruel and abusive thing to do. It is because we are raised under this misconceptions that we grow up thinking that life is going to be welcoming, that there I something great in the world with our name on it, just sitting there, waiting for you to go and pick it up so it can magically give your life a happy ending; news flash! There are no happily ever afters.

The world is a constant source of movement and in order to survive within it you need two things and two things only, to work hard and to be in the right place at the right time. In the end it all comes down to your own efforts and probability or as some like to call it ‘luck’. I know I will have readers saying, “but you are saying that because you are angry at the world right now” and to those I have an answer, No, I am not angry at the world, I am being realistic, nothing will come to you like magic, and in the best cases, even when it looks like it does it does not matter the level of talent if you don’t get to know the right people to help you develop it. Do you have any idea how many talented people are out there that never got their big break? Why? Wrong place at the wrong time. Do you have any idea how many innocent people die on freakish accidents cause by other people? Thousands, around the world, daily. Why? Wrong place at the wrong time. And please, I don’t want the religious saying “Well, it was God’s plan” or “The Lord works in mysterious ways” Because if I am as important to him as everyone tells me I am, he could take a few seconds of his busy agenda to at least warn me of his plan. No apologies this time, if you got offended by anything in this post, then, sucks to be you.

On Marriage

Among the people I  know, there are very few married couples who will say that they got married because they wanted to. When you ask couples why did they get married, a myriad of reasons will come swimming to the surface like a 5 year old desperately fighting the waters to avoid drowning, however there are very few couples that their first immediate response will be “We got married because we wanted to”. That takes me to think that, as much as we would like to say the world has evolved, there are institutions and human fears that have remained the same along the ages.

               

      When I got married, the priest who officiated our ceremony (we got a church wedding to please the family but that’s another post) said a few things that got to me because if my feminist believes, but the one that got to me the most was that, according to the bible I was accepting a commitment “to serve God and my husband”. “To serve” ummmm, I guess I had a problem with that because nowhere in my husband’s part of the contract said he was supposed to serve me. And if I am to serve him, wouldn’t that make me his subordinate? Don’t get me wrong, my goal here is not to attack religions or their ceremonial requirements (that’s also another post), but to highlight that in reality, when it comes to the institution of marriage nothing has really changed, and what’s worse those in charge don’t want to change it either. Women are still seen a property of the men who marry them, marriage is still seen as an exchange of goods and, the stamp which makes sexual activity affidavit socially valid. I believe that to be wrong. When the idea of marriage was presented to me (and I continue to use my marriage as an example for I do understand that every couple is different) I saw it as a merger between equals; like partners signing a contract, agreeing to start the design and construction of a beautiful project together; as equal investors and therefore equal shareholders. I was never able to see it as a bridge to economic stability, neither as a ticket to leaving my legacy to the world via the birth and eventful lives of my children. Why must we stick ourselves in the archaic foundations of marriage that come from times where women were worth the amount of cattle her family had to offer? Wouldn’t it be better to just modify and adapt the concept to the times and situations which are our accurate reality? Marriage today is not the same experience it was 100 years ago, therefore it should not be catalogued the same either. Nowadays, people should be able to feel comfortable enough within a relationship to see and treat marriage as an evolved institution in which partners incur voluntarily because they love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives with the person they choose, as an equal, not as a servant or as a master and be accepted for it. Why do we insist in seeing I marriage as a death sentence, when it can be a way to make you a better person while helping someone else become better in the process also. Heck! Why see it as an eternal fight to the death when it could be the most precious mutual support system?  If the perspective presented were to be taken into consideration, I think it would most definitively eliminate any problem to make marriage available to anyone who would like to take the journey into spousehood, regardless of gender or creed; for then marriage would actually be a “I did it because I wanted to” kind of thing.