This blog was a new experience that gave me the opportunity of created my own judgment about different themes. The themes assigned for this blog were very broad, and this gave me the opportunity of being creative. I posted different photos, videos and also information about each theme. Write here helped me to narrate with my own style the different ideas that I had about each theme. 

       Make this blog helped me to do a critical analysis of different issues. All the themes that I wrote here as : education, war, happiness, religion... made me think in all the things that our society is suffering today. Have a blog is useful to learn, because here we write all the time. For write we need to analize and reflect the information that we have for create our own opinion. Write in this blog was an enriching experience, because I wrote my thoughts and ideas and I practiced my english writing at the same time. Write regularly can help to think , understand and learn.

                                                           

                                        The World

              When we look at the world around us, we can see the many serious problems that it have, including poverty, war, injustice and environmental degradation. But those terrible things, exists thanks to the human being, because the money and the power are blinding the people. The people today don't care, the environment, the people today only think in themselves. The world is the earth and all the people and things on it, and for that reason we are the responsible about the many changes that exist in the world. 

           To see a positive change in the world we need to engagement with the outer world, and also engagement with our inner world. We have to manage our emotions for end the wars and the injustices. The world is a place for enjoying the beautiful scenery, meet different  people, but the violence that exists today don’t leave us  go outside of our houses with security of anything going to pass . We live with fear and this is not the world purpose. God makes the world with love for us, and we are destroying it. We are in the world for loving God ad for loving all the creatures that exist in it.  We are the world because we decided how the world has to be. We decide the world that we want, for that reason we need to care the nature, manage our emotions to end the violence and help the other people for decrease the poverty, because this attitudes can change the world for one better.

                               

                              

                                  Education

"Mother, I don't want to go to school!" These are words that are heard all too often around the world.  But, the really is that go to the school is very important, because here we learn different skills. These set of skills are called education, the education preparing us intellectually for a mature life. It is the process of acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment. Education is more than reading, writing, and arithmetic, is a vital role for a country to grow economically or socially. 

What are the benefits of education? The education helps to develop your perspective on the world around you. It pushes you to think creatively and conceptually about many different subjects. Education give us the opportunity to process the information that we receive on a daily basis and make conclusions and inferences based on what we already know. Educated people are aware of the socio-economic scenario of the country and can help in the progress of the country. The education gives you the opportunity of having a good job and work better. Also the education gives people critical skills and tools to help themselves and their children. The benefits of the education definitely are many; it has a significant influence in our lives. To conclude, only with the education can people gain knowledge and enlarge their view over the world. All the things that the people create today are based on the knowledge that we obtain throughout our life by way of education. Education is not just what your major is,  is a journey where you learn who you are.

Movies

What is a movie? A recording of moving images that tells a story and that people watch on a screen or television.  The movies are made for entertain the people and the directors try to transmit to us different emotions, for example: some movies makes us feeling sadness or happiness, afraid, and also other movies leave us thinking in a lot of things about life.  Watch movies are one of my favorite hobbies, because we can see movies in the theater and also in our house, is a moment for concentrate my mind in all the movie scenes and forget all the problems and the occupations of the day.  The comic and romantic movies are my favorites.  I love very much the movies based in the Nicholas Sparks novels, is one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. All of his books have been New York Times bestsellers, with over 97 million copies sold worldwide, in more than 50 languages, including over 65 million copies in the United States alone.  As Nicholas is my favorite writer, I decided to talk about a movie based in one of his novels called: “A Walk to Remember”.

A Walk to Remember is a movie based on a book written by Nicholas Sparks in 1999; the movie and the novel have the same name.  The protagonist of this movie is a teenager called Landon, is the most popular boy in the school and one of the biggest troublemakers. In the beginning of the movie he and his friends play a prank on a fellow student and nearly kill him and he must face the consequences. He was forced to be tutor of different children in the school, assist the janitorial staff after the school and participate in the annual school play. While attending these activities he meets Jamie Sullivan, the other protagonist. Jamie was always the object of ridicule of his friends. She is daughter of a reverend, is the typical good girl, she always has a bible with her because is very religious. Jamie uses long skirts and the same coat all the days. Throughout the story, London wants Jamie’s assistance in all the activities that he is taking part, but he also doesn't want to be seen with her at school. This changes when he acts together with Jamie in the annual school play, London kiss her and he discover that he feels something for Jamie. Surprisingly he ends falling in love with Jamie and then of have various dates, she informs him, that she has leukemia. When he discovered that she has leukemia, he tries to give her everything she had told him she wished for and he even marries her when he knows her life will be over soon. Landon changes his personality when he knows her; he said that Jamie saved his life. At the end of this story Jamie dies, and London then of a time visit Jamie's father at his house, and tells him: “I am sorry that she didn't get her miracle”, and the Jamie's father tells him: “She did, the miracle was you".  Landon was her miracle, because he made her happy in her last days, and also Jamie changed Landon’s life. I chose this movie , because is my favorite romance movie and also because the author teaches to us,  that the best decisions, the ones that matter the most in our lives, are best made by listening to your heart. London opts for listen his heart, and stays with Jamie without matter what others thought about her. 

                                                                      Celebrity

                  

A celebrity is someone that is recognized at the public level by a specific talent.  The celebrity captures the attention of much of society and the media. Today, among the most prominent and easily recognized celebrities by the whole world are the actors and actresses, musicians and athletes. In another era the writers, politicians, scientists, and painters were considered as the most important celebrities, and also today still remain very important. I don't have a favorite celebrity, because I appreciate the talent or the ability of many celebrities not only of one in specific, but I decided to choose a singer, because this singer for me has a beautiful voice and sings the songs with a lot of feeling. 

 Christina Maria Aguilera is an American singer, songwriter and actress,was born in Staten Island, New York on December 18, 1980, and was raised in Rochester and Wexford Pennsylvania. Her father Fausto Xavier Aguilera was a United States Army soldier and her mother a musician called Shelly Loraine.  Aguilera’s family moved frequently because of her father's military service, and lived in places including New Jersey, Texas, New York, and Japan. Christina was physically and emotionally abused by her father, she and her mother alleged that he abused of them. Aguilera used music as a form of escape from her dysfunctional household. Growing up, she aspired to be a singer, was known as “the little girl with the big voice", singing in local talent shows and competitions.  At the age of eight, she won her first talent show, in which she performed Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)".  She won the nickname of “the voice of her generation". At People's Choice Awards she was honored as the “voice of the people". Also in 2013, the Time magazine included her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.She is recognized as the singer that changed the style of teen pop music and turned it in a more mature pop. I can’t talk about all the Christina’s success because are many, but approximately she has 176 awards won and 225 nominations.

I chose her because she has a big voice. I like very much her songs but the thing that I most like is the feeling with which she sings. She sang with a force that is incredible, she lives her songs when she sings. According to some musicians’ experts, her voice is soprano type, capable of reaching the higher registers on the human scale. I admire her because even though she grew up in a dysfunctional family, she accomplished her dream of being a singer, and is one of the best in the world. As celebrity has been criticized, but for me her talent is much big than her defects. Another thing that I like about Christina is that she is a bilingual singer, she sings in English and Spanish. My favorite song of Christina is called “Hurt”. It’s my favorite song, although having a very sad lyric, because is a song written and sung with a lot of feeling and describes exactly how one deals with the loss of a loved one. Another song that I like very much is called “Beautiful”. This song gives us a great message:  “That we are all beautiful, without matter what others say”, in other words, we have to learn to accept ourselves as we are, and forget the criticism of society. To conclude, I consider her as a celebrity because her music came to the heart of many people and also she is an example to all the people that grown in a dysfunctional family, because like her they also can accomplish her dreams.

                           

                      A part of the video called: "Hurt" ( song by: Christina Aguilera)

                                             A  part of the video called: "Say somenthing"
                                          ( song by: A Great Big World ft. Christina Aguilera)

                                    

The video of my favorite song: "Hurt" 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwCykGDEp7M

                     

                                                                                      Media

                              

        

What is media? In general, "media" refers to diverse means of communication as television, radio, and the newspaper. Also the term can be used as a collective noun for the press or news reporting agencies. “Media”, in the computer world is used as a collective noun, but refers to different types of data storage options. I was looking for information about the media and I found an interesting video that for me reflects the genuine definition of media: 
                              

                                                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M89_wjcwzfY

Media is a very broad concept, for that reason I decided to talk about the “Media and the Distortion of Body Image”. Studies prove that media can have a negative impact on women’s self image. The television, magazines, movies, and the internet all the time bombard the people with images of how their bodies should be. The big problem is that their version isn't realistic. Those images are arranged  to show the woman very skinny , the models in those images weigh 23% less that the average woman. Unfortunately, millions of teens believe the lies and decide resort to unhealthy measures to try to be like those models.  The media transmit the “thin ideal” in almost every way possible. On the covers of magazines and in advertisements, also on the internet, television shows and movies almost always shown thin and beautiful women. The amount of diet and exercise articles in magazines has been increasing with every new year. The internet provides positive and good  information to people about leading a healthy lifestyle, but it also provides access to harmful websites. Harmful sites that provide advices to those interested in becoming anorexic or bulimic. There are not precautionary measures to stop people from see these sites, so if adolescents see these pages, it could be very detrimental for them. 

 The “thin ideal” in the media is a constant reminder, teens , young women and also men are following this negative body image. The self-esteem and body image are definitely affected by the media; the people compare their body with the media’s perfect body. Then they feel dissatisfied and with shame because not have the beautiful and perfect body that the magazines, the internet and the television shows present to us. Not only the health of the viewers is at risk, also the health of the models because they need to be very skinny and beautiful for the magazines and the television shows, and they are more exposed to suffer eating disorders.  The media have always been present in our lives; we are a lot of hours watching television, using our cell phones and navigating on the internet, for that reason we need to be very careful, because everything we see and hear is not true, an example is the false body image that the media sold to us. We have to come together as a society and change the way we perceive beauty, if not there will be serious physical and mental consequences.

Now, I want to share a video titled: " Body Image Affected by Media"

                                                 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47cbEeSKIZo

                          

                                Marriage

What is marriage? The definition of marriage has always varied depending on the cultural, religion and political circumstances of a particular society.  In Puerto Rico the legal definition of marriage is:  A civil institution that issues from a civil contract under which a man and a woman mutually agree to become husband and wife, and to comply one towards the other, the duties imposed by law. But the marriage has also religious definitions that vary according to each religion. According to the catholic church marriage is:"The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament." But for me, the marriage is the union of two people that love each other and decide to join their lives because they know that they are amazing as individuals but together they are even better.

For talk about the marriage, I want to share a beautiful story that for me represents the real meaning of marriage. This story was written by Laura Jeanne Allen and is entitled:” SHMILY: A Lovestory You Will Never Forget” This story is about the Laura’s grandparents, they were married for over half a century and they played their own special game from the time they had met each other. The goal of their game was to write the word “SHMILY” in a surprise place for the other to find. They took turns leaving “SHMILY” around the house and as soon as one of them discovered it, it was their turn to hide it once more. They dragged “SHMILY” with their fingers through the sugar and flour containers, to await whoever was preparing the next meal. The Laura’s grandparents wrote “SHMILY” in the steam left on the mirror after a hot shower, where it would reappear bath after bath. At one point, her grandmother even unrolled an entire roll of toilet paper, to leave “SHMILY” on the very last sheet. There was no end to the places in where ''SHMILY” was written. Her grandparents held hands every chance they could. They stole kisses, as they bumped into each other in their kitchen. They finished each other’s sentences and shared the daily crossword puzzle and word jumble. Before every meal they bowed their heads and gave thanks, marveling at their blessings: a wonderful family, good fortune and each other.

But in her grandparents’ lives  something very sad exist,  her grandmother had breast cancer. The disease had first appeared ten years earlier. As always, her Grandpa was with her every step of the way. He comforted her in their yellow room, painted that way so that she could always be surrounded by sunshine, even when she was too sick to go outside. The cancer was again attacking her body. With the help of a cane and her grandfather’s steady hand, they went to church every Sunday morning. But, her grandmother grew steadily weaker until; finally, she could not leave the house anymore. For a while, her Grandpa would go to church alone, praying to God to watch over his wife. Then one day, her Grandma die. “SHMILY", was scrawled in yellow on the pink ribbons of her grandmother’s funeral bouquet. Her Grandpa stepped up to her grandmother’s casket and he began to sing to her. Through his tears and grief, the song came (a deep and throaty lullaby).  Then of this last goodbye to her grandmother, Laura found the meaning of the mysterious word that was:  “S-h-m-i-l-y: See How Much I Love You…”

               This story presents a real and pure love. Simple things , like writing a word in a note,steal a kiss, hold the hands, represents the little details that always need a marriage for that the love grow. With the word "SHMILY" the grandparents continuously expressed their love for over fifty years. A lot of marriages are so rushed with the work, and the years pass and they don't express their love. Love in marriage must be preserved with little details. These small details make that the love; respect and admiration maintain throughout married life. The marriage is not only a piece of paper, is a promise to live together for the rest of the life, devoted to each other in sickness and in the good times, like the couple of the story. It is a promise to live together faithfully until death, through thick and thin. Marriage is a manifestation of God's blessing.

 Religion 

         

Religion has played throughout history countless papers, the majority fundamental to the development of humanity. What is religion? Religion is the set of beliefs, feelings, dogmas and practices that define the relations between human beings and sacred or divinity. Exist many religions around the world, in Puerto Rico the Catholic religion is one of the most practiced. The Catholic Church is one of the most numerous; have a lot of followers. All Catholics are Christians but not all Christians are Catholics, Christians are divided into different groups, whether Orthodox, Christians, Evangelicals and Protestants. There should not be any difference between Christian and Catholic, as Catholic is required to be a Christian, that is, to believe in Christ and in the teachings of Jesus. Both believe that Jesus is the Savior, and the Holy Trinity. But there are differences, Catholics believe in Christ through an institution called the Catholic Church, also believe in the Virgin, Saints and worship these holy figures. Christians only believe and follow Christ as the one true God and do not feel the need to worship figures or images. Religion is a very broad concept and it is impossible to try to explain in a few words, as politic provoke a lot of discussions, for these reason, I decided don't talk about the concept of religion but talk about my experiences with the religion.

I have studied since child in a catholic school called “Colegio La Merced”, my parents are catholic and they enrolled me in this school for learn more thoroughly about the catholic religion. Since I had 5 years, each morning in the school we had to pray in our classrooms. The school director was beginning to pray for an intercom and we followed her, praying in the classroom. I began to pray since I was very little; I remember that one day in the month each group had to go to meet in a chapel for a eucharist. In this eucharist I read psalms or lectures, also sometimes I sang in the choir and carried the offering. Also the school conducted a eucharist for all the school students; the eucharist was in the school auditorium with all the groups from pre-kinder to twelve grade. In the school every year we made a "Way of the cross" and each group had to prepare one or two stations, and I remember that I was always the “Virgin Maria” in the stations. Also I made the station when Veronica’s dries Jesus face, and I was Veronica. One time, I made the fourteen Ways of the Cross stations, and I was the Virgin Maria. I remember that I enjoyed very much participate in this activity. Also, I danced in the eucharist and was my favorite part because I like very much to dance. I remember that I made a dance with my face painted as a mime and was a very beautiful experience. Besides dancing in the school's eucharist I danced too in the Montellano Church in Cayey. Also, I was in a Group called “Camino Neocatecumenal”, in this group I read different bible lectures; and also in this group I had the opportunity of participate in many eucharist in different churches. I met with this group two days in the week, and we reunited with other groups for doing different activities. The thing that I most like about this group was that the “Camino Neocatecumenal” had people of different ages, and I had the opportunity of shared with people of my age and with people with twenty years or more than me. In the present I'm not in this group but was a very enriching experience for me. Many times people refuse to become members of a church on the grounds that "there are too many hypocrites in the church."But we have to admit that we are humans, and in all religions exist good and bad people. All the experiences that I mentioned here made me learn most about the Catholic religion. But I think that the characteristics that define a real catholic, christian, protestant or of whatever religion that form part, is live a life of integrity practicing the church teachings in our life as: avoid the bad acts and always follow the right way. How Santiago 1:21-27 said: “True religion is not simply come to services, hearing the word, and think that we are religious. By itself, it is a vain religion. We must be doers of the word, remove the worst of our lives, keeping us unspotted from the world, restraining our tongue, and actively serving others.”

War

What is War? The armed conflict or fighting between nations or factions. But for me war is the ruthless and immoral act that destroys a lot of people causing more misery to the poor. Over the centuries and decades, death counts in wars have grown dramatically. The violence is now the primary cause of death and the wars are full of it. The biggest deaths occur in war by the destruction of countries and innocent people. While I was looking for information about the war I found an interesting quote:

               Morals are the rules that help us recognize the remainder between the correct and wrong. Kill peopleis an immoral act because is an incorrect act of a person that have values. For me not exist, nothing more immoral that kill someone because God is the only that can decide when the life end for someone. When someone kills a person is destroying their family too. For this reason I think that the war is the biggest immoral act that can exist, because the war: kills children or stay maimed for the bombs and bullets with psychological effects. The children are most vulnerable to diseases like malaria, cholera, and one of the gravest effects of war is the way it disrupts and destroys children’s education. Also, when wars occur destroy industries, jobs, and this cause more poor provoking more deaths. Is incredible how a lot of people go to war believing that are defending their nation, but the reality is that they destroy it because the violence brings more violence. For me is very sad to see how we were destroying ourselves long time ago. The war isn’t being the solution for the world conflicts, we have to react because the hate and power lust are destroying us. To conclude, I share a quote.

Death

When I listen the word “death”, I have to admit that I feel stressed, but death is a part of life that everyone becomes acquainted with sooner or later. But, what is death?  Is simple, death is the end of the life, if the total and permanent cessation of all the vital functions of an organism. For talk about the death I want to share an interesting information about death that I found in a blog. This blog was written by Bronnie Ware an author, speaker and songwriter from Australia, best known for her inspirational books, songs, and blogs. She is expert in palliative care and terminally ill and she wrote in her blog and in a famous book a list of the top five regrets people have before dying. Bronnie Ware spent several years working in palliative care in Australia, looking after patients in the last three to 12 weeks of their lives. In her blog she wrote the top five regrets of the dying: 

1. “I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
2. “I wish I didn't work so hard.”
3. “I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.”
4. “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.”
5. “I wish that I had let myself be happier.” 

Read this blog caused a big impact in me, because all of the dying's laments are about the things that they not did. The moribunds don't regret of the things that they did but if of the things that they not did. Read that confessions make me thinking in that we have to live the present and try to make all the things that we can. If we had a problem, we have to find the solution today, not wait for tomorrow because the life is too short. The life is a gift but we don't know when this end for each one of us and is important try to make our dreams come true. We don’t have to be afraid of death, we have to simply live the life. I shared the information of the Bronnie’s blog with a simple purpose, for when all of you read my blog analyze all the confessions of this dying and thinking in if you really are living your live.This confessions are a teaching for me, because let me know that I have to always be myself, have a balance in life , also have the courage to express my feelings without matter what other people think , and always show my love to those important people for me because we never know when will die. For conclude, I share this quote: 

Happiness

 I read some of the happiness posts from the internet trying to find a good definition for “Happiness “and I saw a variety of answers. But what is happiness? According to George Sheehan “Happiness is different from pleasure. Happiness has something to do with struggling and enduring and accomplishing.” That’s the best definition I found online that reflects my own perception of happiness. For talk about what is happiness for me I’m going to use the movie “Pursuit of happyness” as example. This story was starring by Will Smith inspired by the true story of Chris Gardner, a San Francisco salesman that works hard to build a future for himself and his son Christopher. The story began in 1981 when Chris Gardner sold machines to doctors at hospitals, while his wife working as a part time worker. The problem was that Chris could not sell any scanner and had to fulfill the living costs such as the taxes, and daycare fee. Then his girlfriend decides to leave and stay with her sister in New York, and Chris has to raise Christopher alone. After this Chris decides to be a stockbroker by applying for a six-month training program. But without a salary, Chris and his son are evicted from their apartment and are forced to sleep on the streets. Also they have to sleep in homeless shelters and a metro station bathroom. With self-confidence and the love that he feels for his son, Chris Gardner surpasses his obstacles to become a successful man.

This movie represents for me happiness, because the movie seems to focus on the strength of trying despite failures. This movie presents the Chris’ unwavering perseverance and determination in his way to the happiness.  When you fight for something and then you feel the satisfaction that thanks to your efforts have the things that you want, for me this is happiness, and this movie is an example of this. Because this movie shows how the protagonist fights for his son and for his future, he cares his son with a tenderness and love that is impressive. In the final of the movie we can see the happiness face that Chris had when he achieved obtain the stockbroker job, he began to cry and we can saw the happiness tears in his face. Happiness exactly for me is when we feel that awesome feeling in the heart, and we begin to” cry of happiness” because we don’t know if shout or laugh. But the only thing that we know is that we finally meet the real happiness, because we fight for get it working hard. The happiness for all the people have different meanings but for me is the moment when you feel satisfied with all of your efforts, because you know that all the things that you have is for one reason, because you fought for those things. The happiness for me not is win the lottery or have all the things that I want, happiness for me is have the primordial things as love and be the person that you want to be , working hard. 

Now I want to share a movie scene that represents "happiness" for me, also is my favorite part of the movie. I put the video here,but if you can't see it , I share the link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bklNWWoJyzE