euthanasia 1

        There is a thin line between live and
death. The normal tendency of any human being, at least in our
culture, is to preserve its life. Nobody can imagine how people can
take the decision to put an end to its live. The most valuable thing
that any person has is its life. Any individual grows up and work in
order to have a better quality of life. When that environment fall
apart, there should be problems in the air. Situations like an
terminal and incurable illness, can be the precursors that leads any
human being to the resolution of taking the “easy” an
painless way.

        Etymologically euthanasia means good
death. Maybe those people do not think to take in their hands their
destiny. Nowadays that meaning turned into something different.
Euthanasia means to end someone life that is suffering and having a
miserable life. Also it is called a homicide for compassion. How can
we say that a homicide can be done with good intensions and it can be
an act of love and empathy?

        When adversity is in your life, in
that specific instant you can prove to yourself and to the rest of
the world of what are you made of. I know that it is easy to say,
that you should accept and take with humility the life that God have
for you. It would very hard and sad to know that you will be confined
to a terminal illness that will consume your essence and soul. As
human beings we tent to be afraid to the new experiences, no matter
if they seemed to be for good. When we lost the command of our life
we can felt misplaced as Sue did. It is hard to found the good side
of our problem or situation.

        Most terminal ill persons are left
alone with their suffering. It is important to hold the support of
the family and friends. At least, a terminally ill person can fight
against everything, if it has something that brings hope and
significance to his or her life. Those motivations can help a patient
in a positive way over a patient that does not.

        As mentioned earlier our faith is the
stronger argument when a person decides to put end to his/her life.
God provides to us the confidence that things would be better, no
matter if is in this or in the other life. Maybe we can think that
our future is out of our control. In a situation like that, we can
hope that everything has a purpose and if He gives to us any
assignment we should take it and make it the better possible.

         As we can see the euthanasia can be
seen with different perspectives, you as a patient or you as the
responsible of another life. It is important to evaluate our life and
convictions. A person life after all is the most valuable thing that
we have. We should take care of our mind and body in a responsible
way. Love your life even when you can find anything good to it. Do
not let the bad moments decides your future in this world. Anything
has a solution as well as your life. Fight for you and for one that
you love.

blog3

The Economic Divide

     We live in a material era. Everything is about getting more and more. The more you get the most respectful you can be in the society. It is sad that there are a lot of people that just think in material things and do not care about the intelligence, values and feelings of other people. You get an education in order to obtain a better life, and to position yourself in a privilege position in your community. These privileges are responsible in a big part to the pronounced divide in the world.

     The divisions are spread in every aspect of the life. They are a lot of differences between us like the culture, politics and life styles. In this millennium there is growing up a new divide, called the digital divide. It consists in the division created when one group in a population are in disadvantage in front of the rest of the population, merely because they do not have the resources to have the technology. If the government of any country does not have the economic resources to habilitate it with the infrastructure necessary to acquire the technology it will not have the advantage of that technology and will be left behind by those that can afford it. In a few words I strongly think that the government is the main responsible in the digital divide.

     Jakob Nielsen describes three stages in the digital divide. The first one is economic divide which I already explained earlier. The second one is called the usability divide, which consist when a person have the money to obtain the technology but they did not know how to use it. These persons maybe do not have the opportunity to go to school and receive an education. The last one id the empowerment divide in which the person have the economic resources and the basic knowledge to use technology but they do not know it deeply. The economy is around the other two stages described by Nielsen. He explains them as completely separated subjects but the economy is present in both of them. When a person does not have studies, t must be that this person does not have the economic advantage to finish school.

            The economic divide is present in every area of our lives. Not only for the digital divide but also in the cultural divide. The society is ruled by the economy that it has. If a country is one of the world potency, for sure this country will have the better technology for the citizens and for the defense of their country. For that reason the research in any area of science has been promoted for sciences students. The most important thing is to discover new areas, devices and knowledge in order to be ahead.

blog2ingles

Election 2008

    
In this year the future of our country, Puerto Rico, will be decided
in this week. The people are very concerned with everything that is
happening right now. Every where we go there is something about
politics. The people in this island are the number one fan of
politics. There is not friendship or relationship at all when we are
of different parties but also we can make new friends just because we
have the same ideals. These elections will be very interesting and
only God know what will happened.

    
In my own perception the news in Puerto Rico are somewhat deviated to
a particular political party. They inform in a way that is for their
convenience, just to make a good notice that sells. In the
communication media the most important aspect is to sell and not
precisely to give up the completely and absolutely truth to the
people. I have to say that there is also the economic aspect is in
the game. The political candidate that paid more is the one that will
have the most propaganda in the television, radio and internet.

    
The internet has played a new role in this election. We can make use
of the web pages of the newspapers. There are good because we do not
have to buy anything and we can have the same benefits of the
physical one. The candidates have their own web pages that presents
their platforms, information about the caravans and it also have
photos and videos of their activities. I think that the use of
internet is a brilliant idea. It promotes the particular candidate
but it also brings you the opportunity to know and analyzed the
things that they offer, if it is a real option or if it is just a
fantasy. Most of the candidates also have a Facebook and MySpace
account and you can become a member of them.

    
This election will be close. We count with four official political
parties. This means that the votes will be divided more than the past
elections. In addition to that there is also the group of Pedro
Roselló that will be by direct nomination. I know that this is
a democratic country, but I can not understand how a politician that
run in primaries and is not elected, returned back and said that the
“el pueblo habló y yo obedezco”. This is an
irresponsible act that is against his party. He demonstrated that he
is selfish and he does not care a thing about the future of this
island. I think that you should be a good looser and the most
important thing is the benefit of the party.

    
Even that we have four parties, there are two that are at the top.
There are the “Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP)” and the
“Partido Popular Democratico (PPD)” that are fighting for
the first place. The fist one promotes change, progress and defends
the union with the United States. They have some new and young
candidates that present innovation to the environment of the
elections. The PNP has accused the other party for the bad economy
that we have because of the bad administration. The young people are
playing a decisive role in this party and also in the other ones.
For the other part the PPD has promoted that the situations in the
economy and all of the problems are because of the legislature of the
PNP that do not made their work. In addition of that the actual
governor has twenty four charges against him that in some aspect can
affect him in his reelection.

    
As I said, the future of our island is in the hand of the population.
They should analyzed and take the best option for us. We should leave
the idealisms behind and take the best decision for all of us. Lets
be responsible at the elections.

Writing as an Integrating Agent

Writing is an important and essential tool for humanity. Since from the very first begging, the earliest civilizations founded the way to express their knowledge. They use paints made from nature and rudimental tools for this purpose. From this unsophisticated paintings and symbols a writing system was evolved to complex system of symbols that makes up words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. It is invaluable the contribution of writing in our development a individual persons and for the whole community. Trough it we can become part of the rest of the world that is around us.

We can express our feelings and emotions trough literacy. It is amazing in the way that we can connect with a story or any reading. It opens our imagination to another fantastic world that only exists in your mind and everybody else will have a different version of the story. For the other part, newspapers maintain the audience inform with the ultimate details of the society. These details correspond with politics, science, sports, entertainment, etc. The central purpose of it is to integrate the individuals to the community and the rest of the world. With it you are able to look at different cultures and lifestyles of different countries. How other people interact, their political and educational systems and their thoughts and beliefs.

The benefits of writing are unlimited. Word is nothing if is not written. Any legal implantation must exist as a written item. Even when you are going to be married you must sign up a document, other wise you are a single person. Another example is the pre marital contracts in which a couple makes up to divide their belongings before the marriage takes place. At the moment that you sign up a written document your word becomes important and it integrates you to the society. A society with given specific rules and laws that you must follow and if you do not make it you will be penalized.

The last summer I went to make research at The University of New York at Buffalo. My graduate student over there speaks very fast and at the beginning if was very hard for me to understand him. I was also a little oxidized with my English skills so it was hard for the both of us to communicate with each other. So the best way to speaks was trough writing. When he gave me any instruction and I did not understand he just explained to me with drawings and writing. For me writing was my life saver during the first weeks at Buffalo, so I did not exploited any laboratory.

As we can see trough writing we become an active part of our society. We are able to express our knowledge, feelings and thoughts. Is of great importance to work with our writing skills in order to improve and be better with it. In the way that we can communicate with each others trough writing we will be categorized. It can be the first impression of our personalities.

Rhetoric essay

Rhetoric

Rhetoric is an ancient art that is latent in the essence of humanity. Since its creation is still consist in the same elements. However society had changed over the course of time and the use of rhetoric is used widely, even when people ignored its presence. There a few professions that are immersed in this practice, such as the politicians, the ministers, lawyers among others. Right now the art of the oral speech is necessary in all the areas of specialization. It is of great importance to express ourselves in an effective way. We can be judged through our oral skills at any given time, such as in a work interview. Rhetoric is a vital part of our presence in front of everybody else, at the time that we defend our though and believes.

There are people that own the art of rhetoric. Good politicians are the ones that do it best. In order to be selected in an election, a candidate must gave and extraordinary oral speech. This speech should appeal to the logistic of the actual situation of the country or town and why it should change or not. Also is very important to make sure that the ethical and emotional appeals are present too. We can take as an example the economical situation in our country, including the taxes in the food and essential articles for any person. The real problem is that the prices are expensive and the government does not increase the salary of their employees and in some cases the salaries are cut. This case presents an ethical issue and appeals to the emotional and rational side of every person. Every government should protects their citizens interest and not pursue their own profit. Now, that we are in time of elections some of the candidates from the opposite party will focus their speeches on the economical and social situation that the people are living right now. They will appeal to the human and sensible part of the affected people, proposing better job conditions, salary increments, and a decrease in the taxes. For the other part we have the incumbent candidate that defends himself and his government arguing that the problem is the legislature. Only one will win and that will be the one with the best rhetoric.

Nowadays, in politics, a good discourse is better than the actions that certain individual can perform. Like Maquiavelo says “a good politician is the one that says what his or her citizens want to hear, and makes everything that they expected to do”. It is sad that some people use rhetoric to lie and to act against their own people. The man kind is in part vulnerable and sometimes can be used and oppressed by the big and powerful entities of their country. Under the influence of a good rhetorician people can be persuade very easily, and sometimes forget the real and factual conditions that can be detrimental to their status.

The art of rhetoric is not only a practice for politicians. Religious ministers mastered the oratory. Their best example is how Jesus Christ through his speeches owned the heart of thousand of the people in his journeys. Also the apostles had control over the art of the word. Their legacy is PLASMADA for the eternity in the Bible. Jesus and His apostles owned the heart of the people, through the logos, pathos, and ethos. He predicates that love was the epicenter for the existence of the universe. God creates the humanity with love and he gave His son for our sins. He teaches us that everybody should be treated equally and with respect.

The professions that are directly related to law have rhetoric as a central piece. Every lawyer has to own the oral speeches in order to be successful in any case. Previously preparation is required and strictly necessary. A legal representative can be immersed within readings, several weeks and even months, organizing a case. Every aspect should be studied, analyzed, and compared with similar trials. The last mentioned, is of great importance, because previously litigations can set the basis for the resolution of a legal action. In addition to the required preparation, a lawyer should meditate and should be able to react fast to any question. I consider that the liberty or innocence of a defended rest in the hands of the legal representative. There are thons of innocent people that are in jail and be they did not had the opportunity to had someone competent working for them. In the other part there are guilty people that are free, merely for the presence of a good lawyer, and I am not taking in consideration any fraud or corruption. I was reading the headline of a newspaper and I was surprised. The news was about a woman that gave a false a testimony and a man was send to jail. I can infer that maybe that declaration was decisive in that jury, and the judges were affected emotionally at that time.

Rhetoric does not consist in defending a point, it takes more than that. It should appeal the emotion, rationality, and ethically. I think that “phatos” is the appeal that encloses more meaning. We can feel related and identified with any situation that other person can live. If an individual is excluded from a civil right, we tend to understand the severity of the condition. Is rational and ethical, that we all have the same rights and we should be treated equally, but it is the emotional aspect that affects us the most. The real goal is to convince the audience that the idea that you are defending is how you say it, and not in the other way. The best thing that schools can do is to teach rhetoric since the early years on the student life, it can be of great benefit for the professional and personal areas of a student. We should be dedicated to the development of our oral skills.