SOCIAL
1. Cheating
2. Ignorance
3. Infidelity
4. Dishonesty
5. Yelling on the street
6. Disorganization
7. Excessive procrastination
8. Arrogance
9. Rudeness
10. Bureaucracy
11. Violence
12. Discrimination
13. Censorship
14. Transgenic food and GMO's
15. Disrespecting the elderly
16. Chauvinism
17. Haughtiness
18. Witnessing abuse of power
19. Witnessing the destruction and pollution of nature
20. Greediness
21. Carelessness
22. Conformism
23. Politics
24. Religious Fanaticism
25. War
26. How nowadays people are too dependent of technology
PERSONAL
1. Being lied to (this would be in the top of my PISSED OFF list)
2. People that make fun of others
3. People that leave dishes too long in the sink unwashed (AKA my siblings)
4. People that don’t appreciate what they have
5. People that don’t fight for what they believe is important or think is right (e.g. love)
6. People that don’t tolerate difference
7. People that honk their horns for no reason in the middle of a traffic jam
8. People that are too presumptuous and self absorbed
9. People that can’t appreciate the small details of everyday life and the world around them
10. People that dismiss our heritage
11. Being woke up in the middle of the night while sleeping (yes I am a heavy sleeper)
12. Not being tipped by my clients in my job as a nature tour guide when they know I deserved it
13. Not smiling
14. When my girlfriend uses my tooth brush right after I told her I didn't like it
15. Finding cockroaches in my apartment after fumigating (I bet they are just laughing at me each time)
WHY PERSONAL AND NOT SOCIAL? WHY SOCIAL AND NOT PERSONAL?
When I see my social list, I see many of the problems that affects society as a whole. Many of those problems are the reasons why the world is how it is today. If as a global society we don't fix or think about these problems, the results will be catastrophic. On the other hand, many of the issues that I mention in my personal list address specifically to myself or the Puerto Rican culture. Most of the time that I think about myself, I also think about my society because in the end, this is my first family and the only place that I call HOME. By saying this, I don't mean to say that both lists don't interact with each other, I am trying to explain that if we have one of the lists, we will definitely have the other next to it.
COMMON SOCIAL ASPECTS
When I give a second look at my social list I realize that most of them are like worldwide common social illnesses. The are the reason for the injustice and the chaos that we are living in today. What weaves them all together is my capacity for identifying that they are wrong and that our world would be a better place without them. I know that most of those problems are the same problems that we see everyday in the Puerto Rican media, but we can't forget that those problems not only affect us as a little island in the Caribbean, but it also affects different societies around the world.
THE CHOSEN 3 FROM THE SOCIAL LIST
Nowadays, there is so much VIOLENCE that it is very hard to feel safe; even in our own houses. We are bombarded with so many violent images that, in some point, it has come to be a common part of our daily lives. This is one of the most dangerous aspect of society, when we just think about violent actions, we forget that the world around us and even ourselves have feeling, good feelings toward each other. Sometimes it gets to the point where we WITNESS THE DESTRUCTION AND POLLUTION OF NATURE and don't do anything. People forget that thanks to nature itself we can breath and eat everyday. Our society thinks that if only a small thing can be done, it's better to not do anything; there is where CONFORMISM and CARELESSNESS arise easier. But, I think that what is doing more harm to our society and the way we interact with each other is that PEOPLE ARE TOO DEPENDENT ON TECHNOLOGY. By doing this, we are forgetting how to talk with each other or even have a real conversation face to face. Most people prefer to talk by texting or on Facebook than in real person. There will be a time that we will to have the knowledge to control technology, therefore it will control us.
My favorite blog so far was the little research we did about an specific topic. In my case was EDUCATION. I really like this blog because it gave me the chance to organize my thoughts and ideas on different issues that are happening in our world today. Education in a very important part of our society and I think that it's really important to be aware of the problems that it face today.
On the other hand, the entry that I found less interesting was the one about the career test. I have always though that there should not be any kind of standard test to know if you are good for a particular thing. I really did not enjoyed that too much. As you grow as a student and as a professional, there are some things that you discover and other things that are bound to be forgotten.
I am really worried that when I come back to Puerto Rico after living in another country for a couple of years, it will be a different place. I know that everything is destined to change, but that is not what I am talking about. Changes in the Puerto Rican society do not come and go in response to a developing society, they are impose by a very small economic group that are in power. It's a shame that when we hear the stories from our grandparents of how was Puerto Rico before it became a excessive consumerist society, they seem like some stories that happened a long long time ago that do not form part of what we are today; the fairy tales of the Puerto Rican culture. The sense of community that was so important for us is in extreme danger of extinction. It's funny how people nowadays prefer to be in a digital world than interact with their neighbors, prefer to be in a shopping than going to the beach, prefer to buy the ultimate model of cell phones and cars than to feed to young ones, prefer to be a work force than an thinking society, prefer to be one and only than a whole community. I don't really know what has really happen to my family, all those Puerto Ricans that don't care about what happen to ourselves, to themselves. I would love to see my culture bloom. I would love to see the beaches shine. I would love to see the family that have long forgot their relatives come together as one, one voice, one culture, one society with a variety of opinions. This little island in the Caribbean is bigger than we think and is capable of producing magic and happiness to it's children. I would like to speak to my children in present tense about how Puerto Rico is a great place to live in and grow as a living intelligent being. My Puerto Rico can be real and you, are you living this reality with me? Think about it and prosper.
I have seen that what is happening to Puerto Rico is not something that is local, it is happening in an international level. I have read about how many communities in the United States and Europe and experiencing the same feelings of detachment from one another. Therefore, I have come to understand that one of the major factor promoting this type of behavior is technology. People are so dependable of technology that they opt to chose to send a text message than to have a real conversation, use the car instead of walking to the store that is just 5 minutes away from the house, not talk instead of screaming for justice. I know that eliminating technology is not an option either, but I think that if people start using more real words, speak to each other, feel each other, this little place that we call home would feel like a more complete community, a real family.
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