Today we saw a clear comparison of the choices we'll have for the election of next November. On a one hand we hand an empty suit endorsing another empty suit in Las Vegas, Donald Trump, who in the past had ridiculed and belittled Mitt Romney, was endorsing him today. Now let us look at the other side, Obama was today at a breakfast in Washington recalling his experience when his family and he met Billy Graham at the evangelist’s house in North Carolina, and that after Mr. Graham praying for him he felt the desire to praying for this great man, but that he couldn't find the words. He also spoke about the poor and the urge for taking care of them, and how the bible talks about that. We know that Romney has been saying that he does not care for the poor, nor does he care for the wealthy, this last one being a farce, and that he cares for the middle class. We know that he cares for the middle class because he is willing to pay his “fair” share of taxes, less than 15% while the most of the middle class pays between 35, and because he hides his money in Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands. If we pay attention to his speeches we know that he believes that corporations are people, and that he wants to reduce taxes even more for the top 1% of the income earners, the club he belongs to, that he says that he has felt many times that he was at risk of getting a pink slip, and that he is also unemployed. I don't know many people who file taxes showing an income of $20 million a year, and brag about being unemployed.
Romney should be ashamed of himself.
After a day like this I am glad that Obama is the president, and hopefully, comes November he will be re-elected.
If the opposite is the case this country will need all the help in the world. We can still remember what happened the last time a Republican was in office with George W. Bush, the U.S. was attacked on 09/11 because he was asleep at the helm, we got ourselves into an unnecessary war in Iraq, and to put the last nail in the coffin we had the greatest financial collapse since the Great Depression. A great resume to brag about.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
My first trip overseas
My first trip overseas was something that I had in my mind since I was a very young person. Having been raised in a family that had its roots primarily in the UK it made totally sense to meet the part of the family that I had heard about since I was a child, and together with that, having the chance of a lifetime to see where my ancestors came from.
One of my best friends, whose family comes from Italy, said that on his main voyage to the land where his blood comes from, as his family is ready to depart back to Argentina he turned around and told them that he was not going with them. I can understand the feeling as I felt pretty much the same way when it was time to get on the plane back home. But let’s not jump ahead of ourselves.
First destination, London, or should I say Watford, specifically Leavesden, Hertsfordshire.
My mother had the opportunity to visit my aunt in England in 1975. They hadn’t seen each other in 17 years. My aunt and uncle had moved to the UK at the beginning of 1958, when I was less than a year old. I had no knowledge or memory of them. When she came back I remember vividly telling my father as she got in the car at the airport that she wanted to go back. If you would’ve asked my mother then if she wanted to move to England she would have turned around and got back on the plane with the clothes that she had on her back.
What really did for me what was the fact that when I was working in 1976 my boss and a friend had traveled to Europe. I spoke with both of them and I was drooling as they were talking about London. I thought I need to do whatever is at my reach to get there.
In 1977 an ad came out in the newspaper with an opening at Braniff International. This would allow me to get to the place I wanted more than anything else.
Getting there became more of an adventure than I bargained for. Braniff did not fly to London directly so I found myself on a British Caledonian flight that went from Buenos Aires to Rio and then on to London. There was a small catch, when you work for an airline you get great discounts, in many cases free, but you fly subject to space, which means standby, or putting mildly you fly if there is an empty seat on the plane. And so the flight had seat from my hometown to Rio, after that it was full. British Caledonian had 2 flights a week from Buenos Aires to London, 3 from Rio, so it would mean staying in Rio for a couple of nights. On the flight I starting a conversation with a flight attendant, she introduced me to another one, he lived in Rio, had me over the weekend in his apartment. He lived on Avenida Atlantica in Copacabana. It gave me the chance of going out by myself, to the movies, etc. Then Sunday came, and back to the airport, hopefully on my way to my final destination. Fat chance. When I got to the Galeao Airport there were other people in my situation, they worked for Aerolineas Argentinas. The flight was coming from Santiago de Chile and I discover that it had weight issues, probably based on cargo that had been loaded in Santiago. What the hell did that mean? It meant that it would only take paid passenger, no standbys. This time I had a bunch of people who knew each other, and we were all in the same boat. So back to the city, this time I shared a room with one of the people who was trying to flight out. The next morning we started looking at what airlines were flying out, and with whom we could a “pass” to get out of Rio. In my debut trip I knew absolutely nothing about all this. It was my third day traveling and I had not gone very far. I came along with them to TAP, the Portuguese airline, they ask for some papers, I run over to the airline for which I worked and they were happy to oblige. My travelling partners were not as fortunate. So off I run to the airport again. And “viola”, I’m back on my way. The plane was almost empty, after a short stop in Recife, came the crossing of the Atlantic. After a somewhat bumpy flight we landed the next morning in Lisbon, Portugal. I had made it to the continent. In my mind I had passed the 50% mark, I was getting closer. When I land in Lisbon I go to the ticketing office and they tell me that the Lisbon-London flight was full, and they tell me that they could put me on the Paris flight, I thought not ideal, but I can live with it, as I had a London-Paris-London ticket in my pocket, the only trick was that I was arriving at Orly Airport in the south of Paris and my ticket was out of Charles de Gaulle in the northeast of Paris. I don’t believe in luck, but I do believe in God, and there was no doubt that he was looking over me. As I walk out of the terminal and onto the bus that would drive us to the plane a young guy comes running out of the terminal and asks me if I am British and starts talking in English with me. So we sat together on the plane, we chatted about Paris, the locations of the airports, etc., etc., etc.
So we land at Orly and when we go and pick up our luggage I get news that I did not want to hear, they had left my bag in Lisbon. So this guy says why don’t you come and stay with me, I live with my parents in a suburb of Paris, called Saint-Gratien, not too far from Charles de Gaule Airport. So he paid the tickets from the airport to Paris and then the train to the town where his family lived. His father owned a Renault dealership. His parents, although not fluent in English, made a tremendous effort to talk to me in English, and if not they would have the son translate to me. The next day first thing we did was check to make sure the bag was on its way to Paris, and then we drove to Paris, we went to the Arc of Triumph, the Eiffel Tower, and the Latin Quarter. We had something to eat and then headed to Orly to pick up my bag, and from there to the other airport. What can my opinion be of the French people? You be the judge.
I finally got on the plane that would take me to the place I had heard about since I was a child. There was just a 35 minute flight separating me from Gatwick Airport. I remember taking off, the land ended, and a few minute later I started seeing the White Cliffs of Dover, this was England. My exhilaration was hard to control.
I had never been to England, but my internal compass guided me all the way to Watford Junction, the closest place to my where my relatives live. To be honest I remembered my mother mentioning Euston Station from where the train would take me to Watford Junction. My sister in 1975 ended up taking the underground that goes to the Watford Station on the other side of town. My last hurdle was the public phone at the “Junction”. When I picked up the phone there was no dial tone, and when I tried putting the coin in it it would not allow me, so I tried the next one. Same result. Out of frustration I went back to the porter to find out if all the phones were out of order, so in his “cockney” English he asked me for the money and what number I was trying to dial so I noticed that he put the money in once they answered at the other end. He gives me back the phone and I hear a female voice saying Garston 76752, the voice sounded like my mother’s voice but with a poshy English accent, so I figured it was my aunt, I then told her that I was at the train station. A few minutes later I see a car pull up to the station, in it there were 4 people, my aunt and uncle, and my parents. The reason the four were in the car seemed to be quite simple, my parents were worried, it had taken me 5 days to get to England, and my aunt and uncle because they had never met me. So they were happy to see me, and I must say that I was relieved to have finally made it to the place I had set myself to get to a few years before. When we made it to their house my cousin Ian, who was only 10 years old was wearing the Argentine soccer uniform, as Argentina had won the world cup a few months before, and he felt very proud to feel that his parents were born there.
The next day my parents and I went to London, I had finally got to the place I had dreamed about since I was a young boy. It was everything I had hoped for and more. Immediately I felt like a fish in the sea, I felt like it was the place I belonged to, and like I had always been there, and I was just coming home.
These are memories that will always live with me, like my wedding day, and the birth of my two kids.
I will write about the rest of my first trip in a separate blog.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Villa Gesell, Nico's y mi adolescencia/juventud
Durante muchos años cuando he regresado a la Argentina de vacaciones mi madre ha sacado el tema de Villa Gesell, añorando cuando todos eramos más jovenes.
Para mi Villa Gesell fue un periodo muy feliz de mi vida del cual estoy muy agradecido. Yo no soy como mi madre que añora, vivo el presente.
Estoy agradecido por los años que pasamos nuestras vacaciones en Villa Gesell porque Gesell era un lugar sano, sin peligros, con atmosfera de pueblo.
Villa Gesell empezo a ser parte de mi familia antes de que yo naciera.
Mis recuerdos se remontan a cuando nos quedabamos en el Hotel Residencial al comienzo de la Avenida 3, al lado de Pinchiroli, y enfrente adonde algunos años despues se contruyó la Jirafa Azul.
Recuerdo que al principio tomabamos los micros de la empresa Anton, dado que tenia una parada en la esquina de Juramento y Cabildo. El micro tomaba por la ruta 2, luego tomaba por “el camino de Las Armas” hasta Madariaga, esta ruta tenia un solo carril, y cada tanto tenia un agragado de asfalto, pero si venia alguien circulando en direccion opuesta uno de los dos vehiculos, normalmente el mas pequeño, debía ir a la banquina para dejar pasar al otro. El asfalto terminaba en Madariaga, de ahi en más si uno seguia a Pinamar o Villa Gesell debia hacerlo por un camino de arena. Con el paso del tiempo se puso asfalto a Pinamar y luego extension a Gesell.
Mis padres aprovechaban viajar de noche dado que el viaje se hacia mas corto luego de que apagaran las luces cuando uno salía de Constitución.
Un año recuerdo que llovia y debimos cambiar de omnibus cuando el micro hizo su parada en Madariaga porque el camino estaba intransitable para un vehiculo con traccion trasera unicamente, y nos vimos reducidos a un micro mucho mas pequeño que tenía tracción en las cuatro ruedas.
Recuerdo que la Avenida 3 no era asfaltada
Por mi piel muy blanca el sol en la playa fue muchas veces un villano conmigo, al punto que un año tuve 5 ampollas al mismo tiempo, una en cada brazo, una en cada rodilla, y una en el empeine del pie derecho.
Mis padres un año decidieron comprar un Citroen 2CV y esa primera experiencia nos vio con problemas llegando a Florencia Varela, a menos de 1 hora de haber partido de casa. El viaje tambien nos vió con problemas al regreso, por lo cual decidimos regresar en micro, y mi padre tuvo que ir a los pocos dias a buscar el auto que estaba en las manos de un mecanico en Villa Gesell.
Un año nos llevo 17 horas, si 17 horas, llegar a Villa Gesell. Un camion con pedregullo se habia volcado en la ruta y eso habia provocado que autos se accidentaran. Nos llevo 8 horas llegar a Chascomus, eso creo que da la pauta del largo del viaje, y no habia aire acondicionado, hacia calor, teniamos hambre, ganas de ir al baño, y todo la pudricion de estar mucho tiempo en el auto sin avanzar.
Cuando mi cuñado se agregó a la familia viajaba sentado en el medio donde estaba el caño que tenía el asiento de atrás el Citroen.
Para esa época ya ibamos a Nico’s, o deberia decir V.A.G.O.S., dado que ese era el nombre del lugar donde nos quedabamos. Este lugar, que todavia existe, esta en la Calle 302 entre las Alamedas 205 y 206, a una cuadra del Churrinche.
Aca es donde empiezan mis mejores recuerdos, dado que la familia Denicollo compro este apartahotel. Oscar, el hijo mayor, tomo las riendas del complejo y empezo a inyectarle su personalidad. Los anteriores dueños eran una pareja mayor que tenía una forma muy conservadora de ver las cosas, con horarios muy estrictos tanto de la siesta como para la noche.
Oscar, a pesar de ser bastante mayor que yo, tal vez mas cercano en edad a mis padres que a mi, se volcó hacia sus inquilinos. Nicos se convirtió en una familia, en gran medida porque la misma gente iba reguralmente todos los años, al punto de crear amistades entre las familias que alquilaban. Yo me hice amigo del hijo de una de las familias que se albergaba ahi, con el cual escuchabamos musica, saliamos y compartiamos cosas propias de nuestra edad.
Vuelvo a Oscar porque el fue el corazon del lugar. Primero, incentivado por este muchacho y yo Oscar, con nuestra ayuda, reparó una mesa de ping pong, y con esto se creo una excusa para reunirnos alrededor de esta mesa, compartir amigables partidos, asados, charlas.
Oscar, para mi, se convirtió como un hermano mayor que no he tenido, abriendo su corazón y su afecto.
Recuerdo que un grupo bastante grande ibamos a pescar a un arroyo con redes, metidos en el agua barrosa, que a pesar de no poder ver los peces, los veiamos moverse porque no era muy profundo. A Oscar le encantaba pescar a pesar de no comer pescado, porque como contaba el, cuando era chico la madre lo mando al supermercado a comprar pescado, y el perro se le escapo y lo atropeyó un auto, por lo cual el decía que asociaba las dos cosas.
El había sido corredor de rally, y siempre le gustaba manejar rapido. Yo siempre digo que fue una de las personas con las que anduve que mejor vi manejar, con alguien que uno jamas pensaba que algo podia pasar. Yo he andado rapido con otra gente y he tenido el Corazon en la boca. No con Oscar.
Recuerdo de salir a bolichear con el y otros jovenes que se quedaban también en el complejo y cuando cerraban nos ibamos a tomar el desayuno, muchas veces a El Rey del Panqueque, cuando estaba en el Paseo 105, al lado de la galeria. Despues de eso cuando ya habia amanecido nos ibamos a dormir. Tambien nos ibamos a pescar al muelle hasta tarde.
Otra de las cosas que haciamos era ir al autocine. Un año cuando uno de mis amigos del club estaba veraneando me comento que el se colaba por la libustrina y se sentaba al lado de una de las columnas con los parlantes, de ahi en mas teniamos un lugar con el de reunion en el autocine.
Tal vez la anecdota mas graciosa que recuerdo fue cuando un año mi abuela paterna viajo sola en el Anton. Cuando el micro llegaba a Gesell durante hora pico el conductor gritaba a la entrada de la Villa si habia alguien que queria bajar en La Cailla, primera parada en ese momento, y muy cercana a la zona donde estaba Nico's, si nadie contestaba tomaba por el Boulevard (Avenida 10) para evitar todo el trafico de las primeras cuadras de la Avenida Buenos Aires y de la Avenida 3. Mi padre sabiendo esto le habia dado instrucciones especificas de estar atenta al llamado del chofer y pedir de bajarse donde le habia dicho. Fuimos a esperar a la capilla, y empezo a pasar la hora sin ningun micro apareciendo. Entonces decidimos ir a la terminal para ver si alguien con su descripcion habia descendido ahi. Nadie la habia visto. Decidimos volver al apartahotel, y al estacionar vemos un taxi parado en la esquina con la luz interior prendida, habia un pasajero en el asiento trasero, y al ver que no se bajaba nos acercamos para ver quien era. Era mi abuela. Es el dia de hoy que todavia estamos tratando de imaginar como hizo para llegar hasta la puerta de Nico's sin haber estado jamas en Villa Gesell, y sin siquiera saber el nombre del lugar donde nos estabamos quedando. Solo Dios lo sabe.
Mis padres manejaban a la playa a pesar de que quedaba a dos cuadras dado que llevaban almuerzo, y siempre ibamos al mismo balneario donde alquilaban una carpa, y nos quedabamos todo el día desde la mañana hasta las 5 de la tarde. Yo muchas veces después de almorzar me iba solo a caminar por la playa, me iba a charlar con pescadores, me iba de nuevo caminando al apartahotel, dado que me parecía que ahi estaba la acción.
El año 80, al estar de novio fue la última vez que fui, y fui solamente un par de fines de semana. Mis intereses habían cambiado, y Gesell era ya un recuerdo. Pero en mi mente nunca había dicho adios a este lugar, ni a Nicos, tal vez porque en el momento nunca pensé que ese domingo que volví con Emma desde la Villa eran los ultimos. Yo ya había estado de viaje en el 78 y 79 en Europa y EEUU, trabajaba para una aerolinea, y ya tenía el bichito de irme en un futuro medianamente cercano a vivir a otra parte. A Oscar lo volví a ver una o dos veces más despues de eso.
Mucho tiempo después un año que mis padres se quedaron con mi hermana y mi cuñado en un apartamento no muy lejos de Nicos, se fueron a caminar para ver como estaba el lugar. Lo encontraron cambiado, y cuando se acercaron más vieron a la Hermana de Oscar que al verlos se acercó para hablar. Mis padres preguntaron por Oscar, y la Hermana les dió la noticia que el habia fallecido. Esto les dió muchisima tristeza. Era para ellos el final de un ciclo.
En el 2007 los padres de un muy buen amigo mio que tienen una casa en Pinamar nos ofrecieron de quedarnos ahi. Eso me dió la oportunidad de ir, parar, sacar fotos, compartir con mis hijos este lugar, este emblema, por lo menos en mi mente, de mi juventud, de mi adolescencia. Al llegar notamos que el complejo habia estado en el Mercado para la venta y para alquilar desde hacia bastante tiempo. Habia un sentido de tristeza en el lugar, como que el corazon habia dejado de latir. Me dió una sensación de pena. En mi mente podia ver el bullicio de otros años, con gente jugando al ping pong, comiendo asado, riendose. Considero que fue importante volver a Villa Gesell, dado que ya no soy más esa persona, he envejecido, tengo hijos, vivo a ocho mil kilometros, ya no veraneo más ahi. Me hizo acordar a la escena de Cinema Paradiso cuando Toto vuelve al pueblo por la muerte de Alfredo, y presencia el derrumbamiento de la sala de cine, y se encuentra con la misma gente que atendia regularmente la sala cuando el fue creciendo, se les ve a todos una expresion de entrega y de tristeza.
Villa Gesell ya no es el pueblo en el que veraneabamos hace muchos años atrás, ahora es una ciudad, para mi en general bastante desconocida, salvo algunas raras excepciones que han sobrevivido los embates del tiempo transcurrido y del cambio.
Yo, como dije anteriormente en más de una ocasion, estoy eternamente agradecido por lo vivido, lo que Dios me ha dado, porque fueron muy buenos años de formación, entre Gesell, y los años de hockey en el club San Martin, dado que fueron años muy sanos en todo sentido, con buenas amistades, muchas de ellas que sigo estando en contacto a pesar del tiempo transcurrido y la distancia.
A Oscar lo recuerdo sino todos los dias, por lo menos todas las semanas. Me brindó, como lo hacía con todos, todo su afecto sin pedir nada a cambio. Como todo geminiano tenía mas de una personalidad, pero daba todo lo que tenía. Que Dios siempre lo tenga en su gloria.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Mi first blog (about autism)///Mi primer blog (sobre el autismo)
I wrote this for an autism convention in which I was a panelist:
My name is Alec Anderson. I am a proud parent of two children, a 16 year old young lady and a 14 year young gentleman.
Ten years ago my son was diagnosed with P.D.D. – N.O.S. (pervasive developmental disorder – not otherwise specified) a type of autism.
I remember vividly when our children's pediatrician said he felt that I had a mild autism. I had to ask hm to spell it because, as lots of people, I had never heard of it.
As a computer aficionado my first reaction was to go to the internet and read what autism was, what caused it and what were the symptoms.
When I started reading I was heartbroken, overwhelmed. The stories that were posted on the web were nothing short of devastating. My life, I felt, had come to a complete halt. It was like not only the bottom had fallen out but the roof had collapsed, all in one, and probably more feelings that I can express.
My life and my faith in my creator were put to test. For many years I wondered in the wilderness looking for answers, without finding them, probably because deep down I didn’t want to hear reality.
The pain, as a good friend of mine who lost his brother when he was a teenager said, will never go away. The anxiety of not knowing what will become of him as he and us get older probably will never disappear. Many times I’ve prayed for his healing. But on the other hand I’ve also asked myself how would Ian be if he was what we many times call normal, if autism was not part of our family. I don’t have the answer for that either.
I felt for a period of time that we were the only ones in this boat, to recognize later that we are not the only ones. To say that it has put our family through a tremendous amount of stress is putting it mildly. I once heard on CNN that 83% of couples in the United States that have kids with autism end up in divorce, and I can see why.
Most people with kids will say that when you first have them your life changes. These are changes on steroids.
When our son was diagnosed the ratio was 1 in 500, now it’s 1 in 200 or less than that.
If politicians would use our money wisely, not in conflicts or weapons, but in more research, we could probably have a better idea why the huge growth of this disability, provide solutions to families who live with one or more children with this illness.
This also reminds me when politicians have nothing better to do but to criticize our teachers, the most noble of callings. Teachers don’t do it for the money, the do it as a mission. Our son is a student at the Phoenix Center, great place that cares for him, cares for the family, cares for his future, where he not only learns but is also able to express and develop his talents, where he’s being prepared to face the workforce of the future.
For my wife and myself what stays with us is the knowledge as believers that there is a place for us in heaven.
But before I finish I did mention that we also have a daughter who is 16 years old. She is in her prime in every meaning of the word. But if this has been a tough journey for us, it has not been simple for my son’s sibling either, for many reasons, primarily because it is very difficult to explain a 6 year old child that her brother has a disability. She would many times say “I want to be handicapped too”. It is impossible to explain the magnitude of this to a child. The only thing that they see is that this other child gets all the attention, more than what they are getting, and it's not that we don't pay attention to her, it's just that it is human nature to lean to the one with greater and immediate needs.
Would I change the road we are on? NO
Because I have come to the realization that we all have a purpose on this earth, and eventually when we’ve come to the sunset of our lives we will see why.
I remember reading a story that said that a man had come to the end of his days and when he looked back he saw during most of his life two sets of footsteps, but during the tougher times he only saw one set, so he asked God why did you abandon me during the hardest times, and God replied that he had not abandoned him, but that he had carried him.
Esto lo escribi para una conferencia sobre autismo en el cual fui un panelista:
Mi nombre es Alec Anderson. Soy el orgulloso padre de dos hijos, una joven señorita de 16 años, y un hombrecito de 14.
Diez años atras mi hijo fue diagnosticado con Trastorno Generalizado del Desarrollo, un tipo de autism.
Recuerdo muy bien cuando el pediatra de mis hijos me dijo que le parecia que Ian tenia un tipo de autism liviano. Le tuve que pedir que me lo deletreara porque, al igual que mucha gente, nunca habia escuchado de eso.
Como un aficionado a la computacion que soy mi primera reaccion fue de ir al internet y leer que era autism, que lo provocaba y cuales eran los sintomas.
Cuando empece a leer se me fue el corazon a los pies. Las historias que estaban publicadas en el internet eran devastadoras. Senti que mi vida se habia detenido de golpe. Era como que el piso habia desaparecido y el techo se habia venido abajo, todo al mismo tiempo, e inclusive habia mas emociones que las que pueda explicar.
Mi vida y mi fe en mi creador se vieron puestas a prueba. Por muchos años me sentí como perdido en el desierto buscando contestaciones, sin poder encontrarlas, tal vez porque no queria aceptar la realidad.
El dolor, como me dijo un muy buen amigo que perdio un hermano cuando todavia era un adolescente, no se va a ir nunca. La ansiedad de no saber que sera de su vida cuando el y nosotros envejezamos no desaparecera nunca. Muchas veces he rezado por su cura, pero por otro lado tambien me he preguntado como seria Ian seria lo que tendemos a llamar normal, si autism no fuese parte de nuestra familia, y no tengo una contestacion a eso.
Por un tiempo senti que a nadie mas le pasaba esto, pero despues descubri de que no eramos los unicos. Decir que esto ha creado un tremendo stress a nuestra familia, seria bondadoso. Una vez escuche en CNN que el 83% de las parejas en EEUU con hijos con autismo terminan en divorcio, y veo el porque.
Tu vida cambia drasticamente.
Mucha gente con chicos dira que cuando uno los tiene la vida cambia. Estos son cambios con esteroides.
Cuando nuestro hijo fue diagnosticado el porcentaje era de 1 en 500, ahora es de 1 en 200 o tal vez menos que eso.
Si nuestros politicos utilizaran nuestro dinero conscientemente, no en conflictos ni armas, sino en mas investigacion, tal vez podriamos tener una major idea el porque la gran explosion de esta discapacidad, y dando soluciones a las familias que viven con una o mas criaturas con esta enfermedad.
Esto tambien me hace acordar cuando los politicos no tienen nada mejor que criticar a nuestros maestros, la mas noble profesion. Los maestros no lo hacen por el dinero sino como un llamado. Nuestro hijo es un estudiante en el Phoenix Center, un gran lugar que atiende a sus necesidades, atiende a las necesidades de nuestra familia, y que esta interesado en su futuro, donde no solo aprende sino donde le es posible expresar y desarrolar sus talentos, donde es preparado para formar parte de la clase trabajadora en el futuro.
Para mi señora y para mi lo que nos queda es saber como creyentes que hay para nosotros un lugar en el cielo.
Pero antes de terminar mencioné que también tenemos una hija de 16 años. Ella esta en su flor en todo sentido de la palabra. Pero si esto ha sido un camino dificil para nosotros, no ha sido tampoco facil para la hermana de mi hijo, hay muchos motivos, pero primordialmente porque es muy dificil de explicarle a una criatura de 6 años que el hermano tiene una discapacidad. Ella muchas veces decia que “Que queria ser discapacitada tambien”. Es muy dificil de explicarle la magnitud de todo esto a una criatura, lo unico que pueden ver es que el otro recibe toda la atencion, mas de lo que reciben ellos, y no es que uno no le prestase atencion a ella sino que uno naturalmente tiende a inclinarse hacia el mas necesitado.
Me gustaria cambiar el camino en el que andamos? NO
He llegado a la conclusion de que todos tenemos un proposito en esta tierra, y eventualmente cuando lleguemos al atardecer de nuestras vidas veremos el porque.
Recuerdo una historia que decia que un hombre llega al fin de su vida y cuando mira para atras ve durante la gran mayoria de su vida dos series de pisadas, excepto en los momentos mas dificiles donde ve solamente un par de pisadas, entonces le pregunta a Dios porque me abandonaste durante los momentos dificiles, y Dios le contesta que no lo habia abandonado, sino que lo habia cargado.
My name is Alec Anderson. I am a proud parent of two children, a 16 year old young lady and a 14 year young gentleman.
Ten years ago my son was diagnosed with P.D.D. – N.O.S. (pervasive developmental disorder – not otherwise specified) a type of autism.
I remember vividly when our children's pediatrician said he felt that I had a mild autism. I had to ask hm to spell it because, as lots of people, I had never heard of it.
As a computer aficionado my first reaction was to go to the internet and read what autism was, what caused it and what were the symptoms.
When I started reading I was heartbroken, overwhelmed. The stories that were posted on the web were nothing short of devastating. My life, I felt, had come to a complete halt. It was like not only the bottom had fallen out but the roof had collapsed, all in one, and probably more feelings that I can express.
My life and my faith in my creator were put to test. For many years I wondered in the wilderness looking for answers, without finding them, probably because deep down I didn’t want to hear reality.
The pain, as a good friend of mine who lost his brother when he was a teenager said, will never go away. The anxiety of not knowing what will become of him as he and us get older probably will never disappear. Many times I’ve prayed for his healing. But on the other hand I’ve also asked myself how would Ian be if he was what we many times call normal, if autism was not part of our family. I don’t have the answer for that either.
I felt for a period of time that we were the only ones in this boat, to recognize later that we are not the only ones. To say that it has put our family through a tremendous amount of stress is putting it mildly. I once heard on CNN that 83% of couples in the United States that have kids with autism end up in divorce, and I can see why.
Most people with kids will say that when you first have them your life changes. These are changes on steroids.
When our son was diagnosed the ratio was 1 in 500, now it’s 1 in 200 or less than that.
If politicians would use our money wisely, not in conflicts or weapons, but in more research, we could probably have a better idea why the huge growth of this disability, provide solutions to families who live with one or more children with this illness.
This also reminds me when politicians have nothing better to do but to criticize our teachers, the most noble of callings. Teachers don’t do it for the money, the do it as a mission. Our son is a student at the Phoenix Center, great place that cares for him, cares for the family, cares for his future, where he not only learns but is also able to express and develop his talents, where he’s being prepared to face the workforce of the future.
For my wife and myself what stays with us is the knowledge as believers that there is a place for us in heaven.
But before I finish I did mention that we also have a daughter who is 16 years old. She is in her prime in every meaning of the word. But if this has been a tough journey for us, it has not been simple for my son’s sibling either, for many reasons, primarily because it is very difficult to explain a 6 year old child that her brother has a disability. She would many times say “I want to be handicapped too”. It is impossible to explain the magnitude of this to a child. The only thing that they see is that this other child gets all the attention, more than what they are getting, and it's not that we don't pay attention to her, it's just that it is human nature to lean to the one with greater and immediate needs.
Would I change the road we are on? NO
Because I have come to the realization that we all have a purpose on this earth, and eventually when we’ve come to the sunset of our lives we will see why.
I remember reading a story that said that a man had come to the end of his days and when he looked back he saw during most of his life two sets of footsteps, but during the tougher times he only saw one set, so he asked God why did you abandon me during the hardest times, and God replied that he had not abandoned him, but that he had carried him.
Esto lo escribi para una conferencia sobre autismo en el cual fui un panelista:
Mi nombre es Alec Anderson. Soy el orgulloso padre de dos hijos, una joven señorita de 16 años, y un hombrecito de 14.
Diez años atras mi hijo fue diagnosticado con Trastorno Generalizado del Desarrollo, un tipo de autism.
Recuerdo muy bien cuando el pediatra de mis hijos me dijo que le parecia que Ian tenia un tipo de autism liviano. Le tuve que pedir que me lo deletreara porque, al igual que mucha gente, nunca habia escuchado de eso.
Como un aficionado a la computacion que soy mi primera reaccion fue de ir al internet y leer que era autism, que lo provocaba y cuales eran los sintomas.
Cuando empece a leer se me fue el corazon a los pies. Las historias que estaban publicadas en el internet eran devastadoras. Senti que mi vida se habia detenido de golpe. Era como que el piso habia desaparecido y el techo se habia venido abajo, todo al mismo tiempo, e inclusive habia mas emociones que las que pueda explicar.
Mi vida y mi fe en mi creador se vieron puestas a prueba. Por muchos años me sentí como perdido en el desierto buscando contestaciones, sin poder encontrarlas, tal vez porque no queria aceptar la realidad.
El dolor, como me dijo un muy buen amigo que perdio un hermano cuando todavia era un adolescente, no se va a ir nunca. La ansiedad de no saber que sera de su vida cuando el y nosotros envejezamos no desaparecera nunca. Muchas veces he rezado por su cura, pero por otro lado tambien me he preguntado como seria Ian seria lo que tendemos a llamar normal, si autism no fuese parte de nuestra familia, y no tengo una contestacion a eso.
Por un tiempo senti que a nadie mas le pasaba esto, pero despues descubri de que no eramos los unicos. Decir que esto ha creado un tremendo stress a nuestra familia, seria bondadoso. Una vez escuche en CNN que el 83% de las parejas en EEUU con hijos con autismo terminan en divorcio, y veo el porque.
Tu vida cambia drasticamente.
Mucha gente con chicos dira que cuando uno los tiene la vida cambia. Estos son cambios con esteroides.
Cuando nuestro hijo fue diagnosticado el porcentaje era de 1 en 500, ahora es de 1 en 200 o tal vez menos que eso.
Si nuestros politicos utilizaran nuestro dinero conscientemente, no en conflictos ni armas, sino en mas investigacion, tal vez podriamos tener una major idea el porque la gran explosion de esta discapacidad, y dando soluciones a las familias que viven con una o mas criaturas con esta enfermedad.
Esto tambien me hace acordar cuando los politicos no tienen nada mejor que criticar a nuestros maestros, la mas noble profesion. Los maestros no lo hacen por el dinero sino como un llamado. Nuestro hijo es un estudiante en el Phoenix Center, un gran lugar que atiende a sus necesidades, atiende a las necesidades de nuestra familia, y que esta interesado en su futuro, donde no solo aprende sino donde le es posible expresar y desarrolar sus talentos, donde es preparado para formar parte de la clase trabajadora en el futuro.
Para mi señora y para mi lo que nos queda es saber como creyentes que hay para nosotros un lugar en el cielo.
Pero antes de terminar mencioné que también tenemos una hija de 16 años. Ella esta en su flor en todo sentido de la palabra. Pero si esto ha sido un camino dificil para nosotros, no ha sido tampoco facil para la hermana de mi hijo, hay muchos motivos, pero primordialmente porque es muy dificil de explicarle a una criatura de 6 años que el hermano tiene una discapacidad. Ella muchas veces decia que “Que queria ser discapacitada tambien”. Es muy dificil de explicarle la magnitud de todo esto a una criatura, lo unico que pueden ver es que el otro recibe toda la atencion, mas de lo que reciben ellos, y no es que uno no le prestase atencion a ella sino que uno naturalmente tiende a inclinarse hacia el mas necesitado.
Me gustaria cambiar el camino en el que andamos? NO
He llegado a la conclusion de que todos tenemos un proposito en esta tierra, y eventualmente cuando lleguemos al atardecer de nuestras vidas veremos el porque.
Recuerdo una historia que decia que un hombre llega al fin de su vida y cuando mira para atras ve durante la gran mayoria de su vida dos series de pisadas, excepto en los momentos mas dificiles donde ve solamente un par de pisadas, entonces le pregunta a Dios porque me abandonaste durante los momentos dificiles, y Dios le contesta que no lo habia abandonado, sino que lo habia cargado.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Surrender / Entrega
Most people who quit smoking become nightmares to those who still smoke, and that includes myself.
Today I will talk about something that by the same token with smoking and quitting, hopefully will help somebody else, like it did with me.
When my son was diagnosed with autism I spent a long time going in circles, resentful, hurt, and primarily disappointed with God. I felt that after all his promises he had abandoned me.
It took me 7 years of banging my head against the wall to come to the realization, thanks to the words of two good friends whom I value their opinions, that I could not go on the way I was.
One of them in a conversation over a cup of coffee, and of all the things I had to say, he turned around and said: “You said that you hold a grudge against God, and when we hold against a grudge against somebody the right thing to do is settle it with the person, and then as God forgave us, we should forgive.”
In this case it meant forgiving God. He had forgiven me first, so obviously there was no question what the right thing to do was.
The second person, a friend, former missionary, and, as I call him, my adoptive father, and I call him that because my parents live 5,000 miles away and it made it easier at the time to talk about things that were on my mind. He said: “The weight that you are carrying on your shoulders it too much to bear for one person. You need to ask God to help you carry that weight, and as Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ is the one that can do that for us. And this one meant surrendering.
For 7 years I had been trying to do it my way, wrestling not with God, because he is the almighty, and there is no way of winning, or beating him, I was wrestling with myself, like a child, thinking that I could have it my way.
And when that day came it was like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. The wrestling was over. I had been stuck for seven years. My attitude, my perspective, had changed. I accepted that God was at the helm. Now I could go on with my life, and looking at my son not like a burden, like a talisman, but as a blessing, an instrument of God, which we all are, and a way for God to communicate with me, to teach me.
Again the whole key is SURRENDER. There is a hymn that as Christians we sing that says: I surrender all. You can understand that as giving your possessions. I thank it's great, like St. Francis did, give all your belongings away. For me they are just material goods. I view it as surrendering our most precious possession, us, to his will, whatever that may be, wherever it may take me, because at the end of the day God is in command.
Now somebody can come and say easier said than done. I never said that it was easy for me. It took me seven long years of pain, struggle and hardship to realize that I was going nowhere. I think that that shows that it was not easy for me. But it is the only way. Sooner or later we come to that realization.
Once a week I meet with a person who God put in my path to teach me, to look at myself in the mirror through this person. And many times I’ve felt like giving up, and now I see that God has used me to his benefit as an instrument to help this person. We talk about life, Jesus, God, work, and many more things. Recently he’s been more focused on trying to develop a relationship with his creator. And it gives me great joy to see that, because I feel God’s power at work. For those of us who are Christians the Lord’s Prayer says it very clearly: THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. Jesus taught us that to pray to the Father we have in heaven, but it clearly states that his will will be done here as well. God sent his son to die on the cross for all of us, Jews and Gentiles, and the only thing that he wants in return is our total surrender, to surrender to his will. By doing that we have the weight lifted off our shoulders, of all the burdens that may afflict us, health, finances, love, loneliness, etc., and by then we can then become instruments for his glory.
Many times when we have a relative or a friend who is need, in poor health, who could pass away, we pray for their health. We also need to pray for God to give us his comfort, the peace of mind, like he gave Jesus, to accept his will, regardless what that may be, and to know that in the midst of the storm we are not alone, that he is always with us, until the ends of the ages.
Normalmente siempre escribo en ingles, salvo casos excepcionales, o por pedido, pero me parecio que este tema nos afecta a todos. Reconozco que me he vuelto un gringo, no tanto al hablar pero si para escribir.
Lo que sigue es la “adaptacion” de lo que escribi en ingles.
La mayoria de la gente que deja de fumar se vuelven una pesadilla para los que todavia fuman, y en eso me incluyo.
Cuando mi hijo fue diagnosticado con autismo me pase un tiempo largo dando vuelta en circulos, resentido, dolido, y primoridialmente decepcionado con Dios. Senti que despues de todas sus promesas me habia abandonado.
Me llevo siete años de golpearme la cabeza contra las paredes hasta que finalmente llegue a la conlusion, la realizacion, gracias a las palabras de dos buenos amigos, a los cuales les valoro la opinion, que no podia seguir de manera en que estaba.
Uno me dijo durante una charla, café de por medio, y entre todas las cosas que le dije, el agarro y me dijo: “Dijiste que tenias una bronco con Dios, y cuando uno tiene una bronco con alguien lo que corresponde es que lo hables con esa persona, y despues, de la misma que Dios nos perdono a nosotros, debemos perdonar.”
En este caso significaba perdonar a Dios. El me habia perdonado a mi primero, asi que era obvio lo que debia hacer.
La segunda persona, un amigo, ex-misionero, y como lo llamo yo, mi padre adoptado, y lo llamo asi porque mis padres viven a 8.000 kilometros de aca, y se me ha hecho facil en muchas ocasiones de hablar cosas que tenia dando vuelva en la cabeza.. El me dijo: “Estas tratando de cargar mucho peso en los hombros para una sola persona. Tenes que pedirle a Dios que te ayude a cargar ese peso, y como Cristianos, tenemos la fe de que Cristo es el que lo puede hacer por nosotros. I esto significaba entrega.
Por siete años habia tratado de hacer las cosas a mi manera, luchando no con Dios,porque es todo poderoso, y no hay forma de ganar or vencer, sino conmigo mismo, como una criatura, que queria tener su capricho.
Y cuando llego ese dia era como un peso que se habia levantado de mis hombros. La lucha habia terminado. Habia estado estancado por siete años. Mi actitud, my perspectiva, habia cambiado. Acepte que Dios estaba en el timonel. Ahora podia seguir con mi vida, y mirar a mi hijo no ya como un carga, como un talisman, sino como una bendicion, un instrumento de Dios, como somos todos, y una manera de Dios de comunicarse conmigo, de enseñarme.
Al final del dia la palabra es ENTREGA. En ingles hay un himno que Cristianos cantamos que dice: Yo entrego todo. Uno puede entender eso como dando todos sus posesiones. San Francisco de Asis hizo eso, y me parecio maravilloso. Para mi esas son cosas materiales. Yo lo veo como entregando nuestra mas preciada posesion, nosotros, a su voluntad, cualquiera ella fuese, cualquier lugar que nos llevase, porque al final del dia Dios esta al comando.
Ahora alguien puede venir y decir eso es mas facil decirle que hacerlo. Nunca dije que fuese facil. Me llevo siete largos años de dolor, lucha y dificultad para darme cuenta que no iba a ningun lado. Me parece que eso prueba que no fue facil para mi. Pero tarde o temprano llegamos a esa conclusion.
Una vez por semana me junto con una persona que Dios puso en mi camino para enseñarme, para que me mire en el espejo por medio de esta persona. Muchas veces pense en abandonar, y ahora veo que Dios me ha utlizado para su beneficio como un medio para ayudar a esta persona. Hablamos de la vida, de Dios, de Jesus, y de muchas cosas mas. Ultimamente ha estado mas interesado en entablar una relacion con su creador. Me gran alegria poder ver eso, dado que veo el poder de Dios trabajando. Para todos los que somos Cristianos El Padre Nuestro nos dice: HAGASE TU VOLUNTAD EN LA TIERRA COMO EN EL CIELO. Jesus nos enseño a orar al padre que tenemos en los cielos, pero claramente dice que se haga la voluntad aca tambien. Dios envio a su hijo a morir en la cruz por nosotros, Judios y Gentiles, y una de las cosas que nos pide en devolucion es nuestra entrega absoluta, de entregarnos a su voluntad. Al hacerlo sentimos el peso que tenemos sobre nuestros hombros removido, de todas las cargas que nos puedan aflijir, salud, finanzas, amor, soledad, etc., y al hacerlo podemos convertirnos en instrumentos para su gloria.
Muchas veces cuando tenemos un familiar o un amigo que esta en necesidad, tal vez en mala salud, que tal vez podia morir, oramos por su salud. Lo que tambien debemos hacer es orar a Dios por su espiritu, por la paz interior, como le dio a Jesus, de aceptar su voluntad, no importa cual fuere, y de saber que en el medio de la tormenta no estamos solos, que el nos acompaña, hasta el fin de mundo.
Today I will talk about something that by the same token with smoking and quitting, hopefully will help somebody else, like it did with me.
When my son was diagnosed with autism I spent a long time going in circles, resentful, hurt, and primarily disappointed with God. I felt that after all his promises he had abandoned me.
It took me 7 years of banging my head against the wall to come to the realization, thanks to the words of two good friends whom I value their opinions, that I could not go on the way I was.
One of them in a conversation over a cup of coffee, and of all the things I had to say, he turned around and said: “You said that you hold a grudge against God, and when we hold against a grudge against somebody the right thing to do is settle it with the person, and then as God forgave us, we should forgive.”
In this case it meant forgiving God. He had forgiven me first, so obviously there was no question what the right thing to do was.
The second person, a friend, former missionary, and, as I call him, my adoptive father, and I call him that because my parents live 5,000 miles away and it made it easier at the time to talk about things that were on my mind. He said: “The weight that you are carrying on your shoulders it too much to bear for one person. You need to ask God to help you carry that weight, and as Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ is the one that can do that for us. And this one meant surrendering.
For 7 years I had been trying to do it my way, wrestling not with God, because he is the almighty, and there is no way of winning, or beating him, I was wrestling with myself, like a child, thinking that I could have it my way.
And when that day came it was like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. The wrestling was over. I had been stuck for seven years. My attitude, my perspective, had changed. I accepted that God was at the helm. Now I could go on with my life, and looking at my son not like a burden, like a talisman, but as a blessing, an instrument of God, which we all are, and a way for God to communicate with me, to teach me.
Again the whole key is SURRENDER. There is a hymn that as Christians we sing that says: I surrender all. You can understand that as giving your possessions. I thank it's great, like St. Francis did, give all your belongings away. For me they are just material goods. I view it as surrendering our most precious possession, us, to his will, whatever that may be, wherever it may take me, because at the end of the day God is in command.
Now somebody can come and say easier said than done. I never said that it was easy for me. It took me seven long years of pain, struggle and hardship to realize that I was going nowhere. I think that that shows that it was not easy for me. But it is the only way. Sooner or later we come to that realization.
Once a week I meet with a person who God put in my path to teach me, to look at myself in the mirror through this person. And many times I’ve felt like giving up, and now I see that God has used me to his benefit as an instrument to help this person. We talk about life, Jesus, God, work, and many more things. Recently he’s been more focused on trying to develop a relationship with his creator. And it gives me great joy to see that, because I feel God’s power at work. For those of us who are Christians the Lord’s Prayer says it very clearly: THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. Jesus taught us that to pray to the Father we have in heaven, but it clearly states that his will will be done here as well. God sent his son to die on the cross for all of us, Jews and Gentiles, and the only thing that he wants in return is our total surrender, to surrender to his will. By doing that we have the weight lifted off our shoulders, of all the burdens that may afflict us, health, finances, love, loneliness, etc., and by then we can then become instruments for his glory.
Many times when we have a relative or a friend who is need, in poor health, who could pass away, we pray for their health. We also need to pray for God to give us his comfort, the peace of mind, like he gave Jesus, to accept his will, regardless what that may be, and to know that in the midst of the storm we are not alone, that he is always with us, until the ends of the ages.
Normalmente siempre escribo en ingles, salvo casos excepcionales, o por pedido, pero me parecio que este tema nos afecta a todos. Reconozco que me he vuelto un gringo, no tanto al hablar pero si para escribir.
Lo que sigue es la “adaptacion” de lo que escribi en ingles.
La mayoria de la gente que deja de fumar se vuelven una pesadilla para los que todavia fuman, y en eso me incluyo.
Cuando mi hijo fue diagnosticado con autismo me pase un tiempo largo dando vuelta en circulos, resentido, dolido, y primoridialmente decepcionado con Dios. Senti que despues de todas sus promesas me habia abandonado.
Me llevo siete años de golpearme la cabeza contra las paredes hasta que finalmente llegue a la conlusion, la realizacion, gracias a las palabras de dos buenos amigos, a los cuales les valoro la opinion, que no podia seguir de manera en que estaba.
Uno me dijo durante una charla, café de por medio, y entre todas las cosas que le dije, el agarro y me dijo: “Dijiste que tenias una bronco con Dios, y cuando uno tiene una bronco con alguien lo que corresponde es que lo hables con esa persona, y despues, de la misma que Dios nos perdono a nosotros, debemos perdonar.”
En este caso significaba perdonar a Dios. El me habia perdonado a mi primero, asi que era obvio lo que debia hacer.
La segunda persona, un amigo, ex-misionero, y como lo llamo yo, mi padre adoptado, y lo llamo asi porque mis padres viven a 8.000 kilometros de aca, y se me ha hecho facil en muchas ocasiones de hablar cosas que tenia dando vuelva en la cabeza.. El me dijo: “Estas tratando de cargar mucho peso en los hombros para una sola persona. Tenes que pedirle a Dios que te ayude a cargar ese peso, y como Cristianos, tenemos la fe de que Cristo es el que lo puede hacer por nosotros. I esto significaba entrega.
Por siete años habia tratado de hacer las cosas a mi manera, luchando no con Dios,porque es todo poderoso, y no hay forma de ganar or vencer, sino conmigo mismo, como una criatura, que queria tener su capricho.
Y cuando llego ese dia era como un peso que se habia levantado de mis hombros. La lucha habia terminado. Habia estado estancado por siete años. Mi actitud, my perspectiva, habia cambiado. Acepte que Dios estaba en el timonel. Ahora podia seguir con mi vida, y mirar a mi hijo no ya como un carga, como un talisman, sino como una bendicion, un instrumento de Dios, como somos todos, y una manera de Dios de comunicarse conmigo, de enseñarme.
Al final del dia la palabra es ENTREGA. En ingles hay un himno que Cristianos cantamos que dice: Yo entrego todo. Uno puede entender eso como dando todos sus posesiones. San Francisco de Asis hizo eso, y me parecio maravilloso. Para mi esas son cosas materiales. Yo lo veo como entregando nuestra mas preciada posesion, nosotros, a su voluntad, cualquiera ella fuese, cualquier lugar que nos llevase, porque al final del dia Dios esta al comando.
Ahora alguien puede venir y decir eso es mas facil decirle que hacerlo. Nunca dije que fuese facil. Me llevo siete largos años de dolor, lucha y dificultad para darme cuenta que no iba a ningun lado. Me parece que eso prueba que no fue facil para mi. Pero tarde o temprano llegamos a esa conclusion.
Una vez por semana me junto con una persona que Dios puso en mi camino para enseñarme, para que me mire en el espejo por medio de esta persona. Muchas veces pense en abandonar, y ahora veo que Dios me ha utlizado para su beneficio como un medio para ayudar a esta persona. Hablamos de la vida, de Dios, de Jesus, y de muchas cosas mas. Ultimamente ha estado mas interesado en entablar una relacion con su creador. Me gran alegria poder ver eso, dado que veo el poder de Dios trabajando. Para todos los que somos Cristianos El Padre Nuestro nos dice: HAGASE TU VOLUNTAD EN LA TIERRA COMO EN EL CIELO. Jesus nos enseño a orar al padre que tenemos en los cielos, pero claramente dice que se haga la voluntad aca tambien. Dios envio a su hijo a morir en la cruz por nosotros, Judios y Gentiles, y una de las cosas que nos pide en devolucion es nuestra entrega absoluta, de entregarnos a su voluntad. Al hacerlo sentimos el peso que tenemos sobre nuestros hombros removido, de todas las cargas que nos puedan aflijir, salud, finanzas, amor, soledad, etc., y al hacerlo podemos convertirnos en instrumentos para su gloria.
Muchas veces cuando tenemos un familiar o un amigo que esta en necesidad, tal vez en mala salud, que tal vez podia morir, oramos por su salud. Lo que tambien debemos hacer es orar a Dios por su espiritu, por la paz interior, como le dio a Jesus, de aceptar su voluntad, no importa cual fuere, y de saber que en el medio de la tormenta no estamos solos, que el nos acompaña, hasta el fin de mundo.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Romney talks about appeasement
Romney, in his latest speech said that Obama has pursued a policy of appeasement that betrays a lack of faith in America.
"Obama doesn't understand America," Romney said. "This president appears more generous to our enemies than he is to our friends. Such is the natural tendency of someone who is unsure of America's strength – or of America's rightful place in the world."
This sounds like a speech of a desperate person who sees his “guaranteed” candidacy to the Republican Party for president slipping away.
I guess we should remind Mr. Romney that it was this president who got rid of Osama Bin Laden, not Bush, that it was this president who got rid of Kadafi, not Bush, that even though the Palestinians (whom I will talk about in another blog) tried in the United Nations to get statehood it was this president who blocked it, and had the British and the French rally behind the United States in this measure.
The word appeasement is in reference to what Mr. Chamberlain, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, had towards Nazi Germany in the 30s, when he asked the president of Czechoslovakia to give up any region that had a majority of Germans to avoid war. We know what ended up happening.
He says that he will stop Iran from getting or building nuclear weapons. He says that if need be he will attack Iran. I guess he doesn’t know that we are still involved in two conflicts at a very high cost in terms of life and money, thanks to the previous administration.
If we base ourselves on Romney’s backbone, and how he stands and defends each of his positions we know how that will end as well. He is the king of flip-flops. If you look in the Webster Dictionary for the meaning of the expression “flip-flop” it says Romney.
Romney should be ashamed of himself for using the word appeasement and trying to scare Jewish-Americans.
"Obama doesn't understand America," Romney said. "This president appears more generous to our enemies than he is to our friends. Such is the natural tendency of someone who is unsure of America's strength – or of America's rightful place in the world."
This sounds like a speech of a desperate person who sees his “guaranteed” candidacy to the Republican Party for president slipping away.
I guess we should remind Mr. Romney that it was this president who got rid of Osama Bin Laden, not Bush, that it was this president who got rid of Kadafi, not Bush, that even though the Palestinians (whom I will talk about in another blog) tried in the United Nations to get statehood it was this president who blocked it, and had the British and the French rally behind the United States in this measure.
The word appeasement is in reference to what Mr. Chamberlain, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, had towards Nazi Germany in the 30s, when he asked the president of Czechoslovakia to give up any region that had a majority of Germans to avoid war. We know what ended up happening.
He says that he will stop Iran from getting or building nuclear weapons. He says that if need be he will attack Iran. I guess he doesn’t know that we are still involved in two conflicts at a very high cost in terms of life and money, thanks to the previous administration.
If we base ourselves on Romney’s backbone, and how he stands and defends each of his positions we know how that will end as well. He is the king of flip-flops. If you look in the Webster Dictionary for the meaning of the expression “flip-flop” it says Romney.
Romney should be ashamed of himself for using the word appeasement and trying to scare Jewish-Americans.
Another useless bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives
Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives passed new legislation.
One would assume that they dealt with the extension of the payroll tax holiday, or maybe that they passed a jobs bill that would put Americans to work.
Unfortunately that would be wishful thinking.
They passed another bill that would cut the powers of the Executive branch, and its supposed group of bureaucrats who pass new regulations.
This has been possibly the most do-nothing Congress in history.
They have worked arguably the least amount of days in the history of country, and have passed bills in the House of Representatives that they know perfectly will never make it to the floor of the Senate. And the reason that they will never see the day of light in the Senate is because they do nothing for the millions of unemployed in the US.
This bill would actually give the party who only runs one chamber of the U.S. Congress the power to veto regulations that supposedly would stop business from creating jobs.
I should clarify that the actual do-nothing is the House of Representatives. These are the same members who wanted to push the country into default and who ended up causing the lowering of the credit of the country. They are a group of extremists who want to see the safety net of this country dismantled.
This same group will hurt millions of Americans as of January 1st of 2012 because they don’t want to touch the pockets of the ultra wealthy. Almost 70% of Americans say that they believe that the wealthiest Americans should pay higher taxes.
This people are a disgrace to this country.
And when last week they saw that the unemployment had gone down from 9% to 8.6% they went berserk. The unemployment has gone because of the stimulus that was put into place in 2009, and now we are starting to see the effect of it, with people spending more. Housing saw in increase of over 10%.
These are all bad news for people like Mitch McConell, U.S. Senate minority leader, and who said almost at the beginning of the current administration that his main goal is to defeat Obama at the next. Republicans are more concerned in blocking, stopping, and potentially damaging the country as long as they can defeat the current president in the next election in 2012. That is truly pathetic. These representatives should start representing the will of the people, and not their own agenda, they should start governing, not passing useless bills that do absolutely nothing for the country. The U.S. is in a financial bind, with high unemployment, high deficits, and a bleak future, and these people are only worried in bringing down the current administration at whatever cost.
Let us not forget that many of the same people spent precious time over a decade ago impeaching a president for infidelity, while many of them where being unfaithful during the process.
One would assume that they dealt with the extension of the payroll tax holiday, or maybe that they passed a jobs bill that would put Americans to work.
Unfortunately that would be wishful thinking.
They passed another bill that would cut the powers of the Executive branch, and its supposed group of bureaucrats who pass new regulations.
This has been possibly the most do-nothing Congress in history.
They have worked arguably the least amount of days in the history of country, and have passed bills in the House of Representatives that they know perfectly will never make it to the floor of the Senate. And the reason that they will never see the day of light in the Senate is because they do nothing for the millions of unemployed in the US.
This bill would actually give the party who only runs one chamber of the U.S. Congress the power to veto regulations that supposedly would stop business from creating jobs.
I should clarify that the actual do-nothing is the House of Representatives. These are the same members who wanted to push the country into default and who ended up causing the lowering of the credit of the country. They are a group of extremists who want to see the safety net of this country dismantled.
This same group will hurt millions of Americans as of January 1st of 2012 because they don’t want to touch the pockets of the ultra wealthy. Almost 70% of Americans say that they believe that the wealthiest Americans should pay higher taxes.
This people are a disgrace to this country.
And when last week they saw that the unemployment had gone down from 9% to 8.6% they went berserk. The unemployment has gone because of the stimulus that was put into place in 2009, and now we are starting to see the effect of it, with people spending more. Housing saw in increase of over 10%.
These are all bad news for people like Mitch McConell, U.S. Senate minority leader, and who said almost at the beginning of the current administration that his main goal is to defeat Obama at the next. Republicans are more concerned in blocking, stopping, and potentially damaging the country as long as they can defeat the current president in the next election in 2012. That is truly pathetic. These representatives should start representing the will of the people, and not their own agenda, they should start governing, not passing useless bills that do absolutely nothing for the country. The U.S. is in a financial bind, with high unemployment, high deficits, and a bleak future, and these people are only worried in bringing down the current administration at whatever cost.
Let us not forget that many of the same people spent precious time over a decade ago impeaching a president for infidelity, while many of them where being unfaithful during the process.
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