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.

You're not a 100 dollar bill, not everyone is going to like you.However...

 Regardless of who you are and how you act, people will always have their awkwardly fantastic (as in fictitious) opinions about you. I mean, you could be a declared saint and there will still be people that will find something wrong with who you are, what you do, what you wear and more importantly, what you think. Why do I say this, well let’s just say that just now for no specific reason I started reflecting upon a situation that happened to me a while ago with a certain person that for anonymity’s sake I will call, DUH!. DUH! was seen by everybody as a happy go lucky person filled with the knowledge of traveling the world, to me, DUH! Seemed like an ok person, so I decided to be-friend DUH!. One time when we were having what I considered an academic, open minded argument, I told DUH! that I considered war an unnecessary thing, responsible for destroying so many lives and yet, soldiers became soldiers because it was their decision, so whatever happened next to them once enrolled it was not only the government’s fault for creating conflict, but also the soldier’s fault for becoming soldiers. My point was of course personal responsibility; don’t blame unto others what is a consequential misfortune of your fully aware, conscious decision taking. DUH! Took it in such a personal way that up to this day it (will refer to the person as it to maintain full anonymity) will not speak to me, it won’t even acknowledge my presence in a room and has told people horrible things about me, my personality and my personal believes. So I guess it really doesn’t matter what you do to try to make other people be friendly with you, they will still paint the picture of you in their minds that better suits their perspective of reality, so might as well just keep walking and enjoying life being who you are and not who anybody wants you to be.

Common Sense, apparently not that common anymore

     As some of you may know, in Puerto Rico it's illegal to transit the main roads in unauthorized vehicles and methods of transportation such as four tracks, bicycles, roller-skates, skate boards and unregistered scooters (just to name a few, you would be surprised the kind of vehicles I see on the road sometimes). However this does not stop some people, apparently born and raised in "hillbilly county" to "stick it to the man" and transit through the mentioned main roads not only in unauthorized vehicles but also without any type of protective gear.
     People don't think that, when they do stupid stuff like this they are not only augmenting the odds of damaging themselves; but also endangering the lives of innocent people who have nothing to do and should not have to pay the consequences of  their limited brain capacity.It is when I read news articles like this, that I sit for a moment and wonder: What could have gone through the mind of these individuals the moment they agree to these kind of life threatening decisions? In my mind it goes more or less like this:
"Uhmm, you know what girlfriend?
"What girl?
 "I'm feeling super douchy today, so I'm gonna' go put some lives at risk, including my own, to prove to my momma that I'm a grown up [and that I'm super cool of course ;)] and I know what I'm doing. Wanna join me?"
"Sure, why not? I mean, it's not like we could die, or kill someone or something with our majestically stupid behavior."
"Hell no girl, let's go."

     It is because of intelligent decisions like this one that so many  lives end up so tragically, so early. Hello! Extraordinarily smart girls in the vehicle, why can't you just take a moment to acknowledge that decisions have consequences; that you are not alone in the world and that unless you live in a deserted island, your decisions affect everyone around you? Maybe it's too much to ask because apparently, common sense, is not that common anymore.

Here's the link to both the article and the video:
http://www.elnuevodia.com/videos-noticias-transitanenfourtrackencarreteradecaguas-1483733185001.html

On pets and stray bullets

Es alarmante ver como en este país, el abandono/ maltrato de mascotas y la insensibilidad humana se han convertido en una plaga. En tan solo una semana, vi 5 perros asesinados por conductores negligentes en la carretera # 2  en el tramo de Añasco a Isabela, a dos amistades cercanas un conductor negligente les asesino a sus mascotas y recibí 4 notificaciones de Facebook de amistades que estaban buscando hogares para perritos que habían encontrado abandonados en zafacones de basura. Esto es algo serio. Si no tenemos la responsabilidad ni la sensibilidad de tomar responsabilidad de nuestras acciones para con los animales indefensos, como esperamos que los números de asesinatos y actos criminales bajen? Como pretendemos que los actos atroces contra nuestros hermanos y hermanas humanos cesen? Cuál es el futuro de las generaciones venideras si lo que les estamos dejando es un legado de egocentrismo, egoísmo e insensibilidad?

Cuando abandonas y/o maltratas una mascota, es como abandonar y/o maltratar a un bebe indefenso. Ese animalito, igual que un bebe recién nacido esta confiando en ti para que lo protejas y lo ames y al ser maltratante es como si le dijeras a ese recién nacido: “Sabes qué? Yo ya no quiero ser responsable por ti, muérete o que se encargue otro”. Si queremos  en realidad que se acaben los incidentes como el que asesino a Karla Michelle (15), Francisco J. Cancel (14), y muchos otros inocentes, empecemos por concientizar y educar en sensibilidad humana y en respeto a la vida ajena y en trato digno a todos los seres vivientes. Por que pasarlo en los medios de comunicación por tres o cuatro días corridos mientras la noticia esta caliente y dar condolencias a la familia no resuelve el problema.  Al contrario, lo glamoriza de una manera morbosa y nauseabunda.  Enseñemos que toda vida, por simple que sea es valiosa y no tenemos derecho a destruirla. Ensenemos responsabilidad, que todo acto tiene consecuencias, que no se adopta una mascota por qué se ve linda mientras es pequeña y luego cuando crece la amarro en el patio a agua sol y sereno hasta que alguien más quiera tomar la responsabilidad o hasta que se muera. Que no se dispara al aire sin pensar que un acto irresponsable le costara la vida a un inocente que podría ser mi hijo(a), sobrino(a), hermano(a), etc. Si nos acostumbramos a aceptar las causas negligentes de sufrimiento y muerte como algo de nuestro diario vivir, entonces tendremos que dejar de llamarnos humanos, pues la cualidad que se atribuye al nombre ya no estará presente para guiar nuestras acciones, habremos dejado perder nuestra humanidad. Démonos cuenta que el cambio empieza dentro de nosotros, con acciones tan sencillas como darle los buenos días a la persona que pasa por tu lado mientras caminas o conduces hacia el trabajo o la escuela, con respetar que la persona delante de ti estaba allí primero y esperar tu turno, con darle la otra mejilla al que pierde la paciencia y se comporta de manera inadecuada al demostrarle con acciones positivas y no con insultos que sus acciones no serán toleradas, con dejar de ignorar los actos de maltrato que cometen las personas a nuestro alrededor e intentar compartir información educativa con ellos y si no, reportar su negligencia a las agencias pertinentes para que tomen cartas en el asunto. Por último pero no menos importante, una mascota es una fuente de amor incondicional mientras dure su vida pero al mismo tiempo es una responsabilidad que requiere dedicación y compromiso, por favor, si está consciente que ni usted ni sus seres queridos pueden comprometerse a proveerle calidad de vida a una mascota NO ADOPTE NI REGALE MASCOTAS, no son juguetes;  son seres vivientes que sufrirán las consecuencias de su negligencia de la misma manera que un niño sufre la negligencia de padres irresponsables. Tengamos corazón y sentido común.

Y para que vean lo cerca que esto nos toca a todos comparto un ejemplo de la comunidad en la que vivo. A principios de año todos los residentes del área en donde vivo nos quedamos sin servicio de internet al mismo tiempo. Al llamar al proveedor del servicio, ellos no podían explicar que era lo que sucedía ya que sus sistemas no habían reportado averías en el área. Cuando el técnico de la compañía que provee el servicio se subió al poste a verificar la conexión se encontró con una interesante sorpresa. El servicio se había visto interrumpido por que una bala había impactado la caja de servicio que hay en el poste. Alrededor de ese poste, a menos de 15 pies de distancia hay 6 casas, la mía incluida y en 4 de ellas hay niños. Es una pena que tengamos que confiar nuestras vidas a la suerte y no podamos contar con que vivimos alrededor de personas responsables y conscientes del valor de la vida ajena.