Islas Malvinas // Falkland Islands

With this blog I know I will make enemies on both sides of this issue, everybody is entitled to their own opinion.
Thirty years, during the last days of march 1982, as we were planning the final details of our wedding we could not foresee what would take place on the 2nd day of April. As I woke up the news was that Argentina had invaded the Falkland Islands, and had setup a base in Port Stanley, it’s capital.
People came out to celebrate the “recovery” of the islands, as it felt that they were Argentinians.
Argentina was under military rule, and it had been a long and bloody period called the dirty war, where supposedly thirty thousand people disappeared.
President Galtieri, the latest of a long list of presidents since 1976, came out to the balcony of the Casa Rosada, the Government House, just like a few of his predecessors such as Juan Peron, Evita, and Isabel Peron, had done in the past. Everybody was wearing white and blue flags. The military government and its repression we wearing thin, people had had enough of them, the economy was in the tank, inflation was starting to get out of control. Later people figured that the reason President Galtieri chose that time to take the islands was because he needed the public to get distracted from the local issues.
What he figured was that the Lion, a tired Lion, would not travel thousands of miles to recover the islands. He also calculated that the U.S. would defend the hemisphere. Both of these calculations were completely wrong. Margaret Thatcher was the prime minister in the UK, and Ronald Reagan was the president of the US, partners in pretty much every decision and ideology that we can think of, from union busting to cutting taxes for the wealthy. Margaret Thatcher was not having a good administration at the time, as she had many problems including problems with miners and strikes, and a weak economy because of a worldwide recession.
Galtieri ended up doing a favor to the “iron lady” as she was nicknamed, as she got herself re-elected after the war.
What made matters worse in Argentina was that the government run news was advertising that the armed forces were kicking the British’s ass, but when we would listen to the BBC at my parents house on Short Wave radio the news appeared to be completely different. They were saying that the british were shooting planes down like there was no tomorrow. On June 12th Pope John Paul II comes to visit Argentina. On June 14th the Argentine government comes on tv and radio to say that they had lost. People were in disbelief. They took to the streets, they went to the Plaza de Mayo, across from the government house. To a certain extent, putting aside the loss of life of the soldiers in the war, many of them conscripts, the defeat was the beginning of the end of the military regime, it was the last nail in the coffin, after that the pressure of the public forced them to call for election, and the rest is history. Argentina has had a “fairly” stable democracy since then, with no more military coup d'état, or simply coup as they are called in the US.
We can argue that the islands are Argentinians. That the only landing strip in the islands before the conflict was built by Argentina, that the kelpers would come to Argentina for medical treatment, that the British Government treated them as second class citizens, that all the food and mail used to come through Argentina, that the settlers were totally abandoned by the British Government, that the people in the UK had no idea where the hell these islands were before the conflict, they hardly knew where Argentina was, if it wouldn’t have been because of the show Evita in the West End. But all this at the end of the day, for me, is totally irrelevant.
The British say that we should allow the settlers decide under who’s umbrella would they like to be. That is also totally ridiculous as well as they didn’t apply that concept when China demanded them to return Hong Kong, knowing that China is a communist country, with no civil liberties. The people who were well off were given asylum, and the poor fell under Chinese government. So we can say that they apply the law that suits them best.
The present government in Argentina has come back to the attack to get the islands. We know the kind of government that Mrs. Kirchner has, with lack of freedom of press, lack of imports, even in the event of medications, and denial of inflation, and growth of the national debt under her presidency. So, I look at the timing as another distraction, just like Galtieri tried 30 years ago.
I view the conflict from a distance as something totally different, probably because living far away and having been far away for almost 27 years gives me a different perspective, or so I think.
It reminds of a big boy who has a toy, and has it in the bottom of the closet, with no purpose for it, but who feels good just denying that toy to somebody who wants. The whole idea is that this boosts their ego by denying Argentina of having the islands.
On the other hand Argentina reminds me of a brat who wants the toy, and who will go on forever with this issue. And I say this because Argentina has a tremendous poverty all across the nation, with people starving, with no jobs, and with the government totally abandoning them to their own mercy. Why have the islands as a priority if there other things that need immediate concern, before a few islands, that have horrendous climate, and nobody would move to, even if they had the opportunity.
People can then say that there is oil or petroleum around the islands. Who cares. Argentina has oil in the continent and does nothing to invest in extracting it, or better still it sells its interests to foreign companies with kickbacks for the people in power at the time of the bidding. It is time to stop blaming the rest of the world for the problem the country has, and start taking responsibility for the mistakes the country has made since its conception in the beginning of the 1800’s.


Se que con este blog voy a hacerme un monton de enemigos de ambas partes, todo el mundo tiene derecho a su opinion.
Treinta años atras, durante los ultimos dias de Marzo de 1982, cuando estabamos celebrando los detalles finales de nuestro casamiento nadie hubiera podido imaginar lo que estaria por ocurrir el 2 de Abril. Cuando me levante ese dia la noticia principal era era que Argentina habia invadido las Islas Malvinas, y habia instalado una base en la capital Port Stanley luego llamada Puerto Argentino.
La gente salio a las calles a celebrar la recuperacion, o reconquista de las islas, dado que siempre se consideraron argentinas.
Argentina estaba bajo un gobierno military, habia transcurrido un period largo y sangruiento llamado la guerra sucia, en donde supuestamente teinta mil personas habian desaparecido.
Galtieri, el presidente de turno en uan larga lista de presidentes desde el año ’76, salio al balcon de la Casa Rosada, la casa de gobierno, tal como lo habian hecho mucho de sus predecesores como Peron, Evita e Isabel Peron lo habian hecho en el pasado. Todo el mundo estaba usando excarapelas con los colores azul y blanco. El gobierno militar y su represion estaban en sus ultimas, la gente ya estaba cansada de ellos, la economia estaba en la lona, la inflacion estaba empezando a acelerarse. Con el paso del tiempo la gente llego a la conclusion de que Galtieri eligio el momento para invader las islas porque necesitaba una distraccion de los problemas locales.
El penso que el leon, un leon cansado, no viajaria mas de miles de kilometros para recuperar las islas. Tambien calculo que EEUU defenderia al hemisferio. Sendos calculos estaban equivocados. La Thatcher era la primer ministra del Reino Unido, y Regan, que era el presidente de EEUU, compartian muchas de las mismas idelogias y decisiones, desde destruccion de sindicatos, reduccion de impuestos de los ricos. La primera ministra no estaba pasando un buen momento politico dado que tenia muchos problemas, incluyendo huelgas y manifestaciones en las minas, y una economia muy debil por una recesion mundial.
El presidente argentino le termino haciendo un favor a la “dama de hierro” como era conocida, dado que gracias al conflicto fue re-electa.
En Argentina lo peor de todo fue que el gobierno tenia intervenido todos los canales de radio y television y difundia noticias de que las fuerzas armadas estaban ganando la guerra, pero en la casa de mis padres donde se escuchaba la BBC en la radio de onda corta las noticias eran totalmente distintas. Ellos decian que los ingleses estaban bajando aviones argentinos. El 12 de Junio el Papa Juan Pablo II llego a la Argentina. El 14 de junio, dos dias despues, el gobierno por medio de un comunicado en los medios de difusion informa al pueblo que las fuerzas armadas habian sido derrotadas en las islas. La gente no lo podia creer. Salieron a las calles, muchos fueron a la Plaza de Mayo. Si uno deja de lado la perdida de vida de los soldados en la guerra, muchos de ellos conscriptos, la derrota fue el principio del final del regimen military, fue el ultimo clavo en el cajon, luego de eso la presion del publico los forzo a llamar a elecciones, y el resto es historia. Argentina ha tenido una democracia “bastante” estable, sin mas golpes de estado.
Podemos discutir que las islas son Argentinas. Que la unica pista de aviones antes del conflict fue construida por la Argentina, que los kelpers venian a Argentina para asistencia medica, que el gobierno britanico los consideraba ciudadanos de segunda categoria, que toda la comida y el correo pasaba por la Argentina, que los pobladores fueron abandonados por el gobierno britanico, que la gente en el Reino Unido no tenia ni idea donde quedaban las islas antes del conflict, a duras penas sabian donde quedaba la Argentina, si no hubiese sido por el show Evita en Londres. Por en definitiva todo esto es irrelevante.
Los britanicos dicen que se le deberia permitir a los pobladores decidir bajo el gobierno de quien quisieran estar. Eso es totalmente ridiculo tambien dado que cuando China les demand el devolucion de Hong Kong no utilizaron el mismo sistema, sabiendo que China tiene un gobierno comunista que no cree in libertades individuales. La gente de clase alta y clase media alta en China fueron dadas ascilo politico, y los demas cayeron en las manos del gobierno chino. Ahi podemos ver que aplican la teoria segun como les viene bien a ellos.
El gobierno argentino actual ha vuelto al ataque con respecto a las islas. Sabemos muy bien el tipo de gobierno que tiene la Sra. Kirchner, con libertad restringida de prensa, cierre de importacion, hasta en el caso de medicamentos, niegue de la inflacion real, y crecimiento de la deuda externa en su presidencia. Yo miro al momento elegido como otro caso de oportunismo para distraer al pueblo, como lo hizo Galtieri 30 años atras.
Desde la distancia miro al conflicto totalmente distinto, tal vez porque he vivido lejos por casi 27 años, y esto me permite mirarlo con otra perspectiva, al menos eso es lo que pienso.
Esto me recuerda a un chico grandote que tiene un juguete, lo tiene en el fondo del placard, sin ninguna utilidad, que lo unico que le interesa es negarle el juguete a alguien que lo quiere. Lo unico que hace esto es inflarle el ego por negarle las islas a la Argentina.
Por otro lado Argentina me hace acordar a un chico mal criado que quiere un juguete, y que va a seguir toda la vida con esto. Digo esto porque Argentina tiene una tremenda pobreza en todo el pais, con gente muerta de hambre, sin trabajos, y con un gobierno que los ha abandonado a su suerte. Porque poner las islas en la lista de prioridades si hay cosas que necesitan cuidado inmediato. Las islas tienen un clima horroroso, nadie se mudiaria ahi, por mas que tuviesen la oportunidad.
La gente puede decir que las islas, y alrededor, tienen petroleo. Que importa. Argentina tiene petroleo y no inverte para extraerlo, o vende sus intereses a compañias extranjeras recibiendo sobornos la gente que esta en el poder en el momento de las licitaciones. Es tiempo de dejar de culpar al resto del mundo por los problemas que tiene el pais, y empezar a tomar responsabilidades de los errors cometidos por el pais desde su concepcion al comienzo del siglo 19.

The US Supreme Court and the Health Care Bill

The Health care reform, Obama’s major legislation, is in front of the Supreme Court. The people who are fundamentally against it say that the legislation is unconstitutional.
Now let us look at the history of this piece of legislation.
In 1993 former President Clinton asked First Lady Hilary Clinton to head the Health Care Reform Act.
Conservatives including conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation said that a single payer was a bad idea, and that a individual mandate was the right way to do it.
Mitt Romney passed the legislation in Massachusetts that included a personal mandate. Newt Gingrich in 1993 said that a individual mandate was the right way to go, Bob Dole said the same thing.
Now let's shift to 2009 and Obama in the White House. The President proposes the Health Care Reform. All these institutions and individuals who had said in the past that the individual mandate was unconstitutional. They had forgotten completely what they had proposed and supported 16 years earlier. When I was growing up we used to have a saying that said “I don’t know what you guys are discussing but I’m against it”. That is the behavior of the Republican Party.
We know perfectly well that Health Care companies, Corporate America, and Wall Street were against the Reform. Their concern, that down the road we could have a single payer system such as in most other industrialized nations where the cost is much lower per person than in the US and that output or result is higher. Conservatives tell us that the health care in the US is the best in the world. What they don't mention is that it’s the best if you can afford it, that it is run by insurance companies deciding what kind of coverage each individual receives, and when these insurance companies will pull the plug in terms of coverage. Studies done by reputable institutions show that the US health care is rated in number 36 in the world, with France being number 1. Our premiums are high, with copays for everything from visit to the doctor, to hospital, to medication. The cost of my family between doctors and medications for 2011 was over $4000. Not exactly pocket change, and that is with health coverage, and that does not include the insurance itself. In countries such as Canada, a place that conservatives bad mouth, braces for teeth for the young are free, and for adults more than 50% of the treatment is covered, while in the US braces are not covered at all. Most kids tend to have crooked teeth and need treatment. In states like NJ the cost of that is over $5000. Not a number that every family can afford.
Now let us look at the main group who organized through the power of big funders, and then ran against the Health Care in 2010, the Tea Party, their proposal is that the individual mandate should be eliminated, and if they could have their way repeal the whole legislation. But, what are they proposing if they repeal Obamacare, like they call it? Nothing, just go back to what we had before. That would mean that college students whose age is between 21 and 26 would have to purchase their own health care instead of being included in their parents insurance, people with pre-conditions would lose their coverage, and that insurances could use all the money they would like for lobbing and advertising instead of the what the bill states which is 80% of premiums goes to health care coverage and 20% administration and other expenses.
What the Tea Party people believe is that nobody should force them to pay for coverage, so that if they have an accident or get sick in another state that is not their place of residence the rest of us who pay for health coverage pay for it, with higher premiums, or have hospitals and doctors eat the expense.
I think the choice is very simple. For the people who think that the health system is so great they should volunteer to work for a couple of months in a hospital, in a doctor's office or become sick, and not listen to Fox News or Rush Limbaugh and base their own opinion on that. Their opinion will change overnight.

BBC vs the Private Sector

Many people in the U.S. believe that nothing can be run as good as when it is in the hands of the private sector, and that when the government runs anything it does it inefficiently, and it never works.
Having grown up in a household that had its ties to the UK the BBC has always been a reliable source of information.
The British Broadcasting Corporation, or BBC as it is commonly known, has always had a reputation of being unbiased. It is said that during World War II the German Army and therefore the troops would follow the BBC because of the reliability of its news.
They arguably have the best documentaries for TV, the quality of their programming is very high, they have qualified reports across the globe. CNN’s concept was based on the BBC.
My father-in-law was for a period of time press secretary for the Armed Forces in Argentina, and he once told me how surprised he was that the reporter of the BBC spoke Spanish fluently. He also said that this reporter had told him that he had come from another assignment in China, and that he spoke several languages. If we look at the history behind many of the reporters that CNN employs many of them had their origins in the BBC.
The BBC in the USA has a couple of channels on TV, one being BBC NEWS, a 24 hour news channel.
I mentioned earlier the documentaries, if we look closely many of the programming of the Discovery Channel in the United States is of the BBC. If we try to find DVDs or Blu Rays about nature such as Planet Earth, or Human Planet they were done by the BBC.
As far as programming, most of the PBSs across this country play British Comedy, the majority, if not all of them, are done by the BBC.
The number 1 program in the world, Top Gear, is done by the BBC, and its viewed across the world, including Africa.
Now one can say what is the point of this blog, and that is very simple, the BBC is a public service broadcaster, this means that it is funded by the public through license fees. Its autonomous, with no advertising, similar to what PBS, or for those who don’t know Public Broadcasting Service, would be in the US. It is the largest broadcaster in the world with around 23000 employees.
This goes to show that PBSs or public funded broadcasters are not a dirty word, and instead of being defunded they should be promoted.
When we watch TV or listen to private run radio stations not only do we listen to corporate advertisement, but in many instances there are many issues that are never addressed. Most of the TV and radio stations are owned by large corporations, who have their own agenda, and who push, in many instances, their own philosophy to their audience. We can look at both sides of the aisle, Fox News is with no doubt the spokesperson of the Republican Party, with conservatives conducting their shows, inviting only people who agreed with their views. The last liberal that Fox News had on its staff was Alan Colmes, and he’s been gone for quite some time. Mitt Romney has not given any interviews to MSNBC, he talks primarily to Fox, and in a special occasions he’ll appear on CNN. Conservatives consider CNN liberal, although the network gave a free pass to the Bush Administration during the Iraq invasion and occupation. CNN is owned by Time Warner, a large corporation that no only owns magazines, but also a TV cable company. Now let us look at NBC, and their affiliates including MSNBC, they are owned by G.E. (General Electric), one of the largest corporations in the world, and for many years was also one of the biggest polluters. This is an issue that is rarely addressed on the network or its affiliates. ABC is owned by Disney. We know the size and penetration of the Disney conglomerate. CBS is owned by Viacom, another large conglomerate.
Private, as we can see, can have its other side as well, with fewer opinions and choices. Nobody says that the CCTV, or China Television, is the perfect model, but neither is a television, radio and newspaper market owned by a handful of conglomerates, because they will publish, discuss and report about the things that they have on their agenda.
A balanced alternative is many times a healthier alternative, even if it goes against our own views.

A tribute to my cousin Wendy

As we come to the end of the month of February we remember my cousin Wendy, and we just need to stop and reflect how precious life is. We can think of this time as a somber, sad time or we can celebrate her life and be thankful that she gave us her love and she enriched our lives, and in the process made them better.
So we give thanks to God for having chosen us to be blessed by Wendy's life. God is our creator, our father and our comforter; he brings us peace even in the middle of the storm.
To know what kind of a person Wendy was we can look at her two “kids” and what kind of a parent she was, that's where we can say the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
We say at times her life was cut too short. I believe that in God's eyes her life was neither short nor long, but just the exact length, and I believe that we all serve a greater purpose than ourselves, and therefore Wendy fulfilled that purpose, she blessed her parents, she touched the lives of many people, through her work and friendship, and she was the older sister to my cousin Ian.
In our short paths in this world we cross and share other people's paths, sometime for a longer period than in others, but that doesn’t mean than by being shorter the sharing is less fulfilling.
When I met Wendy for the first time in 1978 she came across as a shy and fragile person, she was a teenager then. It was in 1979 that we truly developed a close relationship, including a visit just the two of us to London on the boat that goes from Embankment to Greenwich. The last time Emma, our kids and I visited Leavesden was in 1998, she was a mature woman then, but still fragile, vulnerable and somewhat shy. I guess that was what made Wendy somebody you could love. She had a little bit of a hard time at the beginning but she would open her heart to people, and end giving the best of herself in every relationship. Most people don’t have that asset.
So now, again, I like to thank God for allowing us to share Wendy’s path, and in doing so we were blessed with her existence.
When she went home to God four years ago I wrote, with his inspiration, a eulogy for her, and I will finish this tribute to her here just like I did then with the words of the book of Numbers that say:
“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”

Obession with guns and other weapons

We seem to live in a country obsessed with guns. The NRA and lots of fanatics across country hide behind the 2nd amendment to the Constitution.
The 2nd amendment reads: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
People who say “it’s my God given right” should still be required to register any arms, whatever type, just like we are required to register driving vehicles, licenses should be required, just like we are required to have a driver's license, and seller's should also be required licenses so that they can sell, we should also have a waiting period when buying a gun, where backgrounds checks are performed.
Shows, where many of these weapons change hands do not fulfill any of these requirements. You can have a felon with a past longer than his arm, and he would out of that show with whatever weapon he wants. The NRA defends these shows, and says that the rights of law abiding citizens should not be taken away.
What a crock. That is absolutely a joke. What we have is chaos. This country has the highest amount of people behind bars in the world, the highest gun shooting in the world, deaths caused by gun, but we still believe, like in many states, that we should be able to walk in the street with a gun, that we should go to work with a gun, go to church with a gun. When is enough enough?
What it comes down to is the idea of bullying people, I am stronger or bigger than you, I have no brains but I have guns. It the same way that we behave in the international arena, invading or attacking countries.
We say that people kill people. Another joke. Guns kill people. Ask the people in Columbine, or in Virginia Tech, or today in Ohio who kills people.
I think that we should draw a line between is necessary such as a hunting rifle, and an m14 or a Smith & Wesson 45, or a Magnum 357. These are weapons to kill people.
A friend of mine once asked me if I consider moving to Texas. I said that I was not interested for two reasons, the first one The Death Penalty, something that I not only disagree with but also don’t believe in, and second, Gun possession.
Some states seem to believe that they are still in the Wild West. It’s the 21st Century. Wake up.
I live in a state that abolished the Death Penalty, and that has tight gun controls, and I like it that way.
I am not naïve to believe that we are an island, people buy them in other states with flex laws and then come here with them, but at least I know that we have big penalties for people who break the law.

The Supreme Court and the effects of Citizens United

Many times Republicans like to brag about the fact that everything should be either handled by the states or even locally.
Not necessarily when it favors their interests.
They always talk about how justices in the Supreme Court should not legislate from the bench.
We are now living with one of the most overreaching supreme courts in a generation.
This started with the election of Bush/Gore and their decision to choose a winner, by stopping the recount, probably because they feared that Bush could end up being the looser.
In 2010 they overturned a decision that was over 100 years old with Citizens United to allow unlimited corporate money in elections, with no disclosures, no traces. Republicans like to say that corporations are people. I don't know where in the Constitution it says that. And because of that they should be able to spend unlimited amounts of money to decide elections.
A few days ago they blocked the state of Montana from being able to enforce their own legislation that does not allow corporations to fund elections. Here we go with the overreaching.
They had already legislated from the bench in the Citizens United case, so that the 1% of the population have more saying in the election than the other 99%.
It is wonderful to see the Republican Candidates how they are now “suffering” the consequences of this wrong decision from this Supreme Court, with negative adds that have only turned off people in the states where primaries are being conducted.
2010 saw many states being hijacked by neo-conservatives with the help of Citizens United, and I say hijacked because Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia, Michigan, and Florida, to name a few are being run down to the ground by the few at the expense of the many, with legislation that they never disclosed they would pass once in office. In Wisconsin and Ohio union busting and the elimination of negotiation, in Michigan of the governor disallowing local elections by appointing viceroys of his choosing, in Florida by destroying education, and in Virginia by trying to pass legislation that would force women who would want to terminate a pregnancy to be do a trans-vaginal ultrasound with a probe.
Talk about lets reduce government in our lives. Republicans in power are overreaching in all aspects, they want to know what you do in your bedroom, with whom, and when. They want to legislate people’s every moves. We cannot forget either that their goal is always to cut taxes, not for the average Joe but for the friends who financed their campaigns, same thing with regulations, and then we end up in a total meltdown like the one we suffered in 2008. Governor Christie in NJ wants to reduce taxes, he says. To the average family it will probably represent a few hundred dollars a year. What he should focus on is in how to give property tax relief to the families of this state, not benefit the 1% of the population. That will not revive the economy, if that is his "supposedly" goal.
Republicans always say that the government should not choose winners and losers. Ironic because that's what they have been doing in every place where they can get their hands on. They believe in corporate welfare, at the expense of everybody else, they say that we should lower taxes and broaden the base, in lame English it means lower the taxes for the wealthy and start taxing low income people to make up for the loss in revenue, so that people like my daughter who work for minimum wage pay income taxes as well. Their policies for the last 30 years have caused the near annihilation of the middle class. And when the rest of us say we need assistance they always say that there isn’t any money.

Friendship in the US/Amistad en EEUU

In 2001 my father in law while visiting us asked me if I could tell him what I felt the pros and cons of living in the US were.
A little over ten years has passed since that visit, and I still believe the same thing that I did then.
I can come up with many pros of the US.
On the other hand, the con that I told my in laws during that visit is still the same, and that is that people in the US have no concept of friendship.
A very good friend of mine who now lives in Virginia, back then used to live in the area where I live, the northeast of the country, said that I was stereotyping the whole country. I admit that I was doing that. So I can probably say that the northeast, that the New York area, is that way.
But whatever the region I may live in, the bottom line is that people who live here have no real idea what friendship is all about.
It is not casual B.S., talking about the weather, to go to a church, to go to a funeral to say goodbye to somebody.
It is deeper than that. They are very supportive. But there is a difference.
I used to work with a gentleman who was from Spain and we used to joke that you could be working for a few years in a company and when you would resign, on your last day co-workers would usually through a goodbye party. This probably would fall on a Friday. You would then call on the following Monday and the same people who through the party for you would not know you any longer. It was like they never knew you.
I can safely say that I have truly a few friends with whom I have deep friendships. Most live in Argentina.
Some people who read this may say I have a lot of friends. I’m happy for you. I ask: How many times have you been to their house? When was the last time you were invited to their house? How often do you talk to them? Are you the one who always calls?
If you’re honest with yourself you know the answer.
I find people in the US to be superficial; you just get to see a what they want to share with you. They don’t plant deep roots so that they can uproot them and move somewhere else. They are not into commitments, because it takes energy to maintain a commitment, and friendships are commitments.
One can ask how do they build relationships that can lead to marriages. There are several answers, one, you have couples that are high school sweethearts, others meet in college, church can also be a place to build relationships as well, at work, although a little bit harder.
I used to work in an office with a woman who was younger than me, she was a back stabber, competitive, and she would say that she considered me a friend. With friends like that who needs enemies. After I left she kept on calling me for quite some time until she came to the conclusion that I was not interested in her friendship. She once said that she came to work to make friends. That’s pretty sad.
When one has something to compare with it makes it easier to see the difference.
A lot of what they call friendships where I come from people would call acquaintances.
I have one friend in Argentina that I have known since 1970, we went to 8th grade together.
I have another friend in Argentina that we went to 12th grade together, and I consider him the brother I never had. Many times when we are together it seems like we don’t have to say anything and the other one knows what the other one is thinking or feeling.
I have some very good friends that, although we have lived over 26 years in the US, call us for our birthdays every year. With the exception of people in my office that know my birthday nobody else in the US knows or cares about it.
I’ve also rejoined with a few other friends that I hadn’t seen in many years, and we try to get together every year now.
And last but not least my former school mates. I left for the end because 3 years ago when I agreed to be a Facebook member the first thing that came to my mind was “I’d like to know what happened, what had become of the people from my past, and primarily of my youth.. I tried finding people from my elementary school, from the club I was member of, and primarily my high schoolmates. I graduated in a school where we were the first class to graduate, as it was a new school. We were twelve in the class, 6 girls and 6 guys. I knew that one of the guys had passed away a few years, and one I’ve been in contact for some time, so my goal was to find the other nine. So with the help of Facebook, Sonico, and Google I got in touch with one, then she put me in contact with others, and so on. In 1995 or 1996 we had had a school reunion and I had already seen some of them, but that did not last. So I felt that this time I was not going to let them slip through the cracks, so I started calling, bugging, and so on, so that when I traveled to Argentina we could have a reunion. We get together every year ever since. Some of them who don’t live in Buenos Aires even make the effort of traveling so that we can get together as many as possible. We created a blog where we can say whatever is on our mind. This keeps us together. I don’t think that I did anything less that any friend would do for another.
Friendship requires work, but is extremely rewarding. Friendship requires giving without expecting anything back, and accepting your friends with all their shortcomings and all their flaws. You love them for who they are, not what you would like them to be. And you should not change your friends because your income status changes.
There is a song in Spanish written by an Argentinian that says “Cuando un amigo se va, deja un espacio vacio, que no lo puede llenar la llegada de otro amigo”, When a friend departs he/she leaves an open space, that cannot be filled by the arrival of another or a new friend.
I think that it may be safe to say that the people in the US that I have come in contact with (this to please my friend with no stereotypes), maybe with a few exceptions, have no clue what that means, it is so foreign to them as to how poor the majority of the world is.
Many Christians who pad themselves in the back should read closely what Jesus told his disciples: There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.


(Español)
En el 2001 mi suegro me preguntó durante su visita si le podia decir cuales eran los pros y contras de vivir en EEUU.
Han pasado un poco mas de una decada desde aquella visita pero mi forma de pensar no ha cambiado desde entonces. Puedo dar una larga lista de pros de EEUU.
Por otro lado el contra que le dije a mi suegro durante su visita no ha cambiado, y es que la gente en EEUU no tiene ni idea lo que es Amistad.
Un muy buen amigo que ahora vive en Virginia, y que en el pasado vivia en nuestra zona, el noreste del pais, me dijo que estaba generalizando a todo el pais. Admito que estaba hacienda eso. Tal vez pueda decir que el noreste, que la zona de Nueva York, es asi.
Miremos como lo miremos, el tema es que la gente que vive aca no tiene idea de lo que es amistad.
No es conversacion superficial, hablar del tiempo, ir a la iglesia, ir a un funeral a decir adios a alguien.
Es mucho mas profundo que eso. Son muy solidarios. Pero no es lo mismo.
Hace un tiempo atras cuando trabajaba con un señor que habia nacido en España nos reimos de que cuando muchas veces cuando uno trabaja por un tiempo en una empresa el ultimo dia de trabajo los compañeros le tiran un fiesta de despedida, esto normalmente es un viernes. Cuando uno llama el lunes, esa misma gente se comportan como si nunca lo hubieran conocido.
Puedo decir que tengo unos pocos amigos con los cuales tengo una real amistad. La gran mayoria vive en Argentina.
Mucha gente que lea esto puede llegar a decir que tiene muchos amigos. Me alegro por ellos. Yo le pregunto: Cuantas veces has estado en sus casas? Cuando fue la ultima vez que fuiste invitado a sus casas? Que seguido hablas con ellos? Sos vos el que siempre llamas?
Si sos honesto con vos mismo sabes la contestacion.
Yo siento que la gente en EEUU es superficial, te dejan ver unicamente lo que le interesa que veas. No plantan reaices profundas dado que eso le permite plantarlas en otro lugar sin dificultad. No tienen interes in compromisos porque se requiere energia para mantener un compromiso, y amistades son compromisos.
Uno puede preguntarse como comienzan relaciones que puedan convertirse en matrimonios. Hay muchas contestaciones, parejas que se conocieron en la secundaria, o en la Universidad, la iglesia es un lugar donde se crean amistades, en el trabajo, a pesar de que no es facil.
Yo trabajaba con un mujer mas joven que yo, y era competitive, traicionera, y decia que me consideraba un amigo. Con amigos como ella no hace falta tener enemigos. Cuando me fui de ese trabajo me siguio llamando durante varios años, hasta que finalmente se dió que no me interesaba su “amistad”. En una oportunidad recuerdo que me dijo que venia a trabajar para hacer amigos. Eso realmente es lamentable.
Cuando uno tiene con que comparer ahi es donde ve la diferencia.
Muchos de los que ellos llaman amistades de donde vengo yo le diriamos conocidos.
Yo tengo un amigo en Argentina que conozco desde el año ’70, fuimos juntos a primer año de la secundaria.
Tengo otro amigo con el que fui solamente en quinto año de la secundaria, al cual consider el hermano que nunca tuve. Muchas veces cuando estamos juntos da la impression de que no tenemos necesidad de decir algo y el otro sabe que uno esta pensando o sintiendo.
Tengo muy Buenos amigos que, a pesar de nosotros estar viviendo desde hace 26 años en EEUU, nos llaman para cada cumpleaños. Sacando a la gente con la cual trabajo que sabe mi cumpleaños nadie mas en EEUU sabe o le interesa.
Tambien me he vuelto a encontrar con algunos otros amigos, y nos tratamos de reunir todos los años cuando voy.
Ultimo pero no por eso mucho menos mi ex-compañeros. Lo deje para le final porque hace 3 años atras cuando finalmente acepte ser miembro de Facebook, (o como le dice un ex-compañero de la primaria cara-libro), lo primero que me vino a la mente fue “que fue de la vida de la gente de mi pasado, y primoridialmente, de mi juventud. Trate de encontrar gente de la primaria, del club era socio, y primoridialmente mis ex-companeros de la secundaria. Me gradué en un colegio donde eramos los primeros egresados dado que era un colegio nuevo. Eramos doce, 6 chicas y 6 tipos. Sabia que uno de los muchachos habia fallecido hace unos años, y con otro ya estaba en contacto desde hace un tiempo, asi que me quedaban 9.
Gracias a la ayuda de Facebook,Sonico y Google encontré a una, ella me puso en contacto con otros, y de ahi en más. En 1995 o 1996 habiamos tenido una reunion del colegio y ya habia visto a algunos de ellos, pero no duró. Esta vuelta no iba a dejar que sucediera lo mismo, entonces empecé a llamar, a jorobar, y asi cuando viajase pudieramos tener una reencuentro. Hemos tenido un encuentro todos los años desde esa oportunidad. Algunos de ellos que no viven en Buenos Aires hacen un gran esfuerzo y viajan desde lugares del interior, de esa manera podemos juntarnos la mayor cantidad possible. Creamos un blog para que podamos expresar lo que querramos. Esto nos mantiene unidos. Yo no creo que hice nada que otro amigo no hubiese hecho.
La amistad requiere trabajo, pero es muy gratificante. La amistad requiere dar sin esperar recibir nada a cambio, aceptando a los amigos con todos sus defectos. Uno los quiere por quien son, y no quien nos gustaria que fueran. Y no deberiamos cambiar nuestras amistades porque ha cambiado nuestro posicion economica.
En castellano hay una cancion compuesta por un argentine que dice “Cuando un amigo se va, deja un espacio vacio, que no lo puede llenar la llegada de otro amigo”.
Creo que puedo decir con cierta certeza de que la gente que en EEUU con la cual yo he tenido contacto (y digo esto para que mi amigo este content que no estoy generalizando), con muy pocas excepciones, no tiene ni la mas remota idea lo que eso significa, es tan foraneo para ellos como lo hes que la gran mayoria del mundo es pobre.
Muchos Cristianos los cuales les gusta dares una palmada en la espalda deberian leer lo que le dijo Cristo a sus discipulos: Nadie tiene mayor amor que este, que uno ponga su vida por sus amigos.