What to do?

     I was going through some pieces of writing that I had in my laptop and I ended up reading something that I wrote 4 years ago. I usually feel like I’ve matured when I read something old because now I don’t see things in the same way or because my life has changed. Nevertheless, I can always relate to at least part of this piece of writing that my 14 years old self wrote to liberate herself. I loved it back then and I still love it now, so I’ll do my best to translate it:

     What to do when you don’t know how to explain what’s happening to you? What to do when you don’t know whom to trust? What to do when you don’t know if you’re doing the right thing, or if what’s right for some people ends up being the wrong thing? What to do if you’re seeing your world falling apart and you can’t do anything to avoid it? What to do if what’s the salvation for some turns out to be your ruin? What to do if your main reason for not believing in a God is that you don’t want to add anyone more to the list of things you despise? What to do if you don’t know how to go on, if you don’t know what step to take next, if you don’t know what to name what you’re living, what’s happening to you? What to do if you only can think about one thing, in spite of knowing it’s not possible for it to happen? What to do if you only like two or three sides of your future, you loathe five or six and you’re afraid of ten? What to do if just by thinking of your next five years, fear overcomes you and it’s impossible for you to make it retreat? What to do when everything seems lost and you don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel? What to do when everyone puts you aside, when no one pays attention to you, when as much as you try, you don’t get to be happy and if you are at some point, something happens that keeps you from thinking happily? What to do if looking to the future is scary, looking to the past hurts and being in the present is impossible? What to do if getting up every day is so hard? What to do if you can’t pretend anymore, if you need to show who you are but you’re not given the chance, or they scare the life out of you making you believe that all of them are truly happy while you are just pretending? What to do if you need to tell somebody, but you don’t know what you need to tell, only that you have to tell it? What to do if as much as you hide, they find you and as much as you try to claim that the person they’ve found is not you, they don’t listen, they become deaf suddenly? 

Xmas

     I have always had conflicted feelings towards Christmas, I hate it as much as I love it. I love spending time with my family, being on holidays, the Christmas spirit, the lights…it’s amazing going out at night and being surrounded by Christmas lights and children running and laughing. However, Christmas has this kind of sad aura for me, maybe it’s because it means another year is coming, in other words, it represents the passing of time. Perhaps, it’s that, even if I like the tradition of giving and receiving gifts, I have grown to dislike the greed and the fights because someone’s gift is better or bigger than someone else’s.

     I have reached the conclusion that I don’t care that much about gifts in Christmas, I love those ones that come from the heart. I mean, if someone gives me something because they want to see my face light up with a smile due to the fact that I’m holding in my hands a book that I’m dying to read or a CD that I can’t wait to listen, then I totally get it and support it; nevertheless, if someone gives me a present because it’s Christmas, so it’s mandatory, then they can keep their gift. I guess Christmas’ exchange of presents lost its magic the moment I discovered Santa Claus didn’t exist. When people ask me what I want for Christmas I answer with a bare nothing, because if I need something or I want something I’m going to buy it myself or ask my mom for it, I feel stupid asking for a flash drive or a memory card as presents. I don’t want to ask for something because I’m going to think about how much it costs, if it’s available here and other stuff that I don’t want to think about when I’m having a break from studying. If someone wants to give me something I’m gonna thank them, but hell, I don’t wanna thank anyone for buying me something that I thought of just to stop them from asking me again what I wanted, because then I feel like I’m thanking someone for their money. But of course I end up putting a smile on and pretending that I care, every year it’s the same, so I find it quite understandable me being sick of it. I love, conversely, giving presents, because I’m still not old enough to be expected to give them, so I can have fun and give my godparents something that I know they’re going to enjoy. That’s the difference I guess, having to give gifts or wanting to give them.

     Since I can remember, I’ve always been sad before Christmas Eve’s dinner or before NYE’s one and lately I didn’t even like when we were trying to sing some Christmas carols. I think my uncles and aunts have lost their Christmas spirit and think of our gatherings these days as any other family gathering. It breaks me to realize that I see part of my family more in Christmas than in the rest of the year, we live 20 minutes away, what on hell is preventing us from visiting each other more often?

     I thought this year was going to be the worst of them all, but for now, it has been the complete opposite. Maybe it’s due of my low expectative for it or that I am focus on other things, but I really am enjoying these days. I shouldn’t, but I have reached such a level of apathy that I don’t mind if my world is changing faster than a dog barks when you step on its tail so long as I can listen to music and get lost in my imagination. Weird, huh?

     But yes, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Opinion essay

     Nowadays, there are countries where citizens are arguing about death penalty. In some places, such as Spain, France and Australia, this penalty is illegal. However, there are others, for example the United States of America, Egypt or China, where it is a reality that many criminals suffer. Contrary to the opinion of the majority of the people, I believe that death penalty is a crime in itself.
 
     This punishment is said to be necessary or fair due to many reasons. It is agued that, since the inmate has killed somebody, the right thing to do is kill them too. Furthermore, rapers, kidnappers and murderers may attempt to repeat their crime, so the only way to ensure the safety of those who surround us is to get rid of the problem, in other words, to kill the criminals.

     As I see it, we are going back to the Hammurabi Code, which encourages us to "take an eye for an eye". When we put into practice death penalty, we are playing to be God. Who are we to take someone's life? We punish those who kill, and nevertheless, we become killers in the process. Life imprisonment is enough punishment for them, in this way, they are not able to commit a crime again and we avoid taking their lives.

     In short, when somebody is murdered as a punishment, we are deciding that person has no right to live, because of that one action. We have other options to punish criminals that are not lethal, so we should use them, instead of letting death penalty be legal.

Problem/Solution essay

     Nowadays, with the new technologies and social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr, it is possible to offend people without facing the music. Hate is sent, not only anonimously, but openly. This is due to the fact that, while threatening people's lives and making fun of terrorism is punished, sending hate to others is not. Many people are victims of this, especially  celebreties, since they are judged by everybody around the world. This issue's outcome is that a lot of famous people stop interacting with fans through social media or delete their accounts in these social networks. Clearly, this is not something we should feel proud about.

     One of the many solutions that come to my mind is deleting the account of those people who offend others deliberately. Nevertheless, it is too easy to create another profile in these kind of webs, therefore, it would not be effective. Another possibility is to impose fines, for instance, if someone sends a tweet that is hateful or spiteful, they are fined with 25€; if they do it again, then they have to pay 75€; if they do not stop and carry on tweeting this type of messages, 200€ have to be paid; and so on.

    In a nutshell, it is a difficult task trying to stop the hate that can be found in these networks. However, with these solutions or similar ones, we can make it more difficult for people to send hate to normal people or well-known ones, because this is a pretty important problem that affects millions of citizens every hour, every day.