What outrages me

I consider myself a pretty open-minded and tolerant person but there are certain things I cannot stand. The first thing that probably outrages me the most is injustice. I just cannot stand when someone get something he or she did not deserve or when wrong is done to someone for unjustified reasons (not that I am implying that it is okay to wrong someone even with reason to back it up). When in a situation that I consider unfair, I usually talk about my concerns to someone who has the possibility to make the situation fairer, such as an authority figure that I thrust will act. One other thing that particularly outrages me is narrow-mindedness and intolerance. When I moved, my adaptation was made harder by people who did not realize the difficulties I had or just did not want to reach out to help me. That is when I became aware of how important it is to be surrounded by open-minded people who understand the difficulties you can be going through and do not hesitate to help. On a more practical level, I cannot stand when people purposefully deteriorate the environment by throwing trashes in the street. Seriously people, can’t you just wait to find a trashcan and throw your trash in it? Is that really too hard for you? So, when I see litters in the street, I usually pick them up and wait for the closest litterbin to throw them in.

What idea challenges me the most

Recently, someone asked me what idea most challenges me. I have to admit that I had to think for quite a while to come up with an answer that truly reflects who I am and what I think. What would you have answered? Not easy, right? I thought about what I really like and what is important to me. Since I was young I wanted to become a doctor. To me, medicine was the one way to allow people who had a car accident or were diagnosed with a disease to live long and happy lives. I thought that medicine could cure every wound and avoid pain and misery to spread. However, as I grew up I realized that the world had too many incurable wounds that all the medicine could never make them go away. I realized that civil wars, misery, pain, poverty and cruelty would always exist. Then we learned at school the atrocities that happened during World War II. But what we were not taught at school is that similar atrocities are still happening everyday in some developing countries in Africa where civil wars are raging. So I suppose the idea that challenges me the most is to become a doctor and work in a refugee camp in a developing and try to avoid as much as I can the wounds to bleed, the pain to paralyze and the misery to spread and, by doing that, I would little by little begin to cure the world.

The Town

Once upon a time, when I had time to breath and other things than constantly working, I went to see a movie with my mom called The Town. Heard of it? I have to admit I was pretty reticent about spending two hours in the movie theater watching a movie that did not intersted me in the first place. I was wrong. It is a great movie. The story takes place in Boston, and more specifically in a part of Boston where bank robbery are omnipresent. The story line has nothing exptional but I really appreciated the fact that the whole story is viewed from the point of view of the criminals, not the police like most of the movies opposing criminals and justice. Although a little bit long this movie goes more in depth into the emotions of the characters and do not just show a succession of of bank robberry (not like Public Ennemies that simply showed a succession of random events and robberies that had no connections one another). I like the whole atmosphere that the movie created. It is not one of these movies where you just feel so uncomfortable you want to run out of the movie theater (which surprisingly enough happens a lot). Even if a movie needs to be really good to have my approval, I think I can say without a doubt that this one should be on you “must see” list (yes that’s right I have a “must see” list of movies!!). Before watching this movie, I had no idea that Charleston was considered “the bank robbery capital of America” or something like that. Some people say that TV inhibits your mental capacities to develop. But what they don’t tell you is that it can also teach you some things. So if you can find time and if you have an extra $8 you want to spend to watch a movie, go see The Town.

Strikes in France

We just received at home a French magazine that has a very interesting article about the strikes that are going one right now in France. From what I understood, France is going through tough times now. Almost everyone is stricking including the refining industry, an industry that is extremely important since it is the one that allow oil to be usable. So due to strikes in the refining industry, France is experiencing a shortage in oil, causing the price of oil and of means of transportation such as bus tickets to be exessively high. However, these are not the only problems that are cause by the shorage of oil. Stores will soon be no longer approvisionated, causing a food shortage and slowing even more the economy down. The aviation industry is also impacted since kerozene is no longer available so less and less planes are able to leave France. I think that it is in that kind of situations that you really realize that the people are the real instrument of democracy (or self-destruction in that case). I just hope the the president will do something soon to ameliorate the condition of workers and avoid the upcoming problems that will undoubtably have disastrous effects on the people and the economy.

The best country in the world is...

So which country do you think is the best in the world? No it has nothing to do with the World Cup or the Olympic Games. Do you think that is the United States?... Well, I am sorry to disappoint you but the United States is far from holding the first place. And the winner is … Finland!! That’s right Finland was estimated as being the best country in the world by a study conducted by Newsweek. The top ten is:

1. Finland

2. Switzerland

3. Sweden

4. Australia

5. Luxembourg

6. Norway

7. Canada

8. Netherlands

9. Japan

10. Denmark

We can find the United States right after holding the eleventh place. As you can see the top ten countries tend to be small, rich and quite cold. But Finland had not been chosen randomly. Compared to other countries, Finland is very economically dynamic and was evaluated as offering a good quality of life to its citizens (which includes factors such as health coverage, security and chances to make a decent living). Education is also a determining factor that place Finland as the best. We talked about this in TOK last year and we looked at the revolutionary educational system that Finland uses. There are no tuition fees for students; these are paid by the government (that has a budget of 5.9 billion which is a huge number considering the size of the country). Now I know which I am going to live in when I graduate from college. Finland.

Quick question/opinion

I have a quick question for everyone. Last month I received a Newsweek that had a very intriguing title and I would like to have your opinion on what you think it means. So what do you think the phrase “The making of a Terrorist-coddling Warmongering Wall Street-loving Socialistic Godless Muslim President” means?

Espuna y nada más

No don’t worry this post is not in Spanish (although I am in the mood to write in Spanish!). A couple of weeks ago, we read a story in Spanish that left me disconcerted. The story is called “Espuna y nada más” written by Hernando Téllez. The story takes place in a country where rebel movements are widespread and where the government troops actively suppress them. It is the story of a barber, who, as the reader learns later in the story, is a member of the rebellion. One day a man enters the barbershop and asks to be shaved. As soon as the man enters, the barber recognizes him as being Captain Torres who is responsible for the arrests and executions of rebels. All along the story, the reader knows that the barber knows who the man is but we have the impression that Torres on the other hand does not know that the barber is a rebel, as he openly speaks about the arrests that took place and the next executions of rebels that will occur. The reader therefore thinks that the Torres believes the barber is a supporter of the government. As the barber shaves Torres he thinks how easy it would be for him to kill him without anyone noticing. However, his moral sense prevents him from murdering Torres. The last sentence of the story is “Me habían dicho que usted me mataría. Vine para comprobarlo. Pero matar no es fácil. Yo sé por qué lo digo” which could be translated as “I was told that you would kill me. I came to see. But killing is not easy. I know what I am talking about.” This last sentence reveals that Torres actually knew who the barber was. However, it also causes the reader to think. From the barber’s point of view, Torres is the reason for the death of many of his friends and maybe even of some members of his family. However, he finds himself incapable of taking revenge by killing him. As Torres says, killing is not easy. Sometimes someone’s moral values are stronger than any rivalry that may exist.