Animal Cruelty

Animal Cruelty 2 from Jessica Felix on Vimeo.

Commitments

           Peace in the world is achieved when people make little things, it may sound cliché but little things make the difference. If everybody commits to make small things the world will become a better place eventually. A commitment I would like to make is towards education, adult education in specific; a bigger commitment I would like to make in the future is to either support or fund a cancer foundation, solidarity is a big chunk of what peace stands for.

I’ve always thought that a big part of peace is education; if we educate our people, they will be able to make wise and thoughtful decisions. As a short term commitment I would like to contribute to society by education adults, help them learn how to read and write or the English language. Kids are always getting the attention when it comes to education, but adults also need attention in that aspect; most political problems in Mexico are due to ignorant people who have the power to vote, politicians take advantage of poor ignorant people and never really care for them.  Education also makes people feel more connected to society and with the world that surrounds them.

Cancer is of big concern in my family, so I find myself always worrying about people suffering from it; I’ve always thought that cancer comes out of nowhere and there’s no easy way to know you have it. I’d like to make a big commitment for the future to support Cancer organizations or to fund one; hopefully I’ll be able to be a big contributor and to reach help to many people in need. If we care about the people we are sharing this world with, then we’ll have a happy and peaceful world.

Utopia in Juarez

Peace is something we all aspire to, but is only achieved by a few. Mexico is a country that has been asking for peace for a long while now, but violence just keeps getting worse with each day. Thousands of people have been murdered due to organized crime, especially in Juarez, where violence has taken over every single aspect of the city. People in Juarez are in desperate need for peace, simply to keep in touch with reality; violence is such that citizens do not know other way of living anymore, we are always afraid. What’s keeping Juarez from achieving peace is the lack of real government action; anarchy has become the new government in Juarez.

Violence in Juarez, Mexico is due mainly because of organized crime, which has existed in the borderland for years and years. The drug business has existed in Juarez for a long time now, and it had never really been a problem until government decided to challenge it instead of collaborating with it. The alliance between Mexico’s government and organized crime has been going on for so long that quitting is no longer an option. Government has been trying to stop organized crime by trying to control drug dealing in the borderland, this action has brought terrible consequences to the people living there.

Organized crime has been stopped in a certain way but this has only unleashed a series of crimes that affect society directly such as extortions, kidnaps, murders, etc. Juarez society can’t continue to live with all these violence in its streets; it is definitely not a way of living. Most people have lost all faith in government and feel like authorities can’t protect them anymore; some even say we should vote for a certain cartel to stay in charge of a “job” vacancy in a certain place. The truth is, maybe the problem is way too out of control.

Cesar Duarte and Hector Murguia are the ones left with Chihuahua’s fate in their hands; they recently won the elections for governors in Juarez and Chihuahua. It is said that they will finally bring peace to Juarez, the way they might do it may not be seen as the correct way but, honestly, we do not care anymore. Juarez citizens are so desperate for peace that they would be willing to accept some kind of treaty or alliance with organized crime in order to get their city back. Businesses would continue to close if this doesn’t stop, society will continue to fall apart, and the state’s economy will collapse if Juarez continues to be an anarchy.

Some say that people may be to blame in all of this, Mexico is supposed to be a republic, and a republic’s government is by and for the people, so it is in our hands to stand up and demand peace. Of course people’s interest is necessary to make a change, but it isn’t just citizen’s interest that it is needed, but also government’s interest. Government’s actions so far have only affected society itself, instead of organized crime; government has got to start caring for its people instead of worrying about wealth.

Mexico has been delaying the decisions we all know they have to take; we all know corruption is a big part of the government, maybe the biggest, and that’s probably the first thing we have to take care of before even thinking about finding peace. Authorities have got to stop using their power to abuse people; sometimes in Juarez we say we are a lot more scared of the Federal Police than criminals, authority abuse is a very common problem in our society and if we can’t trust those who are supposed to protect us, then who.

What Mexico needs in order to achieve peace is a good and fair government that cares for the people. If government takes real, efficient action against violence, peace will probably be achieved. Along with peace comes progress, and with progress wealth, not only for the country itself but for all people. The day people in Juarez are able to live in a safe and friendly environment will be the day that Juarez will finally see peace.  

Juarez: Peace is not Utopian

Juarez used to be a friendly place to live in, but nowadays it is nothing but the most violent city in Mexico.  Friday 22, 2010 thirteen teenagers and a woman were killed during a birthday party; the gunmen were looking for somebody who was definitely not there.

These kinds of situations turn Juarez into a place where people aren’t free. Living in Juarez is hard, you always leave home with the fear of something bad happening to you; people are the ones who have been losing our freedom, instead of criminals. Personally, every time I leave home I do not leave with a strong fear; because I am somewhat used to it, but you never feel safe.

New governors are taking over Chihuahua and Juarez, it’s said that they are going to change the situation we are currently living; but you can never know. The only way we will be able to achieve peace, I believe, is with allying with organized crime. Allying with the bad guys isn’t the right way to fix this, but it’s the only way we can go back to peaceful life.

If government really wanted to bring peace to Juarez, it would do their job in protecting people instead of just caring for themselves and their economic well-being. It's in the hands of people demanding for a fair government who actually does its work; if people don't care, less will the government care.

To Write Love On Her Arms

Suicide is a very common problem in our society, but we usually do not pay enough attention to it. Suicide among teenagers is growing at an alarming rate; actually suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers, depression being the first one. Suicide and depression are issues that need a lot more attention than what they are given, society often tends to underestimate how depression and suicide affect our daily lives. Attention centers for this kind of problems are really needed. Economic status, social class, education, and familiar situation, are some factors that influence the existence of this type of issues, but depression isn’t exclusive of a certain group of people, anyone could suffer from depression.


To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA) is a non-profit organization that brings help and support to people who struggle with depression, drug abuse, self injury and suicide. TWLOHA’s major objective is to bring hope to those who are going through hard times. This non-profit organization gives support to people in need and connects them with support groups, books, treatment centers, and websites. It also collects funds in order to help other organizations that support people with rehab. Their vision is to bring hope to all those struggling with these kinds of issues, to help people realize their lives can be better, to show people their lives are important and that they still have things worth living for. To Write Love On Her Arms started as a kind effort from a person to support his friend through the struggle of depression and addiction, and has now become an important organization who helps thousands of victims of depression, addiction, self injury and suicide. Biggest support for this organization comes from the musical scene; some bands are in charge of promoting the organization and supporting its cause. Their funding also comes from the sales of the TWLOHA’s merchandise, such as t-shirts, wristbands, bracelets, stickers, CDs, music tours, concerts, etc.

Education is one of the organization’s main objectives; this objective would not be achieved without a good communication strategy. TWLOHA’s main form of communication is through their website. The website is filled with information about how you can help and support the foundation, conferences, news and facts regarding their mission, concerts, etc. They have a Find Help tab on their webpage where you can see different organizations you can contact for help, or to contact To Write Love On Her Arms directly. Posters are also an important way of communication since it’s the way most supporters get to know the organization; posters are in several stores and venues. E-mail also works if you’re subscribed to their webpage or have contributed to their cause; daily updates are sent to those who are interested giving out information regarding their actions, conferences, workshops, or important events you can be involved in. Another very useful way of communication is their social network pages, such as facebook, myspace and twitter. Social networking brings a lot more recognition to To Write Love On Her Arms, since their pages are easily shared; on TWLOHA’s facebook page, different people are able to share their stories, contact for help, get information, and find out about important events you can attend.

To Write Love On Her Arms has helped over 80,000 people from forty different countries, and has spread their message of hope and help in universities, churches, different communities, festivals, schools, and concerts. TWLOHA provides needed people with workshops, conferences, treatment, and rehab. “We at TWLOHA believe that rescue is possible, and are committed to communicating hope to others who know the daily struggle of living in a broken world.” –To Write Love On Her Arms web page.

Education = Peace

Education means peace, I strongly agree on that. Tolerance is one of the strong values we get taught at school, and I truly believe is one of the things that will actually change the world for good.

                If everybody was able to have education, the world would be full of more prepared and tolerant people, who would have the ability to develop a strong set of beliefs, still respecting everybody else’s. Education should be one of the first priorities of all countries, prepared people means productive people, and productive people mean progress, and progress leads to peace. I instantly think of so many problems that could be fixed with education, for example poverty. Poverty comes from people not being able to make progress and not being able to support their family. Educations gives poor people the chance to progress, to have a respectful way of making a living, if less people have economical problems, then the world will probably be a better place. Education will keep kids away from criminal activities, like robbery, it will keep them busy doing something productive, rather than something that will get them in trouble, actually, education could keep kids away from drugs.

                We should all have a positive attitude towards education; education for everybody is possible and necessary, if we all work hard, we can become an educated and tolerant community, where living in peace is possible.

Friends or Enemies

   An enemy is a person whose story we have not heard – Gene Knudson Hoffman (Quaker peace activist) 
 We always think that an enemy is someone who wants to often hurt you, your family or someone you care about, but maybe it isn’t that way at all. We never give “enemies” the chance to share their part of their story, if we did, we could discover a whole new perspective that  changes the situation in a million ways.
     This thought immediately takes me to think about enemies in history, for example in México, an enemy we talk a lot about is Porfirio Díaz, we think that his ways of ruling the country were only about making rich people richer, and just affecting poor people by making them go through the worst; what we never think about are the good things he did for our country. 
      Human beings often like to come to conclusions without thinking about all the possibilities, we often just assume that a situation happened the way we believe it happened. This attitude leads us nowhere; we should always make decisions based on real information, facts. A very clear example is the attitude Americans immediately adopted after 9/11 against Iraq , they believed what the government wanted them to believe, they didn’t mind if the accusations were true or not.

                We should all remember that context does affect the situation; maybe if we only knew the background of who we call our “enemies” we would understand  and even respect them.