When you ask little kids about what they want to be when they grow up, they usually answer with lots of radiant hope that they want to be a police officer, a fire fighter, and teacher, a detective, an artist, an astronaut....Rarely will you ever hear I want to be an office clerk, work in a dead beat job, be homeless, be discriminated on, incarcerated....Most little kids dream of changing the world, helping others, and making their dreams come true. So what happens on the way from childhood to adulthood that makes most of lose that sparkle?
Some people say that it's the system, others say it's fear, while the rest say it's just that children are naive and there are responsibilities that must be taken care of. According to dictionary.com, a system is defined as :noun an assemblage or combination of things or parts forming a complex or unitary whole: a mountain system; a railroad system...any assemblage or set of correlated members." I wonder, are we not the parts that make the whole? Are we not the members of society? According to dictionary.com fear is defined as "noun a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid." So, what are we truly afraid of? Also, responsibility is defined as, "adjective answerable or accountable, as for something within one;s power, control, or management." What do we have control over? What are we accountable to?
The reasons that most people in society give up on and/or abandon their dreams are for arbitrary reasons. We talk about all these things as if we can't touch it or see it. As if we can't do anything about it. Yet, we are the ones that create it. Then that would mean that we are accountable for what is going on with the stale and abandoned dreams. So what do we do? Some give up and go with the flow, others try to change the world, the rest wait for the wold to change.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Growing up
I am almost a quarter of a century old. I'm 24 and in 9 months I am going to be 25. ONe thing about getting older and being an adult is realizing that your parents are also getting older. Most children come to a point in their lives when they are no longer just the child and their parents are no longer the caregivers. Roles are reversed where the children become the caregivers for their parents and the parents become more like the children. This is where I am in my life at the moment.
Last year, Papi got cancer and I was faced with seeing him sick all the time and me trying to take care of him and Mami. Mami is now dealing with another medical problem. My brother's host father passed away last week. A generation is now passing and we are coming up. Our roles switch from child o adult ad sometimes we don't realize the full extent to what that means. I at least didn't know the emotional repercussions of what it will mean to grow up.
Monday, October 31, 2011
A Step in the Love Direction
It is said that all you need is love. The Beatles wrote and sand that there is:
Nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time.
It's easy.
All you need is love.
I believe that through love one can find deep healing and create new worlds. If hate and selfishness has created the world that we live in now, why couldn't love do the same? The world that needs to be created first, is the world within the hearts of individuals. Love will be able to allow you to soar to heights you never thought possible. I believe that this is what is occuring to me.
Several months ago, I met a beautiful woman that has changed my life and world for the better. She has shown me some deep, affectionate, soul love. She has shown me things that I forgot when I stopped believing in fairy tales. She reminded me how to dream, how to live, and to believe in myself again. I believe that through the power of love, I was able to reconnect with a part of myself that I had abandoned because I was too occupied with growing up and being so responsible and a part of this world.
There are times that I lay at night and think about you. I want you to know that you mean so much in my life. "So I hope you see that I would love to love you And that see will cry when she learns we are two If I fell in love with you."
Nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time.
It's easy.
All you need is love.
I believe that through love one can find deep healing and create new worlds. If hate and selfishness has created the world that we live in now, why couldn't love do the same? The world that needs to be created first, is the world within the hearts of individuals. Love will be able to allow you to soar to heights you never thought possible. I believe that this is what is occuring to me.
Several months ago, I met a beautiful woman that has changed my life and world for the better. She has shown me some deep, affectionate, soul love. She has shown me things that I forgot when I stopped believing in fairy tales. She reminded me how to dream, how to live, and to believe in myself again. I believe that through the power of love, I was able to reconnect with a part of myself that I had abandoned because I was too occupied with growing up and being so responsible and a part of this world.
There are times that I lay at night and think about you. I want you to know that you mean so much in my life. "So I hope you see that I would love to love you And that see will cry when she learns we are two If I fell in love with you."
Monday, October 24, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Guilt
Why is it that women tend to feel guilty and the one to blame when they are sexually assaulted, raped, and/or abused? I wonder about what it is about our social and cultural fabric that creates a sense of guilt and shame for women when they are mistreated and violated.
The law and prosecutors also don't help at times because there are a lot of convolution around terms and technicality.
As kids we grow up hearing that men can't help themselves and as women, we have to be very cautious about our bodies. If we wear a certain outfit, we could be putting a man at risk for straying his eyes and hurting it us. We have to make sure that we don't walk late at night because we could be asking for trouble. If she flirts, or her skirt is too short, she is obviously asking for it. In the end, the message is: it was her fault he abused her. Why don't we as a society ask ourselves and each other "why did he do that to her?" "What makes it ok for a man to abuse a woman?" There is something very distorted about our society and culture that allows people to abuse each other (because men are also abused). What causes this abuse? And what allows it to continue?
If you are being abused or were abused in one way, shape, or form, it is not your fault and you did not ask for it or provoke it.
For more information, click here.
The law and prosecutors also don't help at times because there are a lot of convolution around terms and technicality.
As kids we grow up hearing that men can't help themselves and as women, we have to be very cautious about our bodies. If we wear a certain outfit, we could be putting a man at risk for straying his eyes and hurting it us. We have to make sure that we don't walk late at night because we could be asking for trouble. If she flirts, or her skirt is too short, she is obviously asking for it. In the end, the message is: it was her fault he abused her. Why don't we as a society ask ourselves and each other "why did he do that to her?" "What makes it ok for a man to abuse a woman?" There is something very distorted about our society and culture that allows people to abuse each other (because men are also abused). What causes this abuse? And what allows it to continue?
If you are being abused or were abused in one way, shape, or form, it is not your fault and you did not ask for it or provoke it.
For more information, click here.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Believing in yourself
"If just one person believes in you deep enough
and strong enough
Believes in you hard enough and long enough
Before you knew it, someone else would think 'if he can do it I can do it'
Making it two.
Two whole people who believe in you.
And maybe even you can believe in you too."
Jim Henson
Believes in you hard enough and long enough
Before you knew it, someone else would think 'if he can do it I can do it'
Making it two.
Two whole people who believe in you.
And maybe even you can believe in you too."
Jim Henson
Friday, July 1, 2011
Job hunt
It is the end of the academic year. Unfortunately, this year for me has been less than ideal. So, once again I am on the hunt for another position at another school. This time I am going hard and not settling for the first thing that comes along because that was what got me in trouble the first two times. As I go on the hunt, there are these tips that run through my mind that makes me look a little closer at the job hunt process. Something that keeps popping up is the line, "Sell yourself." One needs to put oneself out there, be aggressive, show off the best qualities one has....seems like a lot but sounds a lot like prostitution to me. Corporate prostitution. I'm not trying to crack on my brothers and sisters trying to make ends meet, but I'm seriously looking at the styles of getting jobs and they seem very similar.
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