Journey of Life

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The beginning of healing

I interviewed my grandmother about a treatment she and I receive. This are her answers. 

How did you found out about the treatment? 

-“Through a colleague when I was teaching at UPR Bayamon. She casually found out about my condition. I had a medical appointment in Boston and I had to go in a first class ticket because the other seats were taken, I was very sick so I couldn’t fix myself and a friend of mine had a beauty team on sight and one of the ladies helping was the sister of my colleague.”

What were your thoughts about the procedures of the treatment? -

“I thought it was an opportunity to improve my life.”

Did you felt different after the first treatment? “No, it’s a long term treatment, but it gave me a taste of what was coming.”

-What was (and still is) your mindset going into the treatments? “Of acceptance, because I have kept in remission a disease that is deadly or incurable, but it requires an emotional preparation because it is a tuff treatment but the ending result is positive.”

Is this worth it? 

-“It’s worth it because the treatment erases the memory that the body conserves from the previous crisis. It has allowed me to live a normal life in harmony with my friends and family and more important with my grandchildren. For example I enjoy the academic and athletic achievement of one of them: Sergio Ortiz Luciano, which has provided great satisfaction to me.” (I am the favorite) “In spite the fact that there still is uncertainty of seeing him graduate from college.”

Do you consider this treatment a risk? 

- “Not at all, I would be dead a long time ago if it was.”

What are your thoughts on me taking the treatment now?

- “I think it’s a great thing that you accepted the challenge. Not always because teenagers are receptive to any activity that alters daily routine and more because this treatment doesn’t use traditional methods.”

Having earned this much experienced, would you change something in the treatment? 

-“No, because the scientific knowledge belongs to the doctor.”

After traveling to different places where was your favorite spot to receive the treatment?

- “its more comfortable in the facilities that provide the Dominican Republic; previously I traveled to Peru and Venezuela were I found physical limitations.”

What was your reaction when the doctor had to leave Puerto Rico? 

-“A negative one, the patients were affected in different ways. It was more convenient receiving the treatment in Puerto Rico.”

Having taken many treatments, would you recommended? 

-“Yes, I recommend it. What is good or me is good for others; a lot of people after seeing the treatment results on me have decided to take the treatment.”

Have you had any unforgettable experience? If you have, can you please tell it? 

-“The reaction of a new remedy with strong reactions marked my first trip to Peru; place where the yoga doctor was deported by the Federal Government.”

What are your thoughts on this journey? Is it over for you or it will continue? 

-“Scientist, Poets and philosophers have written plenty essays about this topic. The Scientist from the nineteenth-century Charles Darwim tells us: the survival of the fittest. This gives us an invitation to understand that we need keep fighting till the end. This fight is necessary to complete the cycle of life that correspond to us. Otherwise we would be hastening death. Only those who fight reach the final victory.”

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How far is to far?

‘’Into the Wild” was a hard movie to watch. Topic wise it was a great movie, it makes us aware that material things are not that important but yet it shows us that capitalism obligates us to use and prioritize money. The movie affected me; I was no expecting the ending. I thought he was going to end his journey with his family. I genuinely thought this was going to happen, when I saw he was going to die with a treatable disease, I said to myself: Is it worth it to go through that immense pain to prove a point?  I understand he’s point of living life but he had opportunities that other people would give up everything to take it. He giving up all his material things except his watch showed us the courage and the determination he had to prove his point. I think if everybody has the same determination to fulfill any task or situation life gives you, each person would prosper in life.

The trail of people he met along the way was incredible to watch, it indicated his skills of how he touched people’s life. He really cared about all of them but was not hesitant to leave them behind to complete his journey. Then again part of the journey is the end and that was his journey.

His strength of character was superb, I wouldn’t have the power to say no to the old man even though it meant giving up my journey, then again my purpose wouldn’t be the same as his but I would not have had the will power to do that. My approach to life changed after watching this movie, it made me realized that I don’t have to do what everybody wants me to do. I can realize and achieve anything I want to do and having this mindset is the best thing any human being can have.

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Leading class discussion

I had a great experienced leading a class discussion with my classmate Sergio Betancourt. The subjects we choose were interesting because we could find similar aspects in our life. The topics we found attention grabbing were: risk, adrenaline, extreme sports, fear, comfort zone and also a little bit of journey. We found these topics were an easy way to interact with the class because I think we can all relate in some way with them. I enjoyed the dynamic of the class because we got everyone in the class to speak, and hearing their opinions was comforting; that meant that we were doing a good job (I think).

Having your daughter speak and give her opinions was mesmerizing because the way she elaborated her thoughts were just as intellectual as everyone else’s. She spoke so naturally and for being her age she is very advanced, and I think she benefited from the class because she had the chance to see how university classes are and she can prepare herself for later on when her turn comes. Also having your opinion was important. You gave reflecting thoughts to all of us and that was special because you gave us more space to think and reveal interior thoughts and I appreciate that.

We didn’t emphasize enough on the journey in the videos. We could’ve talk more and create questions in order to discuss them in the class but we were involved with the other topics and time wasn’t our friend. Overall we got a nice respond from everyone and the classroom had a nice atmosphere. We were content with our performance we could improve in our accent and trying to be more fluent, but overall it was a great experienced.

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This photo represents a journey because a journey for me is stopping to admire everything you have done, reflect and learn from them. Revisiting them can be useful to continue with your life. Thinking about your life and clearing your mind is helpful to carry on with the journey. One of the greatest skills a human being can have is to learn from mistakes and manage to take full advantage of the mistakes.            

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“Pa Lante”

This video shows the struggles of a family and Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria. The song is very powerful because it tells us no matter the situation too always keep moving forward or as it says the song “Pa lante”. We see the family separated at the beginning of the video but later reencountered in Puerto Rico. I identify with this family because maybe five or six years ago that was my reality with my mom, a single mother raising me. I know the feeling and this video made remembered but if you keep fighting against all odd you will persevere.

The video also show the damage hurricane Maria did to Puerto Rico. It was sad seeing all over again those images a year since this happened. I can’t even imagine what those families were going through. But videos like this are good because we can see the reality in Puerto Rico, that everything isn’t fine. It’s been rough recuperating from this hurricane and the video shows it. But the motto of this video is brilliant because we need to keep forward “pa lante”.

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Drones need to stop

Drone Pilots: Waiting for a Kill Shot 7000 Miles Away” is a very controversial theme.  The fact that killing a person or a group with so much eases it’s absurd. We have to do something about it. Just killing someone is bad enough but killing someone from thousands of miles away by pressing one button is ridiculous. Many soldiers who press the button for the kill shot have PTSD problems later on. I remember a video that was shown in class about three soldiers that were drone pilots who suffer from PTSD that made the video with their lawyers talking what goes down in those missions. One of the statements in the video was that the Air Force is losing more air pilots than pilots their training.  It opened my eyes, I had no clue this was happening right under our noses.

An article written by Vegas Tenold in “Rolling Stones” tells us the stories of former Air Force One pilots who know are in total disagreement and are “the most visible faces of the anti-drone sentiment in the US”. Also I find interesting the comments made by two former pilots, the first being Stephen Lewis, who “worked on “signature strikes,” where a target is chosen based on behavior rather than identity. Basically, if it looks like a combatant and acts like a combatant; the CIA will launch a Hellfire missile at it. “It wasn’t very accurate.” This is a scary comment because their Killing people for just looking suspicious.  Another soldier named Brandon Bryant wrote “We came to the realization that the innocent civilians we were killing only fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like ISIS’’, you thought that killing would not have repercussions, groups like ISIS is the consequence of these mass killing and some just for looking suspicious. This is an atrocity, people should be outraged by what it is happening. We need more awareness on this topic; people need to know what is happening.

The money Trump is injecting to the military fund is unacceptable. I understand that the military should be funded but not with so much money. Money that could be spent on other important things like: free education, funding programs for homeless people, a program to change gun reform and innumerous thing better than giving so much money to the military.  I repeat people need to know what is happening; we can’t be alienated from reality. We need to open our eyes.

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Is it possible?

Creating the perfect utopia is difficult. In class we discussed and created one but I think it was complicated. What is a perfect world? Everybody has a different answer to that question. Perspective in life is key to found a good answer to this question, because what I think is a good quality for Utopia may be a negative one to another person. I think there is no right answer for this question, opinions is the only thing that prevails in this question.

My Utopia would start with people having to study to get in. For me Utopia would not be just fun because people in general think utopia is a place where you go to party and have fun. Don’t get me wrong in my perfect world there will be fun but just as a small distraction from the duties the daily life has. The perfect scenario is that everybody gets an education in what they desire. The main reason that studying is important is that I want everybody to have their own perspective in life, that they have their own opinion and not be susceptible to have other people think and speak for them. I want people to follow their own dream and believe what’s best for them meaning any political and social belief. The main factor here is that the perfect world couldn’t exist. People have different opinions and they are entitled to their opinion but not everybody understands that. I believe this is one of the biggest problems in the world, that not everybody respects the other opinion. To reach a perfect or close enough to perfect world people need to respect other people’s opinion and that’s why I think Utopia is unreachable. Also another reason Utopia can’t be reachable is because Utopia is something intangible. The moment we try to put something from our world makes it tangible and not Utopia.

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Marvels Latin Superhero

It’s great that Marvel published a Latin woman as a superhero; it was time that the Latin-American culture got a superhero and more importantly a woman. This is the first time a Latino character has their own series. The article we discussed in class says: “Over the past decade, fans have been introduced to the first Muslim Ms. Marvel; a female Thor; a young, female African-American Iron Man; and a new black Captain America.’’ It was time we had a superhero. The author who is from Puerto Rico but lived in the Bronx did a great job of creating this character. Her being from Puerto Rico is even greater; we should feel happy for this. We have someone representing our flag in Marvel.

However this shows us that we are step by step reaching gender equality though were far of reaching that this is a start. The fact that a company this huge touched a subject that people thinks is fragile is great, all that needs to happen is other companies to make the same move. I really believe gender equality could be reached. If we’ve come this far we can still go forward. We as a society need to comprehend that times are changing and everything a person desire can be achieved the person's gender or sexual preference  invading. Each person has rights and those rights can’t be taken away by the simple fact of their sexual preference.

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The Green Book

The Green book  is a travel guide created by Victor Green for African American people. This was created because of the Jim Crow laws. Basically it told African American people where they could go and not. It told where the families could stop for food, gas and vacation in the country because of the discrimination they encountered through history. The Jewish also had a similar travel guide for basically the same reasons.

I am against this because in the first place racism shouldn’t exist. We were created as equal, and all of this injustice could’ve been a non-factor in history. I always think what if it was the other way around? That African American where the ones who colonized whites. How would we be as a society? Will the same things happening now in favor to gender quality exits?

For me is a contradict subject because this book was good for African Americans who wanted to enjoy life. But on the other hand they should’ve been able to vacation and go where ever they wanted, they should’ve been able to travel to any placed they wanted. Gratefully now we have at least me and the people I frequent with, equal rights thanks to numerous people across history. If it wasn’t for Martin Luther King, Malcolm X etc.

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Carrying my thoughts

Things they carried really opened my mind. It showed me that everybody has different journeys in life. Reading their stories taught me how to handle life, how to let everything in the back of my mind and just focus on the task ahead.  I was going through a medical treatment while reading this story and it kept my mind in perspective. It made me reflect on the moment and help finished the treatment. It helped me because the soldiers had a lot in their mind while they were at war, but had to put all of their thoughts aside in order to survive in the war. I assimilated this also when I’m going to practice weightlifting. While I’m lifting weights I escape from reality like the soldiers escape when they are at war. Obviously they are risking their life and that’s not comparable to lifting but I find the similarity in that way.

The way the soldiers protect themselves in war is impressive, they have a lot motor skills, physical capacities and the instinct of surviving very high. I’m amazed by the way they train and condition their bodies to survive. I think everybody should train and do exercises not just for living healthy but also for trying to survive because we never know what can happen. We need to have that instinct of surviving in order to be ready for any kind of situation. It is important also to have a healthy lifestyle in order to have a prosper life, that’s why I encouraged to train or just do something to stay and live active.

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Same Place, Different Perspective

Santo Domingo is beautiful place for vacationing with your family and friends. I go there for similar reasons but the purpose is the total opposite. A medical reason is the purpose of the trip. The reason I said it was the opposite is because the medical treatment is painful and agonizing and a beautiful place I remember for pain. But the result of the treatment is worth it because your cleanup your entire body and any chronical disease you have. It erases the memory of the disease from your system.

I first knew about the treatment because of my grandmother. My grandmother almost lost her life in 1984 after a car crashed she suffered and an illness called lupus. After numerous doctors had given up on her, Dr. Reccabarren didn’t and ended up saving her life with an unorthodox treatment created by Indians many years ago. It is a painful treatment, consist of give or take 50 injections all around the body, then depending on your condition and the doctor choice you either have a serum (your lucky day) or have the serum and “el remedio Cruz” (not your lucky day). This is the toughest part of the treatment because it causes your body to liberate the disease you carry. For 20 to 30 minutes you are shivering unwillingly and the part of the body where the disease is, it is going to be active therefore it will feel very painful. This is a daily treatment and the doctor determines how many days of treatment you need.

I do this treatment with my family in two places in Santo Domingo, in the colonial zone or in a small sector in the capital called Naco. This time I stayed in Naco it is a precious place where I am familiar with and already have memories. The first memory that comes up to my mind is where I was walking alone in the streets and a little boy maybe seven to eight years old stopped me and asked me for money. I was shocked because it was a little boy all alone. Obviously I gave him money because my heart was broken after seeing him alone. It is a

shame seeing what I saw because it was just a little boy. But when I came back I saw the kid again but this time he wasn’t alone, he was with his friends in a corner singing, dancing and laughing. Even though he was in need, he was happy and just living life. That changed my perspective for the rest of the trip and gave me the strength to finish the treatment.

This place for me is like a sanctuary. I go there to purify my soul and body. Even though it is a physical treatment I always try to refresh my mind. The aspect of the mind is very important in the treatment because if you go with a negative mindset it will not be a pleasant trip because it is a painful treatment. I try recuperate my mind and put it at ease. I disconnect from everything and try to only think about the treatment and on how great I will be feeling after it’s all over. This helps me because when it is all over my mind is clear and I can focus on my university classes and sports. The pure purpose of this place for me is purification, the purification of the mind and the body. When I clear my mind my perspective change completely. I start to think about life and the meaning of life and what’s the purpose of life. This place is sacred to me; I can escape from everything. While escaping I get a treatment that helps my health and benefits for when I’ll be older.

Although the activities happening in the city are not common or maybe not even legal, it saves life’s. The treatment is a miracle worker; my grandmother is a living testimony of the treatment. Even I am a living testimony. I’ve heard a lot of testimonies from the doctor on how he saves people. The doctor doesn’t tell this stories in a cocky way. You can feel and see the humbleness when he speaks. The people who doesn’t understand the treatment always try to defame the doctor and the treatment. I think the treatment needs to be known worldwide because it is really a miracle worker. It is a mistake that is not authorized by every country.

The reading “The Things They Carried” I found particular similar with this trips I go because I go with my mind full, carrying all the weight of problems and all the stuff I’m going thru

life. The soldiers carry with all the amo and guns but also they carry with their personal stuff from back home and most important the fear of losing their life. I feel in a way like the soldiers because I carry with me the stuff that I leave behind in Puerto Rico for Santo Domingo but later forget or put it behind me for the treatment. They maybe forget about all their stuff but in the story we can see the lieutenant always thinking about the letters form Martha but he later burns the letter to not think about her. Although there were other reasons he wanted to let go of her to carry on with the war. The thing of letting go the mind and focus on your things is very important that’s what helped me go through the treatment.

This trip left me with good and bad impressions. The good one was seeing the people I love cleaning up their health. The bad part was seeing them suffer for it but it was for a good cause. Other good impressions were the fact I felt great after the treatment, at least I won’t have to think about my immediate health till the next treatment. I’m happy because of all the benefits this treatment gave me and my loved ones, but most important my grandmother that I can still watch her enjoy life. This place will always be of a great important to me and hope I can continue to go there for many years to recuperate myself.

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Seeing through whose eyes?

Seeing through whose eyes?

I have had a lot of beautiful experiences in life and all of that is because of my family. Also I’ve experienced some growing up physically but more important mentally and emotionally.  Reflecting on my childhood, I have a lot of memories that my family is teaching me things to prosper in life.  I am grateful to have them in my life.

My school was another important element that has shape me to the man I am. Teachers who were like family to me directed me to the university well trained and prepared. Being in the advanced program in school really helped me to understand a lot of stuff in the university. Although I didn’t appreciated at the time but I am grateful for staying in the program. There’s a lot of stuff   I didn’t appreciated while I was on school a lot of things for example, being lazy, not fulfilling my capacities to full potential and just being ignorant because I hadn’t matured yet.  My grandmother was a professor of literature in UPRB and a lot of scholars from all over Puerto Rico and United States showed up in the house and being ignorant an immature I didn’t think of speaking with them, learned  about their life or asked them for pointers in life.  This part I sometimes get angry because I really didn’t capitalize the chance to hear great stories and learned from some of the best historian and scholars of the country, but I won’t change the past because now I can realize what I should have done right. Now I know that when an opportunities comes by I have to reach and go grab it.

Sports were and still are an important activity in my life. It has presented me with good opportunities and has allowed me to meet many of my good friends now. I played over five sports but flourish in basketball. I became the point guard and captain of the basketball team and this really shaped me to be a leader because being the point guard means I have the control of the ball  and guide my teammates to score and that a lot of responsibility. My teammates saw me like a leader but I also saw my teammates like leaders, we learned from each other and that is a good quality we all have.  Thanks to all this experiences my perspectives in life has changed. I used to not care about the little things in life but now I know that the little things are the things that make life better.