The Beautiful San Diego

On my Semana Santa vacations, I went to San Diego with my family. It was a fun trip I really liked. First of all, we lost our flight from Phoenix to San Diego because our previous flight was 2 hours delayed. The airline changed our flight but we had to wait for three hours at the Phoenix Airport. Anyway, we arrived at San Diego at 3 pm. We were starving and wanted to be to the hotel as soon as possible. My brother made me realize his geography classes were useless because he asked full of amazement as the plane was landing “San Diego has a beach?” In case you are wondering, San Diego has a beautiful bay and a Naval Station.

The first thing we did was looking for a fine restaurant at downtown. We chose a nice Italian restaurant on 5th Street. I had never been to an Italian restaurant where the waiters are actually Italian. The food was simply delicious. We went to Balboa Park the next day. It is a huge, literally huge, park in the middle of the city where you can find museums, theatres, restaurants and San Diego Zoo. There are trees all over the place and everything is really clean and impeccable. Next day, we went to Sea World and we decided to use the public transportation to get there. It was a different experience and gave us a look at the city not many tourists get. Sea World was really nice! As a major touristic site, there was a huge diversity of people at the park. On Saturday, we went to Coronado and to San Diego Zoo. We crossed the huge bridge from San Diego to the island. We walked around the famous Hotel Del Coronado and the beach. The water was really cold and it was very different to Mexican beaches.

San Diego is a very wealthy city; there is no doubt of it. The tax is higher than in Arizona so the standards of living are better. Because of this, no wonder Californians have a particular culture different from the rest of the Americans. An important part of the income comes from tourism. The city has everything to offer to international visitors and it is really clean. I find it hard to believe that such a great city is so close to the border. Being along a border brings a lot of issues to a city but San Diego has being able of taking advantage of these circumstances for their benefit. It is amazing how the government takes care of every single spot of the city. At night you could see people cleaning the sideways and taking care of the way downtown looked. That must be the major difference you notice when you cross the border between Tijuana and San Diego. The amount of money our Mexican government invests on the cities is a lot less. As I mentioned on a previous blog, I think it is fascinating how a border divides a territory so deeply in all the possible ways. I hope I can visit this beautiful city again.

If you visit San Diego you cannot miss Seaport Village, Gaslamp Quarter, Coronado and Balboa Park.

More than Just Wrestling

On Sunday, a major event took place in Phoenix, Arizona. The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) had a show on this city near our state. Apparently, this kind of events has a lot of fans, too much if you ask me. Since Friday, a lot of families headed for Phoenix to see the famous John Cena, Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy, among many others. Buses and buses left town to see this popular and all-American show. Several members of my family are huge fans and they couldn’t miss the chance of seeing these celebrities. I heard a lot of people were going to this event and I began thinking the economic effect of this type of shows. Just imagine all the money that the United States received for every person that bought a permit at $6 to go to Phoenix. I’ll tell you what my family had to do in order to see the WWE show. They made a special trip to Nogales several weeks ago to get their permits. This was actually very smart because last weekend the permit line must’ve been so long since vacations had just started. Then, they left Hermosillo at 4 am on Saturday, so they would be early at Phoenix. Of course, if you are at Phoenix who wouldn’t make a nice stop at the mall. The result is simple: more money for the USA, and obviously, less money to be invested in Mexico.

These types of events are really beneficial for the USA economy. We as Mexicans leave our neighboring country a lot of money, more than we imagine. I bet Mexicans were an important part of the audience in this wrestling event. I wish we had such big international idols so people from Tucson or Phoenix will come to Hermosillo to their shows. It’s hard to picture, isn’t it? Sadly, we depend a lot on our dear neighbor. I sometimes wonder how healthy this dependence is. As we have seen in class, depending on the economy of another country makes our economy a lot more unstable. Also our culture is influenced a lot by the culture of the United States; for example Halloween and the clothes we use. I think it is really interesting how some Mexicans almost worship everything the United States does and every festivity or tradition it has. We are the ones who decide how much of this culture we are going to take as our own. The more we take from this culture, the more we will depend on them.

Having these celebrities and shows represents an important flow of money. There’s nothing wrong with liking them and attending to the events. We should just think a little bit beyond what we see. We must decide if we want to give our money to the USA or to our own nation.

Busy Children

I was doing some more research on China because that’s the country I am doing the Final Project on. Then, I decided to look about children in China since it is a very controversial topic in this country. I found an article about Chinese children that states they spend too much hours in school and have no free time to play unlike normal children around the world. The article said that children may even go to school more hours than their parents go to work. Parents try to keep children busy at all times so they can focus on their careers and time for themselves. This is a very interesting phenomenon because it is directly related to culture. Parents are so worried about making their children competitive and prepared for being the best they forget children are supposed to have time to play and discover the world around them. Chinese children grow up with a lot of pressure from their parents who are always pushing them to be better. Being pushed by your parents is good as long as it does not affect self perception and your quality of life. It is good to be competitive and it is good to be educated but your overall well being is unquestionably first.

If most children grow up stress, which is happening, they can cause a major change in China’s future. The way I see it, people used to struggle and suffer because they could only have one child. Today, they may not even want to deal with this responsibility. A cultural change is definitely going on right now. This change in the way parenthood is seen can affect thousands of children who are growing up feeling unloved and without time to play. Growing up like this is not only unhealthy for the child. These children from today are going to be the political, economical and social leaders from China in a few decades. Adults should consider this when treating their children. They should raise them properly so they can contribute with China’s development in the future. If China is full with unhappy and traumatized people, its economy and social situation may suffer changes. We cannot be sure how much these changes with affect this country that has struggled so much to be one of the most powerful countries now a day. I am using the case of China because it is the country I am researching about but I am sure there are sadly other countries were children are being underappreciated.
We should focus on children today to have a better world tomorrow.

Where is Mexico Going?

I was reading the New York Times and an opinion article caught my attention because it was about Mexico. The article talked about a recent phenomenon in some Mexican cities; the article refers to it as the “art of renting”. This basically consists on renting a person for any purpose. For example: if you are arrested for whatever minor crime, you can rent a person to spend the nights in jail you were given; or you can rent a person to be your signatory for a “legal” business deal.

I was more than ashamed people from our country are actually doing this. I haven’t read about any of this on the newspapers from Hermosillo. I think it must be a really big deal in other bigger cities because the New York Times is talking about it. I can’t believe this people are willing to leave their dignity aside in order to get money. What’s going on with us? In these times of economic crisis, a lot of employments have been lost. I never imagined we will get to that point. If you think about it, it is a new kind of prostitution. People are paying someone else to spend time in jail in their place. I never thought that was even possible. We are definitely going beyond all levels of corruption and injustice. We are also suffering from a lot of insecurity in Mexico. The drug-related violence is worse than ever and all over the country. I used to believe Hermosillo was a safe city but not anymore. We have no idea what may happen to us as we walk down to the grocery store, as we eat with our family at a restaurant or as we hang out outside our school. Just like the two students from Tec de Monterrey who died tragically.

Renting people will affect the economy and our society if we do not stop it. Imagine all the crimes that will not be punished. This may become a major problem in the future. Today it is really hard for the government to impose the law. Our president is having a really hard time taking control of the drug-related situation in the country. It is such a shame that our justice system cannot do anything to better our security. Our police department is contaminated by criminals all over the place. These made me question on whether our government has the power an actual government should have or not. We learned in class about several countries where the government has no longer control of its people. I am concerned and really afraid we might me heading to that point.

A Different Look at Tucson

Last week, several classmates and I had the chance to visit a High School in Tucson as part of the AMUN. This is a Model of the United Nations in which high school students participate. Because of the friendship between Tec de Monterrey and Catalina Foothills High School, we got the chance of participating in a small exchange program. We visited them and interact with their families as they hosted us one night. On Thursday, the day before MUN began, we spent the day in their high school and I was able of noticing all the differences a small line called border can create.
When we arrived, they had prepared a barbecue to get to know each other. It was a lot of fun and everyone was willing to get to know us and the way we lived. We talked a lot about the differences between our schools. Their school was a lot bigger, nearly 1800 students. They have to move from classroom to classroom because each teacher was his or her our room, so there’s a lot of walking during a school day. It was a great experience because I had never been to a school in another country before. As we all know, their culture is very different from ours. People are a lot more open-minded, like in European countries. I entered a Spanish class with the girl who hosted me and I sat in front of the whole class so they could ask me questions about Mexican culture and so they could practice their Spanish. It was harder than I thought speaking about what we do, what we celebrate and how do we speak informally.

I think we all became good friends; we had a great time with the students from Catalina. Getting to know some of them before the conference helped me participated a lot more at the committee. We were the only Mexican students who had the chance to know totally different people. I hope our friendship does not go away and that I have the chance of seeing them next year. I am extremely happy the school supported us and organized this awesome trip.
It was the best trip I’ve ever done to Tucson because I got to see the people’s culture and a different side of the city other than just shopping. I will never forget everything I learned during these 4 days and I am looking forward to next year’s MUN.

Women At Work

I was reading a news article about a girl who got fired from her job when her boss found out she was pregnant. She worked at a bar and the owner did not let her keep her job if she was pregnant. Sadly, this girl was neither the first nor the last woman who will suffer from this unfairness. Women have struggled for decades to reach for equality and stop discrimination. It is a great step that we can go to work and have the same opportunities of growing professionally than men. I feel very proud and grateful for those women who stood up for themselves and were not afraid of being different. We owe them all the opportunities we have today.

I think it is really unfair to discriminate women in general when it comes to a job. A woman needs it as much as the man does and both are perfectly capable of doing it. A woman who is pregnant should not be fired. Her rights are being violated. It is stated in the law that pregnant women have the right to have some days off in order to take care of their baby and that you cannot fire them because of their state. Leaving aside the legal part, what about your ethics? Do you think firing a perfectly capable person just because she is expecting a baby is the right thing to do? Would you like your sister or mother to be in a situation like this? Those women are carrying another life inside of them. Firing a pregnant woman would be like firing someone because is short, has a big family, has a different skin color, or any other characteristic.

Today, unemployment is a major world issue. There are more people than jobs, so competition is all over the place. If pregnant women are discriminated they won’t have a chance to find a decent job to support their family. If people (women and men) have a job, they have money so they become consumers. If they are consumers they can buy more products and services. This way economy is stimulated. That is why we must promote employment and do not fire anyone for unfair reason; we are just hurting the economy. We can stop unemployment from growing by not discriminating women.

Africa: A Beautiful Continent

We Mexicans, as part of an American country, tend to under appreciate Africa and we imagine each and every of its countries are the same. This is totally false. Some Mexicans also think that all African population is still dancing around and wearing a loincloth. This was probably Africa a couple of centuries ago, but not anymore. Today the African continent is made by countries with a stable government like South Africa. Of course there are countries not so fortunate in the economic sense but still not populated by cavemen. We should be a little more reflecting and try to overcome popular stereotypes.

As we saw in the movie Invictus, South Africa is not the perfect country. Its people have suffered from the terrible consequences of apartheid (which I previously talked about). It has suffered a lot of instability previously, but today is the soon-to-be host of the Soccer World Cup. South Africa can proudly say they are the first African country to host this tournament. This event will definitely give South Africa a lot more international attention. I am glad we can get to know better a different country. Soccer is a major event for a lot of different people. Countries get together to enjoy this sport. I hope South Africa does a very good job as a host during this world cup to prove the world they are worth it and to break all wrong stereotypes.
Many African countries have a high birth rate but also a very high death rate because of AIDS, hunger, violence, among other major issues. I read they do not have a really good situation about women and children. They are the weakest and in African countries they are usually unprotected. I think African countries may seem way behind compared to American or European countries. Before under appreciating them and their people we need to think they have recently gotten independence and they started from scratch. They are barely getting started and trying to settle themselves. There are a lot of economic, cultural and international issues keeping them from moving forward. We should show solidarity for these countries and have consideration for their people. Africans are people with feelings, thoughts, dreams and hopes just like any of us.

Apartheid: More Than Just Separating

Apartheid is a system of racial segregation enforced by the National Party government in South Africa. It lasted from 1948 to 1994. The term apartheid means “separation” and that’s what it basically was. Apartheid separated social classes in such way that the white race was socially superior to the others, in this case the black people. It distributed land so that black would be in a different area than white people.

I had heard about apartheid before but never thought it had lasted so many years. I think this idea of believing certain race is better than another is really archaic. I thought South Africa had ended with this at the same time as the United States. Marthin Luther King was really important to this country. If he hadn’t step up who knows how long it had take for the United States to be respectful with all races.

In the movie Invictus, we were able of looking at the side effects of apartheid. It must’ve been very hard for the population to overcome just a strict policy. I think policies like this one make the population tolerate and agree with discriminations. Black people were used to the attacks of white people, they felt inferior. Also black people accumulated a lot of rage throughout the many years of abuses. White people were used to be above the rest and they actually thought they were better. I think using Rugby was a very intelligent way of overcoming apartheid. In the movie, President Mandela used this sport to unify the country that had always been separated. He used a sport as a political issue, as Maestro John mentioned in class.

We should all respect the different races, because we are all human after all. Discrimination between races has always been an issue. We can think of examples like Hitler with the Jews, and the discrimination toward ethnical groups. Respect is the key to end discrimination. We should treat other people like we would like to be treated, no matter what their color, language, sex, point of view or religion is.

I am glad neither one of us had to live in such an unfair society. We are definitely moved forward from where we were 30 years ago.

Hope for Haiti Now

We all know there has been a worldwide support for Haiti. At school we have already cooperated with this cause with the fund raising we had several weeks ago. We are all very proud to see we actually made a difference with our help. People have suffered a terrible lost most of us cannot even imagine, so we should demonstrate we care by being solidarious.

As we at Tec helped Haiti, also many famous singers have. Successful artists like Bono, Jay Z, Madonna, Shakira, Coldplay, Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Wyclef Jean, Sting, and Beyoncé among many others, have showed their support for Haiti by recording several songs to create an album called Hope for Haiti Now. Obviously, all the money from this album will be automatically donated. I think we should learn from these selfless people who are working a lot to help the least fortunate. They are trying to show us that no matter what you are good at, you can always help in your own way. I think most of the time people are driven by money. The power that money has nowadays makes us forget from time to time that people are way more important.

Music is an element that homogenizes society. Even if someone doesn’t understand the language, he or she can still like the music. The songs of this album are really beautiful in their music but also in the message they are trying to communicate. Their songs show their support for Haiti and also motivate the rest of us to do so.

Today it is really easy to donate and help others because of technology. I was watching a video about a song and it included a link to donate right away. Here is one good way in which technology influences our life. We have previously mentioned a lot of problems caused by technology. Well, here is one way technology can help us be a better person and think about others. If we have the chance and we like these songs, we should buy them not download them. Downloading music from the internet is very common. I do not have anything against it, but I think for this case we should make an exception. Every time we download them illegally, it’s like we are taking money away for the people in Haiti.
I hope we can all get a chance to help. Here are some songs from the album Hope for Haiti Now I recommend you listen to: Send me an angel, A Message 2010, Hallelujah, Let it be and Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour).

Earth Strikes Again

During the month of February, one huge iceberg loose off Antarctica’s Coast. There was once big iceberg that separated from the rest of the ice land and joined another one that was already floating in the ocean. The collision of these two ice pieces created a loose iceberg the size of Luxembourg, around 97 kilometers long. The first iceberg separated from the ice land because of the warm water currents that had reach it since several years ago. Reading this shocking news made me realize that global warming is not near, it’s here.

I think Earth has tried to warn us throughout the past years about the catastrophes that could happen. Let’s just take a look about what happened with the Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami of 2004, and most recently what happened in Haiti and in Chile. I think mother Earth gave all the possible warnings that we should take this planet seriously.

All these natural disasters can affect our way of life in each and every sense. Scientists say that if this huge iceberg melts down, the sea level will rise and parts of the world that are barely above sea level may disappear. Also, he said that the iceberg melting will change sea currents and the amount of oxygen in the sea, affecting all types of marine species. This could affect the economy of many countries in which the sea provides a large part of their GDP. The supply of the product will decrease affecting the equilibrium.

I find very interesting what we saw at the last class about considering the effect on the environment in economics. If we had considered nature before, maybe today we wouldn’t be suffering all these natural disasters. The companies that take into account the effect of their actions on nature, are very responsible because they don’t only care about themselves and money but also about the world they are living in. We should all consider the effect on nature of all of our action. Think twice before throwing oil on water, or before throwing plastic bags into the garbage.

We humans can do better. We were given a powerful brain to do whatever is best for us. I hope we realize that we are only harming ourselves by not caring about the world. We should do everything we can do now. Maybe tomorrow will be too late to start caring about our seas, our land and our air. Who knows where mother earth will strike next.

Technology against Privacy

Today’s technologies allow us to be communicated all the time. Social networks like Facebook keep us informed of what all our friends do. For example, where they live, who they hang out with, what they like, who they are dating, and their personality. Also when we use this type of networks we show the world everything we do, even if we rather keep some things to ourselves.

Facebook, Twitter and MySpace are a platform to express yourself and who you are. Sometimes because of the overuse of these, we may find ourselves without a private life. Everyone, no matter if he or she is a stranger, can access our information and know everything about of lives. Publishing every single thing we do, includes a big risk for our safety. Today, there are a lot of kidnappers that look up for girls or for anyone on Facebook and study their lives in order to kidnap them. We should be very care and think twice before we publish a photo or information about us because we don’t know who might see it. Even though, we think only our friends will look at what we do, there are hackers that can access the network.

This type of technologies recently developed is a “double-edged sword”. For example certain GPS that can track you down in a matter of seconds, or cameras on the streets, chips or sensors that know what you are doing and where you at every second. The use of all these “helpful” technology attacks our privacy. I remember we discussed in class a book called Nineteen Eighty Four. In this book, there was Big Brother watching everyone 24/7. It was a futuristic book, but today we are really close to that world. I think this is also a global issue because in the future we will need to create new systems to protect our privacy and our information.

Polygamy, more than a big love

Have you ever watched Big Love? Well, for those who haven’t, it is a TV show about a guy who has several wives and lives with all of them in the same house. Polygamy basically means having more than one wife of husband at the time. Usually Mormons are the ones practicing this because they believe having several wives and a lot of children will help them reach heaven.

I personally do not agree with this type of marriage. I think it is sick and really unfair. I could not imagine myself having to “share” my husband, the man I love, with other women that have the same rights as me. I do not think in this multiple marriages the man actually loves each and every of his wives. I think a person can only love one person truly. I don’t think polygamist marriages are based on care and equality. I think of them as very sexist and possessive. A man can live perfectly happy with one wife. There’s no need of having all those poor women serving one man. But again, that is their religion and beliefs in some cases.

On the other hand, it is really difficult to raise and support all those children. All these births are affecting the economy and making overpopulation grow. Each time a child is born, it represents an expense for the government, and of course for the family. In these times of crisis it is harder to pay for everything a child needs. Also, overpopulation is a major world issue nowadays. I think overpopulated countries should be prepared to apply regulations as soon as possible, just as China did.

It will be really interest having polygamy where a woman has several husbands. I think that will be the ultimate expression of feminism. Maybe one day, this type of marriage will be common. I personally wouldn’t be interested, though. It will make perfect sense if you think about it. Think about all that women have accomplished in such a short period of time. Everything says we will keep fighting for equality and beyond.

Discovering Our Country

When we think about the perfect tourist destination we think about an exotic beach, a European capital or a big, fancy city in the United States. Don’t we? It doesn’t even cross our mind visiting a Mexican town. Last summer, I had a really nice vacation visiting the central part of our country. At the beginning, I didn’t know what to expect from cities I visited. Each city we visited, allowed me to understand another piece of our culture as Mexicans.

First of all, we went to San Luis Potosi to visit my aunt. San Luis Potosi is the beautiful capital of the state of San Luis Potosi. It is a big and industrialised city. Then, we decided to go to Aguascalientes, since it is only a couple of hours away. Did you know it is the cleanest city of the country? Honestly, I didn’t believe it until I got there and I couldn’t find trash on the street or on public places. The government really takes care of the image of the city and tries really hard to promote tourism. Also, people of Aguascalientes feel really proud of their city and take good care of it. Next, we went to Guanajuato. San Miguel de Allende is a small city in Guanajuato. As we arrived, I could see a lot of foreign tourists. At the restaurants and souvenir shops, you could pay with dollars. Most of the signs were in Spanish and in English. This city is full of foreigners because it is really beautiful, it has a colonial style and the government is focused on tourism. The next cities I visited we also focused on this. That’s why they look so nice and clean; to attract foreign tourists and keep the cities growing.

I was positively impressed by this part of the country. It isn’t all poverty and overpopulation. I think that’s the image we sonorenses have of the center and south of Mexico, until we meet those places. I really like getting to know other parts of my country. Most of us aren’t very enthusiastic when we hear of visiting Dolores Hidalgo, Zacatecas, Santa María del Río or Ojuelos. But the truth is that they are places full of culture and traditions. We as Mexicans should be the first ones to appreciate this diversity. Sadly, we are not. I wish hermosillenses could feel so proud of their city as people from these places feel. I do not know why, but we are always complaining about our city instead of taking care of it. If we appreciate Hermosillo, I am sure it could be a lot more beautiful.

I think we’re all a bit Malinchistas. We rather visit cities in other countries like the USA, because we somehow think they are better. There is nothing wrong about going international, but let’s not forget where we come from. Knowing Mexico can be a really positive and fun experience. Getting to know our country is the only way we are going to be able of feeling proud of it and loving it even more.

Who is Going Greener?

A couple of days ago, I found an article about China being the leader at developing green tech. The article mentions that Asian countries are the ones developing this type of energy quicker. Countries like China, Korean and Japan have invested a lot of money in different types of clean energy, like wind turbines, solar energy, etc. I thought that the United States was ahead of every other country. But the fact is that it is not anymore. The article explained that the USA has focused its investments in recovering from the economic crisis. Since Asia was not affected by this crisis, countries like China focus their money on making these types of energy grow.

I think this has a lot to do with the class because we can see another way the economic crisis affected certain countries. Green technology is the technology of the future. In the next years, we will be needing technology that not only satisfies our needs but also that helps us save our planet. This was mentioned by a report of Breakthrough Institute. This really called my attention because the Breakthrough Institute is a think tank in Oakland. It was nice to find a term learned in class applied in the outside world.

I think it is really interesting how economy shapes everything in a country, for instance its technology. The United States has always being very competitive at being the first at developing something. For example, the arms race, the space race and now the green race. I think they have made a race out of it because it is urgent to find ways of not harming our planet anymore. The sooner, the better. We do not know how much time we have left before it is too late.

Mexico is trying its best to go green. Unfortunately, our economy and our culture are the ones stopping this movement. Economy is a matter where neither of us can do much. On the other hand, we can change our culture. Obviously it is not going to be easy, but we still have to do our best. If we care for our planet, it is up to us to make the rest of the people conscious. At school, we have the student group Greenology. As a member of this group, I have the responsibility of inviting the rest of the students to care about our world.

Everyone is trying to do their best to help the Earth out. But how do we know that what we are doing is enough? The truth is that we cannot be sure that our actions will work; but at least we can try. Asian countries may be the ones finding the solution to our problem. Whatever they discover or invent will benefit humanity and everything that lives on Earth.

What About Children?

When we mention the word child, we think about a cute, small and innocent human being that spends his o her time playing, growing and eating. At least that is what we all did were we were little. If this is how a child’s life should be, then why are they exploited, killed or force to fight as a soldier? Sadly, this is the situation of many innocent children around the world. In recent decades, there have been more civilian casualties than before in armed conflicts. And it seems that the percentage keeps on growing. About half of these victims are children.

It is estimated that about 20 million children have been forced to leave their home because of armed conflicts and violation of their human rights. These children are force to live as refugees in other countries and away from their family. They have no one to take care them and are left without protection. A child is a vulnerable human being. They are not independent and are not able of taking care of themselves. More than 2 million children have died as a result of armed conflicts around the world, only in the last decade. This number will keep on increasing if we do not emphasize on the protection of children and their rights. These unprotected children are used to be sold and to be physically or sexually exploited, reports UNICEF. This is just unacceptable; a child does not disserve to suffer like this.

I do not think these people who have decided to hurt children care about the consequences of their acts. We should. These people are destroying lives by stealing the happiest years of the person. All this violence will make these children traumatised adults and full of rage. We do not know what type of person they might be if no one was there to raise them. I think this is going to be a major problem in the future. These that are now children, are going to be the ones generating violence during the future generations. Violence is one of the biggest global issues and here is an option to reduce it in the future. Protecting and educating our children today can lead us to live is a safer world in the future.

Reading about this made me reflect on how lucky we all are. Living with our family, eating three times a day, going to school are things we just that for granted most of the time. These children have neither one of them and cannot do anything about it. I think all of us should feel thankful for the life we have the chance to live.