RACISM IS A VICIOUS CIRCLE
by ANDREA CAROLINA RANGEL GUEVARA
The first thing that comes to my mind when I am thinking about the world is the planet, animals, the ocean, Colombia, and beautiful landscapes such as the Amazon, the Caribbean, Antarctica, Africa, and those all over the world. I have realized about the fact that always when I start thinking of the planet, I think about wonders of nature. What is the first thing that comes to your mind? It probably will be a good thing. However, I have forgotten that humans are part of nature. In my idea of the world there are no people but me and a few more. And that is because I am thinking of good, balanced aspects of the world. After all, I am wondering if I have memory, why do I not think about wars, deaths, pollution, or racism. Those are aspects of “the world” and I do not even think about them.
Are you aware of the percentage of people that are affected by racism? Do you know how many wars in the world were and still are part of a complete program to erase a race? Have you ever realized about the fact that we do not see far from what is in front our eyes? Why, if we are in the 21st century, are there still people killing each other because of the absence or production of melanin? The purpose of this essay is to analyze the causes and effects of racism throughout history.
Racism is a behavior created as the result of history. There have been crazy people trying to eliminate races. From the beginning of civilization there were wars between kingdoms for land but also due to race. Moreover, Rome and Greece were trying to be the most influential races and the most important culture in the time. During the Middle Ages, as a result of Christianity, the Catholic Church was trying to eradicate all races in order to convert everybody to Catholicism. Besides, Spain and England in order to get more land were eliminating people from the “New World” and in some parts they eradicated the culture and the natives. Likewise, during the Modern Age, Africa became popular for its diamonds and cheap manual labor for the industrial revolution. Therefore, colonialism was a time when big countries were killing and overexploiting Africans. Due to the establishment of apartheid, some differences between races were bigger than ever. Finally, when there were no more ways to cause more damage to the culture of a non-ethical world, a man was born in Austria, Adolf Hitler, who wanted to eradicate Jews, to get more land for Germany, and to “purify the world.” He almost eradicated Jews; consequently, he caused more racism; thus, it is a vicious circle.
As a result of the historical situation during the mid-20th century in United States, Malcolm X tried to stop the racism against black people. He fought for their rights and was assassinated because of that. Malcolm X had injustices to fight against and good reasons to do it. He was trying to create consciousness about the rights that black people should have always but he used methods that induced people to a racism against white people. He was blinded because of his religion. Consequently, he created racism against white people. He did not let a white man or woman help their organization; actually, he looked at them with anger. He respected them but he did not include them in his plans. He was fighting for black rights but at the same time he was creating a deep gap between blacks and whites. Hence, he was creating racism too. Only after his pilgrimage to Mecca did he start to think differently. He realized about the fact that he should not have tried to separate people because of races and that blacks and whites are the same. At the end, the Nation of Islam assassinated him because of the power and the new ideas that he had.
The point is that racism was created as the result of historical wars for land, ideas, riches, and religion. It has a lot of effects: more racism, dead people, economical losses, sadness, segregation, madness, anger, resentment. The reason why we are not able to think about it deeply is because even when we study history in school, we do not understand it. If we had understood it, we would not have made the same mistakes again. Because of the fact that history is vital for the future, schools should have had a better way to teach it. Learning it should have been fun. People should have understood the importance of knowing it well; therefore, a solution for racism is to teach history in a didactic, real, non-conventional way. Unfortunately, the reality is that we do not care about it. People do not care about things when they do not directly affect us. Finally, another solution for racism that I can figure out is to stop thinking about differences of races. It does not make any sense to separate people because of skin color. It is not possible to create a gap between people because of a hormone that we are not even able to regulate.
Pollution of the Music Industry
by Drayenko Marin
With the invention of the Internet we have almost everything available for us. Just one click and “Ta-DAH! You got it!” In the last couple of years, it has become really easy to just go online or simply download software for free, and start downloading music for free without paying anything… which is illegal!!
One of the main causes of this problem is that people are too lazy to go to a music store and buy their CDs - which is totally cool! Buying a CD and having it for the rest of your life is amazing - or that they actually feel like paying $10 is too much for an album, when you can actually download for free. Others do not like the whole album; therefore, they say: “Why buy it if I only like one song?” Well, you know what? There is something called iTunes, where you can actually buy one, two, three, or however many songs you like from a specific album. You did not know that? Of course you do! The only thing that keeps you from doing it is that you think that the artist doesn’t need that dollar you are not paying.
I have got a pretty good analogy that will show you the importance of this issue. Imagine your dad goes to his job and spends all day long working in a company where he is underpaid, just because the owners of the company think that he does not need more money than what he is being given. How would you feel? What I am trying to say is, picture a situation where your father is a musical artist (which is actually a job!) and people are downloading his “masterpieces” for free. You barely have any money to eat because some “guy(s)” think that your father’s job does not deserve any reward. Do you understand what I mean? I am not saying that music download should be stopped at all; I’m just saying that people should be more conscious of what they are doing. You can go and download an album and listen to it – even I do it. I wouldn’t buy an album without listening to it first – but if you actually like it, go and buy it! It is not so hard, is it? You actually feel good when you buy an album, for these simple reasons: you are supporting your artist to keep making great music, you are helping musicians to stay alive, and also buying an album is cool. You have the little book that comes with it, the case, and you have the album!
One idea that comes to mind to stop this issue is that there could be laws created to protect the artists’ rights and what belongs to them. There could be also something created via Internet that could be inserted into the songs you download so then can only be “used” for thirty days and then they can’t be listened to anymore. You either buy it or you won’t listen to it, as simple as that. The main problem with this is that the majority of the people really don’t care about this. I mean it’s too easy to go online and download whatever you want, but this doesn’t mean that it can’t be stopped. I’m sure that musical artists can come to a solution for this problem someday.
If people keep downloading music without any concerns probably the artists will stop making CDs or who knows what could happen to the music industry! It may be doomed (Which I hope doesn’t happen).
So please! Try to support your artist the right way and respect other people’s job. Try not to “destroy” the music industry. Let’s keep the music that we love coming up. We all need music in life, or that is what I believe.
Well, actually I do. Do you?
POLYETHYLENE
by Maria Elisa d’Almeida Harger
I live in an apartment. It’s small but nice. In the living room there are two armchairs and a big TV; in the kitchen there is a great formica counter, where there are a microwave, toaster, water filter and eletric water heater. I like to cook in a saucepan coated with Teflon. I have many tupperware containers that go directly from freezer to microwave. It’s very practical. I also like those plastic bags with zippers to save food. Wonderful, the insects don’t enter. I always buy fruit juice and milk in plastic gallons and keep them in the refrigerator. My apartment has beige carpet and white curtains. In the bath I put a simple curtain of white plastic. I sleep on an amazing mattress and in my bedroom I also have two computers and one printer. Throughout the house I have things made of polyethylene, which didn’t exist one hundred years ago.
Plastic has invaded our lives. How can we live without it? If you live in a city, I think it’s impossible. We can’t forget that plastic is derived from petroleum - a non-renewable resource. Nowadays, it’s produced and used twenty times more than fifty years ago. It was a brilliant invention which made our lives much better, especially in quality. I’m a fan of polyethylene. However, do you know that plastic is one of the major sources of waste on the planet? When I throw the plastic in the trash my problem is finished. But for nature a long battle is only starting.
Plastic can take four hundred years to decompose. Where will all the plastic consumed end up? Most of it goes to landfills. As plastic awaits decomposition, it occupies a precious space in these places. This is aggravated by the fact that plastic retards degradation of residues around it; consequently, the landfills fill up faster.
People shouldn’t have dumped waste on the street. A considerable portion of plastic ends up in the sea, but before that it clogs drains and plumbing; as a result, floods occur causing despair to the people, financial losses and diseases. Puddles of water are also breeding sites for mosquitoes.
Due to the fact that sea animals may confuse plastic bags for food, many marine animals can die. Likewise, because microscopic plastic particles may enter in the food chain, the wildlife can be harmed. Owing to the fact that many plastic bags are composed of toxic materials, the soil and water may be contamined. Still due to the fact that the ciliar vegetation in the river margins usually retains part of the plastic improperly discarded, the landscape becomes ugly. All these things are disasters that shouldn’t have happened.
The human race is able to cause big trouble for the environment, but also has the ability to solve it. Biodegradable plastic has been invented. By adding starch particles to the conventional plastic, it can be decomposed by microorganisms and become an organic compound, which may be used as humus in fertilization! Those plastics that are produced by conventional methods can be recycled endlessly. The solutions already exist! What don’t yet exist are laws to oblige the industry to manufacture only biodegradable plastic plus the awareness and determination of consumers to conduct the correct disposal; consequently, plastic isn’t a villain, but the solution for modern life! And I continue living in a nice apartment, in a residential area that doesn’t recycle; for this reason, you can see me riding my bicycle loaded with plastic going to do what my conscience commands.
Will Marriage Go Out Of Business?
By Ivete dos Santos
Are you the kind of person that believes marriage is not as popular as it used to be in your parents’ or even in your grandparents’time? There is a popular riddle that asks: What is something that everybody who is outside would like to be inside, but everybody who is inside would like to leave? And the answer is obviously “marriage.” There are an infinitive number of jokes about this subject, and just to mention one of them: Why do some men choose dogs instead of wives? Who can guess the answer? However, there is evidence beyond these deceived concepts against marriage, which demonstrate that marriage is not a failed institution. In fact, marriage affects people greatly, although some skeptical people can’t accept it.
First of all, there is a close connection between marriage and financial well-being, because a man and woman who are married are usually more responsible and conscious about their money. They know the value of having a house rather than changing cars every year. They save more money and take care of their future instead of spending all their money on discotheques, on going out with friends, or shopping for worthless goods. Furthermore, married couples can share many household goods and services, such as televisions, washing machines, sofas, heat. Thus, this sort of cost is lower than if each one purchased and used the same items individually. They spend less than they would for the same style of life if they lived separately. Consequently, they are usually wealthier than single people.
One research study that examined American people, which was published by USA Today in 1999, shows that married people typically drink, smoke and use drugs less than single, divorced or widowed men or women. University of Texas sociologist Debra Umberson examined a series of negative health behaviors, such as marijuana use, drinking and driving, substance abuse, and failure to maintain a tranquil lifestyle. She concludes that “divorced and widowed men and women are more likely than their married counterparts to engage in unhealthy behaviors and less likely to lead an orderly and healthy life. “ (The Communitarian Network – Social Science Finds: “Marriage Matters.”) In addition, husbands and wives offer each other moral support that helps in dealing with stressful situations. These are some reasons for the increase in health and longevity of married people.
Additionally, in the same article mentioned above, sociologists Sara McLanahan and Gary Sandefur compared children that were born and live with both parents and children that were born and live in one parent families. According to these sociologists, twice the number of teenagers that had grown up in single parent families drop out of high school without finishing it. Sociologists found high rates of poverty amid these one parents families. One effect of that is the increase in the use of drugs and increase of criminality.
On the other hand, women’s social, cultural, financial and sexual liberation have menaced traditional marriage. At the beginning of this liberation, both men and women were confused, and it affected their relationship. Men did not accept the idea of “new” women. Actually, they felt a mix of desperation and fear owing to their inability to deal with that change. In a different manner, women, after having conquered their space in the world, did not know exactly how to handle this situation. Both needed time to digest the woman’s ”metamorphosis.” Perhaps, some women should not have been so radical. They could have understood men’s reaction better. However, men should not have reacted so negatively to this women’s revolution. They could have been more mature and empathetic with women’s transformation. The fact is that after a turbulent period of adaptation, men and women have found a balance point. Nowadays, couples get married later, have fewer children and get divorced more than in the past. Undoubtedly, the concept of marriage has been modified, but it does not mean that it is going away. Statistics prove that there are more than two million people who get married each year in the USA. What is happening in modern is the increase of divorce.
Furthermore, modern life demands much time working, studying, making money, which, sometimes, makes people forget the communication between themselves, the kinship. Currently, people have difficulty dealing with obstacles. When problems appear in the marriage, couples usually do not have patience and maturity to discuss and find a solution. Thus, marriage becomes an easily disposable issue.
For the sake of the family, people should try to find a solution before getting divorced. Husband and wife should manage with their matrimony more seriously. Couples could give more time to each other. If each one avoided being selfish and took care of the other, the relationship would improve and the rate of divorce could decrease, because, despite the high rate of divorce, the majority of people who get divorced do not want to stay single, but rather find another spouse.
Therefore, the joke about having dogs instead wives does not affect the desire of most people who like to be married and dream of having a happy ending in their marriage. Nevertheless, in the interest of your well -being, think about buying at least two dogs if you are married, just in case you get divorced! In the assets to be distributed you can stay with one of them!
Civil Courage: To Stand Up For One´s Beliefs
By Petra Heidl
One day in September 2009 in Munich, a group of four kids aged 13 were riding on a suburban train to Munich. They were happy, laughing. Then, two young 19-year-old men appeared and abused the kids verbally and started to beat them. The men did it just on a whim. A 50-year-old man helped the kids, didn´t let them get abused and rotected them.
At the final destination they all left the train. The two young men suddenly ssailed the helper of the kids, beat and kicked him incessantly in a rage of fury. It must have been unbelievable viciousness. He died after two minutes of incredible power of hate. The perpetrators fled and the police tried to get them, which they fortunately did. The ambulance couldn´t rescue the savior of the kids. Other witnesses should have helped earlier. They were in fear and totally in shock! If they had helped earlier; the helper might have been still alive.
The man died because he did what we all should do: we should help other people in sore distress. Or had we better not? We could die in the end, couldn´t we? This example has shown us that it could happen. And it has happened not just only in Germany but also in other countries. I would help for sure, even if I could not help physically; then I could call the police or try to get other witnesses as helpers.
Civil courage (also referred to as "Social courage") is defined by many different standards. In general, the term usually refers to when civilians stand up against something that is deemed wrong and evil, knowing that the consequences of their action might lead to their death, injury or some other form of significant harm.
In some countries (France, Brazil and Germany) civil courage is enforced by law; this means that if a crime is committed in public; the public is obliged to act, either by alerting the authorities, or by intervening in the conflict. If the crime is committed in a private environment, those who witness the crime must either report it to the authorities or attempt to stop it.
In conclusion the helper of the children in Munich did the right thing but he paid with his life to protect them. In Germany he is now a hero, THE hero who stands for Civil Courage. The two men were rightfully charged with murder. The prosecutor charged them for at least 10 years in prison, which finally at least one of them got. The second perpetrator got seven years.
After this horrible incident all people in Germany were in shock! Me too, and I thought about the background of this disaster. What kind of society are we? What can we do in such a serious matter? Would we help in that situation? Or are we a society of turning our eyes away from something? What are the thoughts of the two young men? Why do they have such big hate potential to batter somebody to death?
There are so many questions on this theme but there is no possibility of a simple answer. In times of economic crisis we all have fears, for example losing our job and our home. Therefore we couldn´t afford the money for food, clothes or the school costs for the children. In times like these a lot of young people have fears as well. Most of them started right after school in unemployment. That circumstance made them feel useless and frustration develops. They actually want to start in the working life but they can´t.
In our current two-class society situation, which means either well to-do or poor, they feel baseless. They cannot be wealthy so far due to educational and background reasons. Most of them came to Germany with nothing besides themselves out of conflict areas and looked forward to a worry-free land and a safer life. But there are a lot of difficulties to overcome in a foreign country, like the differences in for example culture, language and the legal system. Because of that, their frustration increases more and more.
On the other side, there are young people with migration backgrounds, with a lack of knowledge of the language. For this reason they are not very successful in school and often start an ambiguous career as a drug dealer or small-time criminal. Until then they had often had a lot of experience with continuing fighting. As a result, they have a high propensity towards violence. Consequently, they need a valve to vent their rage onto somebody. They will even find somebody to cause trouble with or even beat.
To protect the community from the criminals, we need to install cameras in public areas. Furthermore, the perpetrators should get very high punishments as deterrence but this will not get the problem at its root. In my opinion, we can´t stop all crime but we can try to prevent the crime. Violence prevention sessions in classes of the schools might be an idea, also in secondary schools. Another possibility is to reduce the overexposure of violence in the media and a law to prohibit extreme misanthropic pc games. I think if children and youth see such films and play those games again and again they could become brutal. The players become addicted to those games and are all the time in a virtual world so far. Therefore, they have no real contact with people and as a result cannot solve problems on a verbal basis. Since they lost the connection with other people and the capability to communicate, the ability of compassion for other people will increase to a dangerous level.
Parents also should have influence on their children not to play all the time, but if a child or youth really wants to have a game on the computer, there are a lot of possibilities to get it without parents knowing. We have to show our children and youth other recreation activities like sports or hobbies. In addition, young people with a migration background have lots of difficulties to integrate in our society and are often left to their own devices. They often struggle in the doom loop of no job, no money and afterwards get stuck in criminal acts. To minimize the problems, the local authorities should offer more integration projects to socialize the immigrants. In those programs they should be made familiar with the new language, the culture, the history and finally the legal system of the country. Moreover, this will reinforce and strengthen the relationships between the immigrants and citizens.
In fact, it is clear for everybody who is well-informed by the news that the increase in violent computer games and the almost overall presence of the Internet are associated with the increase in youth crime nowadays. Because of this new media, the government and communities have the responsibility to find ways how to avoid and prevent difficulties which result from the collaboration of new (brutal) media, immigration processes and also youth unemployment.
The name of the 50 year-old man is Dominik Brunner. He was a senior manager of a brick company in Southern Germany. Colleagues in the company, his friends and relatives founded an organization called “The Dominik Brunner Foundation”. This foundation mobilizes the public awareness and helps other people who get in distress due to their help for others. Additionally, they give you instructions about how to react in a case of Civil Courage. Their goal is that society should not be discouraged by crime and brutality. It should set an example that in our society there should not be disregard but rather philanthropy, charity, public spirit and at the end Civil Courage should be reinforced as the most important values.
See: www.dominik-stiftung-brunner.de
The Strike in France: Causes and Effects
by Richard Jouven
I am going to talk about a terrible problem that all the countries are concerned about. In fact, France is a huge state with a lot of responsibility, because it is the 5th powerful country in the world. I think the governments are going in a wrong way. At this time, in France people don’t want to work for many reasons, and for sure it stops a lot of things, such as the economies and more. In France we call this a strike, and for me it is very difficult to listen to this strong word. I feel sad and also disgraced.
The strike began one week ago with a lot of new reforms. This type of strike is very unpleasant for most of the people, but we have one almost every year. In my opinion, this is the most catastrophic action that I have seen. I think you can’t imagine this outside the country; you need to be In the place. Nowadays, with the financial crisis it Is very essential to work and cooperate . We have this strike in France for several reasons.
For a year, people, teachers, and other workers have been very angry about the retirement age and they also said that they aren’t getting paid enough . Consequently, you can conceive that it can be a dreadful altercation between the state and people because they realize that the government can steal by giving more hours of work. For example, during the week they don’t want to work, so all the city is infected by the smell of the trash. We have a rubbish dump in the city, so for me it is a serious problem. We give a bad example for the rest of the world.
Secondly, now teachers’ opinions are in the same way; they don’t want to work so the students can’t work because the schools are almost all closed until the end of the strike. It can have a big effect on our country; it can destroy or damage the economies and also close some industries . Even if it is for a small time , it can be very dramatic. People become crazy; they walk in the street and they lock all the roads, with cars and some other vehicles. They bring also streamers to reach the government and to say what they want. For me, I don’t like this type of thinking, because I love to work and to help my country to be among the most powerful countries in the world. I’m sure we are taking the wrong road. We need to take care about what the consequences are for the future. With this, we lost plenty of money and also our credibility. Nowadays, we need to earn money, so we are taking the opposite way. The workers should not have gone on strike. They could have found a positive solution.
Workers need to collaborate with management and with the government to find solutions and reach agreements without stopping services and production. President Kennedy said: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." This sentence is very important and in France people or workers need to have the same mentality. Perhaps workers need to take pay cuts in these times of economic crisis. People who have jobs are lucky. They should sacrifice a little for the greater good. If we don’t all share the burden, we’ll lose everything in the end. In these times we need to work even harder for less pay if we want a better future.
To conclude, the strike is an awful subject which is more and more frequent in France.It’s not a good image for the country but it is the reality. During the world cup in Africa the French team was having a strike during the practice. And the result was terrible. For me, it isn’t a team;it was a self destruction. I am very sad and I hope it will be better in a few years. But for sure we need to change. Without work we are nothing and we will stay nothing for a long time.
by ANDREA CAROLINA RANGEL GUEVARA
The first thing that comes to my mind when I am thinking about the world is the planet, animals, the ocean, Colombia, and beautiful landscapes such as the Amazon, the Caribbean, Antarctica, Africa, and those all over the world. I have realized about the fact that always when I start thinking of the planet, I think about wonders of nature. What is the first thing that comes to your mind? It probably will be a good thing. However, I have forgotten that humans are part of nature. In my idea of the world there are no people but me and a few more. And that is because I am thinking of good, balanced aspects of the world. After all, I am wondering if I have memory, why do I not think about wars, deaths, pollution, or racism. Those are aspects of “the world” and I do not even think about them.
Are you aware of the percentage of people that are affected by racism? Do you know how many wars in the world were and still are part of a complete program to erase a race? Have you ever realized about the fact that we do not see far from what is in front our eyes? Why, if we are in the 21st century, are there still people killing each other because of the absence or production of melanin? The purpose of this essay is to analyze the causes and effects of racism throughout history.
Racism is a behavior created as the result of history. There have been crazy people trying to eliminate races. From the beginning of civilization there were wars between kingdoms for land but also due to race. Moreover, Rome and Greece were trying to be the most influential races and the most important culture in the time. During the Middle Ages, as a result of Christianity, the Catholic Church was trying to eradicate all races in order to convert everybody to Catholicism. Besides, Spain and England in order to get more land were eliminating people from the “New World” and in some parts they eradicated the culture and the natives. Likewise, during the Modern Age, Africa became popular for its diamonds and cheap manual labor for the industrial revolution. Therefore, colonialism was a time when big countries were killing and overexploiting Africans. Due to the establishment of apartheid, some differences between races were bigger than ever. Finally, when there were no more ways to cause more damage to the culture of a non-ethical world, a man was born in Austria, Adolf Hitler, who wanted to eradicate Jews, to get more land for Germany, and to “purify the world.” He almost eradicated Jews; consequently, he caused more racism; thus, it is a vicious circle.
As a result of the historical situation during the mid-20th century in United States, Malcolm X tried to stop the racism against black people. He fought for their rights and was assassinated because of that. Malcolm X had injustices to fight against and good reasons to do it. He was trying to create consciousness about the rights that black people should have always but he used methods that induced people to a racism against white people. He was blinded because of his religion. Consequently, he created racism against white people. He did not let a white man or woman help their organization; actually, he looked at them with anger. He respected them but he did not include them in his plans. He was fighting for black rights but at the same time he was creating a deep gap between blacks and whites. Hence, he was creating racism too. Only after his pilgrimage to Mecca did he start to think differently. He realized about the fact that he should not have tried to separate people because of races and that blacks and whites are the same. At the end, the Nation of Islam assassinated him because of the power and the new ideas that he had.
The point is that racism was created as the result of historical wars for land, ideas, riches, and religion. It has a lot of effects: more racism, dead people, economical losses, sadness, segregation, madness, anger, resentment. The reason why we are not able to think about it deeply is because even when we study history in school, we do not understand it. If we had understood it, we would not have made the same mistakes again. Because of the fact that history is vital for the future, schools should have had a better way to teach it. Learning it should have been fun. People should have understood the importance of knowing it well; therefore, a solution for racism is to teach history in a didactic, real, non-conventional way. Unfortunately, the reality is that we do not care about it. People do not care about things when they do not directly affect us. Finally, another solution for racism that I can figure out is to stop thinking about differences of races. It does not make any sense to separate people because of skin color. It is not possible to create a gap between people because of a hormone that we are not even able to regulate.
Pollution of the Music Industry
by Drayenko Marin
With the invention of the Internet we have almost everything available for us. Just one click and “Ta-DAH! You got it!” In the last couple of years, it has become really easy to just go online or simply download software for free, and start downloading music for free without paying anything… which is illegal!!
One of the main causes of this problem is that people are too lazy to go to a music store and buy their CDs - which is totally cool! Buying a CD and having it for the rest of your life is amazing - or that they actually feel like paying $10 is too much for an album, when you can actually download for free. Others do not like the whole album; therefore, they say: “Why buy it if I only like one song?” Well, you know what? There is something called iTunes, where you can actually buy one, two, three, or however many songs you like from a specific album. You did not know that? Of course you do! The only thing that keeps you from doing it is that you think that the artist doesn’t need that dollar you are not paying.
I have got a pretty good analogy that will show you the importance of this issue. Imagine your dad goes to his job and spends all day long working in a company where he is underpaid, just because the owners of the company think that he does not need more money than what he is being given. How would you feel? What I am trying to say is, picture a situation where your father is a musical artist (which is actually a job!) and people are downloading his “masterpieces” for free. You barely have any money to eat because some “guy(s)” think that your father’s job does not deserve any reward. Do you understand what I mean? I am not saying that music download should be stopped at all; I’m just saying that people should be more conscious of what they are doing. You can go and download an album and listen to it – even I do it. I wouldn’t buy an album without listening to it first – but if you actually like it, go and buy it! It is not so hard, is it? You actually feel good when you buy an album, for these simple reasons: you are supporting your artist to keep making great music, you are helping musicians to stay alive, and also buying an album is cool. You have the little book that comes with it, the case, and you have the album!
One idea that comes to mind to stop this issue is that there could be laws created to protect the artists’ rights and what belongs to them. There could be also something created via Internet that could be inserted into the songs you download so then can only be “used” for thirty days and then they can’t be listened to anymore. You either buy it or you won’t listen to it, as simple as that. The main problem with this is that the majority of the people really don’t care about this. I mean it’s too easy to go online and download whatever you want, but this doesn’t mean that it can’t be stopped. I’m sure that musical artists can come to a solution for this problem someday.
If people keep downloading music without any concerns probably the artists will stop making CDs or who knows what could happen to the music industry! It may be doomed (Which I hope doesn’t happen).
So please! Try to support your artist the right way and respect other people’s job. Try not to “destroy” the music industry. Let’s keep the music that we love coming up. We all need music in life, or that is what I believe.
Well, actually I do. Do you?
POLYETHYLENE
by Maria Elisa d’Almeida Harger
I live in an apartment. It’s small but nice. In the living room there are two armchairs and a big TV; in the kitchen there is a great formica counter, where there are a microwave, toaster, water filter and eletric water heater. I like to cook in a saucepan coated with Teflon. I have many tupperware containers that go directly from freezer to microwave. It’s very practical. I also like those plastic bags with zippers to save food. Wonderful, the insects don’t enter. I always buy fruit juice and milk in plastic gallons and keep them in the refrigerator. My apartment has beige carpet and white curtains. In the bath I put a simple curtain of white plastic. I sleep on an amazing mattress and in my bedroom I also have two computers and one printer. Throughout the house I have things made of polyethylene, which didn’t exist one hundred years ago.
Plastic has invaded our lives. How can we live without it? If you live in a city, I think it’s impossible. We can’t forget that plastic is derived from petroleum - a non-renewable resource. Nowadays, it’s produced and used twenty times more than fifty years ago. It was a brilliant invention which made our lives much better, especially in quality. I’m a fan of polyethylene. However, do you know that plastic is one of the major sources of waste on the planet? When I throw the plastic in the trash my problem is finished. But for nature a long battle is only starting.
Plastic can take four hundred years to decompose. Where will all the plastic consumed end up? Most of it goes to landfills. As plastic awaits decomposition, it occupies a precious space in these places. This is aggravated by the fact that plastic retards degradation of residues around it; consequently, the landfills fill up faster.
People shouldn’t have dumped waste on the street. A considerable portion of plastic ends up in the sea, but before that it clogs drains and plumbing; as a result, floods occur causing despair to the people, financial losses and diseases. Puddles of water are also breeding sites for mosquitoes.
Due to the fact that sea animals may confuse plastic bags for food, many marine animals can die. Likewise, because microscopic plastic particles may enter in the food chain, the wildlife can be harmed. Owing to the fact that many plastic bags are composed of toxic materials, the soil and water may be contamined. Still due to the fact that the ciliar vegetation in the river margins usually retains part of the plastic improperly discarded, the landscape becomes ugly. All these things are disasters that shouldn’t have happened.
The human race is able to cause big trouble for the environment, but also has the ability to solve it. Biodegradable plastic has been invented. By adding starch particles to the conventional plastic, it can be decomposed by microorganisms and become an organic compound, which may be used as humus in fertilization! Those plastics that are produced by conventional methods can be recycled endlessly. The solutions already exist! What don’t yet exist are laws to oblige the industry to manufacture only biodegradable plastic plus the awareness and determination of consumers to conduct the correct disposal; consequently, plastic isn’t a villain, but the solution for modern life! And I continue living in a nice apartment, in a residential area that doesn’t recycle; for this reason, you can see me riding my bicycle loaded with plastic going to do what my conscience commands.
Will Marriage Go Out Of Business?
By Ivete dos Santos
Are you the kind of person that believes marriage is not as popular as it used to be in your parents’ or even in your grandparents’time? There is a popular riddle that asks: What is something that everybody who is outside would like to be inside, but everybody who is inside would like to leave? And the answer is obviously “marriage.” There are an infinitive number of jokes about this subject, and just to mention one of them: Why do some men choose dogs instead of wives? Who can guess the answer? However, there is evidence beyond these deceived concepts against marriage, which demonstrate that marriage is not a failed institution. In fact, marriage affects people greatly, although some skeptical people can’t accept it.
First of all, there is a close connection between marriage and financial well-being, because a man and woman who are married are usually more responsible and conscious about their money. They know the value of having a house rather than changing cars every year. They save more money and take care of their future instead of spending all their money on discotheques, on going out with friends, or shopping for worthless goods. Furthermore, married couples can share many household goods and services, such as televisions, washing machines, sofas, heat. Thus, this sort of cost is lower than if each one purchased and used the same items individually. They spend less than they would for the same style of life if they lived separately. Consequently, they are usually wealthier than single people.
One research study that examined American people, which was published by USA Today in 1999, shows that married people typically drink, smoke and use drugs less than single, divorced or widowed men or women. University of Texas sociologist Debra Umberson examined a series of negative health behaviors, such as marijuana use, drinking and driving, substance abuse, and failure to maintain a tranquil lifestyle. She concludes that “divorced and widowed men and women are more likely than their married counterparts to engage in unhealthy behaviors and less likely to lead an orderly and healthy life. “ (The Communitarian Network – Social Science Finds: “Marriage Matters.”) In addition, husbands and wives offer each other moral support that helps in dealing with stressful situations. These are some reasons for the increase in health and longevity of married people.
Additionally, in the same article mentioned above, sociologists Sara McLanahan and Gary Sandefur compared children that were born and live with both parents and children that were born and live in one parent families. According to these sociologists, twice the number of teenagers that had grown up in single parent families drop out of high school without finishing it. Sociologists found high rates of poverty amid these one parents families. One effect of that is the increase in the use of drugs and increase of criminality.
On the other hand, women’s social, cultural, financial and sexual liberation have menaced traditional marriage. At the beginning of this liberation, both men and women were confused, and it affected their relationship. Men did not accept the idea of “new” women. Actually, they felt a mix of desperation and fear owing to their inability to deal with that change. In a different manner, women, after having conquered their space in the world, did not know exactly how to handle this situation. Both needed time to digest the woman’s ”metamorphosis.” Perhaps, some women should not have been so radical. They could have understood men’s reaction better. However, men should not have reacted so negatively to this women’s revolution. They could have been more mature and empathetic with women’s transformation. The fact is that after a turbulent period of adaptation, men and women have found a balance point. Nowadays, couples get married later, have fewer children and get divorced more than in the past. Undoubtedly, the concept of marriage has been modified, but it does not mean that it is going away. Statistics prove that there are more than two million people who get married each year in the USA. What is happening in modern is the increase of divorce.
Furthermore, modern life demands much time working, studying, making money, which, sometimes, makes people forget the communication between themselves, the kinship. Currently, people have difficulty dealing with obstacles. When problems appear in the marriage, couples usually do not have patience and maturity to discuss and find a solution. Thus, marriage becomes an easily disposable issue.
For the sake of the family, people should try to find a solution before getting divorced. Husband and wife should manage with their matrimony more seriously. Couples could give more time to each other. If each one avoided being selfish and took care of the other, the relationship would improve and the rate of divorce could decrease, because, despite the high rate of divorce, the majority of people who get divorced do not want to stay single, but rather find another spouse.
Therefore, the joke about having dogs instead wives does not affect the desire of most people who like to be married and dream of having a happy ending in their marriage. Nevertheless, in the interest of your well -being, think about buying at least two dogs if you are married, just in case you get divorced! In the assets to be distributed you can stay with one of them!
Civil Courage: To Stand Up For One´s Beliefs
By Petra Heidl
One day in September 2009 in Munich, a group of four kids aged 13 were riding on a suburban train to Munich. They were happy, laughing. Then, two young 19-year-old men appeared and abused the kids verbally and started to beat them. The men did it just on a whim. A 50-year-old man helped the kids, didn´t let them get abused and rotected them.
At the final destination they all left the train. The two young men suddenly ssailed the helper of the kids, beat and kicked him incessantly in a rage of fury. It must have been unbelievable viciousness. He died after two minutes of incredible power of hate. The perpetrators fled and the police tried to get them, which they fortunately did. The ambulance couldn´t rescue the savior of the kids. Other witnesses should have helped earlier. They were in fear and totally in shock! If they had helped earlier; the helper might have been still alive.
The man died because he did what we all should do: we should help other people in sore distress. Or had we better not? We could die in the end, couldn´t we? This example has shown us that it could happen. And it has happened not just only in Germany but also in other countries. I would help for sure, even if I could not help physically; then I could call the police or try to get other witnesses as helpers.
Civil courage (also referred to as "Social courage") is defined by many different standards. In general, the term usually refers to when civilians stand up against something that is deemed wrong and evil, knowing that the consequences of their action might lead to their death, injury or some other form of significant harm.
In some countries (France, Brazil and Germany) civil courage is enforced by law; this means that if a crime is committed in public; the public is obliged to act, either by alerting the authorities, or by intervening in the conflict. If the crime is committed in a private environment, those who witness the crime must either report it to the authorities or attempt to stop it.
In conclusion the helper of the children in Munich did the right thing but he paid with his life to protect them. In Germany he is now a hero, THE hero who stands for Civil Courage. The two men were rightfully charged with murder. The prosecutor charged them for at least 10 years in prison, which finally at least one of them got. The second perpetrator got seven years.
After this horrible incident all people in Germany were in shock! Me too, and I thought about the background of this disaster. What kind of society are we? What can we do in such a serious matter? Would we help in that situation? Or are we a society of turning our eyes away from something? What are the thoughts of the two young men? Why do they have such big hate potential to batter somebody to death?
There are so many questions on this theme but there is no possibility of a simple answer. In times of economic crisis we all have fears, for example losing our job and our home. Therefore we couldn´t afford the money for food, clothes or the school costs for the children. In times like these a lot of young people have fears as well. Most of them started right after school in unemployment. That circumstance made them feel useless and frustration develops. They actually want to start in the working life but they can´t.
In our current two-class society situation, which means either well to-do or poor, they feel baseless. They cannot be wealthy so far due to educational and background reasons. Most of them came to Germany with nothing besides themselves out of conflict areas and looked forward to a worry-free land and a safer life. But there are a lot of difficulties to overcome in a foreign country, like the differences in for example culture, language and the legal system. Because of that, their frustration increases more and more.
On the other side, there are young people with migration backgrounds, with a lack of knowledge of the language. For this reason they are not very successful in school and often start an ambiguous career as a drug dealer or small-time criminal. Until then they had often had a lot of experience with continuing fighting. As a result, they have a high propensity towards violence. Consequently, they need a valve to vent their rage onto somebody. They will even find somebody to cause trouble with or even beat.
To protect the community from the criminals, we need to install cameras in public areas. Furthermore, the perpetrators should get very high punishments as deterrence but this will not get the problem at its root. In my opinion, we can´t stop all crime but we can try to prevent the crime. Violence prevention sessions in classes of the schools might be an idea, also in secondary schools. Another possibility is to reduce the overexposure of violence in the media and a law to prohibit extreme misanthropic pc games. I think if children and youth see such films and play those games again and again they could become brutal. The players become addicted to those games and are all the time in a virtual world so far. Therefore, they have no real contact with people and as a result cannot solve problems on a verbal basis. Since they lost the connection with other people and the capability to communicate, the ability of compassion for other people will increase to a dangerous level.
Parents also should have influence on their children not to play all the time, but if a child or youth really wants to have a game on the computer, there are a lot of possibilities to get it without parents knowing. We have to show our children and youth other recreation activities like sports or hobbies. In addition, young people with a migration background have lots of difficulties to integrate in our society and are often left to their own devices. They often struggle in the doom loop of no job, no money and afterwards get stuck in criminal acts. To minimize the problems, the local authorities should offer more integration projects to socialize the immigrants. In those programs they should be made familiar with the new language, the culture, the history and finally the legal system of the country. Moreover, this will reinforce and strengthen the relationships between the immigrants and citizens.
In fact, it is clear for everybody who is well-informed by the news that the increase in violent computer games and the almost overall presence of the Internet are associated with the increase in youth crime nowadays. Because of this new media, the government and communities have the responsibility to find ways how to avoid and prevent difficulties which result from the collaboration of new (brutal) media, immigration processes and also youth unemployment.
The name of the 50 year-old man is Dominik Brunner. He was a senior manager of a brick company in Southern Germany. Colleagues in the company, his friends and relatives founded an organization called “The Dominik Brunner Foundation”. This foundation mobilizes the public awareness and helps other people who get in distress due to their help for others. Additionally, they give you instructions about how to react in a case of Civil Courage. Their goal is that society should not be discouraged by crime and brutality. It should set an example that in our society there should not be disregard but rather philanthropy, charity, public spirit and at the end Civil Courage should be reinforced as the most important values.
See: www.dominik-stiftung-brunner.de
The Strike in France: Causes and Effects
by Richard Jouven
I am going to talk about a terrible problem that all the countries are concerned about. In fact, France is a huge state with a lot of responsibility, because it is the 5th powerful country in the world. I think the governments are going in a wrong way. At this time, in France people don’t want to work for many reasons, and for sure it stops a lot of things, such as the economies and more. In France we call this a strike, and for me it is very difficult to listen to this strong word. I feel sad and also disgraced.
The strike began one week ago with a lot of new reforms. This type of strike is very unpleasant for most of the people, but we have one almost every year. In my opinion, this is the most catastrophic action that I have seen. I think you can’t imagine this outside the country; you need to be In the place. Nowadays, with the financial crisis it Is very essential to work and cooperate . We have this strike in France for several reasons.
For a year, people, teachers, and other workers have been very angry about the retirement age and they also said that they aren’t getting paid enough . Consequently, you can conceive that it can be a dreadful altercation between the state and people because they realize that the government can steal by giving more hours of work. For example, during the week they don’t want to work, so all the city is infected by the smell of the trash. We have a rubbish dump in the city, so for me it is a serious problem. We give a bad example for the rest of the world.
Secondly, now teachers’ opinions are in the same way; they don’t want to work so the students can’t work because the schools are almost all closed until the end of the strike. It can have a big effect on our country; it can destroy or damage the economies and also close some industries . Even if it is for a small time , it can be very dramatic. People become crazy; they walk in the street and they lock all the roads, with cars and some other vehicles. They bring also streamers to reach the government and to say what they want. For me, I don’t like this type of thinking, because I love to work and to help my country to be among the most powerful countries in the world. I’m sure we are taking the wrong road. We need to take care about what the consequences are for the future. With this, we lost plenty of money and also our credibility. Nowadays, we need to earn money, so we are taking the opposite way. The workers should not have gone on strike. They could have found a positive solution.
Workers need to collaborate with management and with the government to find solutions and reach agreements without stopping services and production. President Kennedy said: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." This sentence is very important and in France people or workers need to have the same mentality. Perhaps workers need to take pay cuts in these times of economic crisis. People who have jobs are lucky. They should sacrifice a little for the greater good. If we don’t all share the burden, we’ll lose everything in the end. In these times we need to work even harder for less pay if we want a better future.
To conclude, the strike is an awful subject which is more and more frequent in France.It’s not a good image for the country but it is the reality. During the world cup in Africa the French team was having a strike during the practice. And the result was terrible. For me, it isn’t a team;it was a self destruction. I am very sad and I hope it will be better in a few years. But for sure we need to change. Without work we are nothing and we will stay nothing for a long time.
Learning a Second Language
by Ahmad Alnadi
There are so many reasons to learn a second language. First, if you are going to visit a country, you might need to learn how to communicate with people there. Second, sometimes it is necessary to learn another language to study. If you need to complete your education in a different place than your country, then you need to learn the language for the country where you are going to study. Third, volunteering in other part of world you will need to learn their language to explain for others your points, because you can’t explain it to them if they can’t understand you. Also if you find a job in a different place, then you will need to learn their language too. Or if you have to translate a paragraph, surely you need to know about the language that you need to translate from.
As anything else in our life that we need to learn about, we will face a hard time to learn it. Language also needs time to learn it as a second language. Therefore, it is going to take more time than anything else to learn, especially if your mother tongue is different than the language you’re going to learn about. For example, English and Chinese are very different. As a result, it will take a lot of time to learn the other language for both. On the other hand, it is good to learn different languages. There are many benefits of learning a new language.
First, if you travel to a different place and you know how to speak their language, surely you will enjoy your time more than the one who doesn’t speak their language. As a result, you will be able to visit more places. For example, when I first arrived in the USA in Chicago I was able to go out to see museums and some different places, like parks. Also, I had a friend who didn’t go anywhere because he didn’t speak English. I was happy while spending my time there, but at the same time my friend was sad.
Second, learning a second language includes studying. For example, I’m studying reading, writing, listing, and speaking in the intensive English program in the USA to complete my education. I go to the University of Miami to improve it. Then I will transfer to SCF College to study business administration, which is going to give me a better chance for my job in the future.
Third, volunteering if someone wants to volunteer some where, at least he needs a background about the language he needs to use when he volunteers. For example, I had some experiences in volunteering. I have done volunteer work here in the USA while I’m celebrating Eid. Sometimes I drive people from the parking lot to the mosque. Also, sometimes I help by moving chairs from one place to another. I help my uncle when he brings food for the celebration.
Finally, if anyone is looking for a job in a different country , surely he needs to know how to speaker their language to be qualified. He needs to give orders if he is the manger, or to receive it from others. That’s how he is going to be in the right position. He will know how to read, write different language.
In my opinion learning a second language has very many benefits in human life. It gives us so many chances in life. If someone he is not successful in his life in his country he might find it at another place. Doesn’t everyone want a better opportunity to succeed in life?
Dra. Elisa:
ReplyDeleteBom ler seu artigo! Bom saber de você!!!
Saudades.
Tânia Ziert Baião