All the Things I Don't See

Have we ever stopped to think that what we see isn't really what there is to see? And that the things that I see aren't really the things that everybody else sees? All of this is just a matter of perspective, but not only does it depend on the physical point of view of a person, it depends on many other factors that can influence how that person sees things.

This thoughts come to mind because I started reading this book called On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz. It is the story of how the author herself decided to take eleven walks with different people to see what they perceive. For example, she takes a walk with a geologist, a sound designer, a child, and even her own dog! She tried to see things how they all saw it, from their perspective. Truthfully, I haven't read much of the book, just the first chapter, but by just reading what is the introduction to this book, it got me thinking on all the truth that she was speaking by pointing out that we miss out most of the things that are really happening around us. Plus, the most interesting part of it all is that she got me thinking that, it isn't about what we see, it's about what we don't see and how we ignore certain facts and just put our concentration on minor details that don't really let us see the bigger picture or what's important. So, why is it that we do this?

I believe all of this has to do with our identity. It may not seem very clear, but all those things that make us see differently have to do with a set of characteristics by which a person is known. If I'm a woman, I will see things differently then a man, or if I'm from the Caribbean, I will pay attention to some things and avoid others. In my case, which is the only case I can actually tell you about with certainty, there are many factors that let me see some particular things. For example, I've always loved nature, and every time I walk through my university, I look at the floor to see the leaves laying on the floor and how they're stepped on, or how they move with the wind, or I notice that in some areas the grass looks greener and in others it's more brown, or how sometimes in between the cracks on the sidewalk there are little plants growing from underneath like they're trying to break through the cement. It truly just depends on what that person finds interesting and worth watching.

In conclusion, our perspective depends on the things that distinguish a person from others, and I believe that this factors will let us see what we want to see which in reality is the only the thing that we see.

Puerto-Rican English

Here in Puerto Rico our first language is Spanish, but we do have a very strong second language that has been impacting our common tongue in a great matter. That language is considered to be English. Now, we can't say that our English is the same as the one spoken in the United States, or much less as it is spoken in the UK. It is a mixture of all of this languages that threw time our society has listened to and mixed in their own way. Also, inside our own type of language, we can differentiate spoken and written English in which case both differ in various aspects.

In a study made by Dr. Manfred Krug, it is shown that our English is much more alike to the same language spoken in the United States. In other conclusions that he got from his studies, Malta's English is more alike to Britain's English. Now, the interesting thing about all this is that he also found Malta's and Puerto Rico's English to be more similar than Britain's and US English even though we are so far apart. We keep learning more and more each day!

Now, a topic I want to point out in this post that maybe gets sidetracked a little from the purpose of Dr. Krug's study, which is to show similarities and differences between the languages, is that I've heard many puerto ricans say they would like to see English become the first language of our island, instead of Spanish.

The first time I heard this statement was actually from one of my closest girl friends. I was a little skeptical at first about this because threw so many years our "safe" language has been Spanish, and even though we are territory of the United States and their first language is English, if we make that change, it would drastically shift our normal every day lives. I believe that learning English has many advantages, and that it could open a door for a lot of the people that want to expand their basic knowledge, and by basic I mean being fluent in their native language and none other. Learning other languages is a great way for people to introduce themselves in businesses, jobs, while traveling, among other things, but I don't believe we should lose our common tongue which distinguishes us so much from all the other territories in the United States. Instead of thinking of changing our first language, I propose we should emphasize more on our current first language and solidify the base of our second language, it being English. This could be a better way to learn both languages and be fluent in them, so that we can expand our horizons even further than what we are already doing. It'll be a very helpful tool for a lot of people and one that isn't very hard to accomplish. In the end, for now at least, our fist language will continue to be Spanish, and while the generations keep growing, our English will become stronger and it will be added to our enormous bag of knowledge that we carry with us everyday.

A Matter of Identity

Threw our lives, people have taught us that we will encounter many situations that could take us off of the route that could lead to our dreams. Billy Mills is a great example for this matter, and one that we can study openly threw media. Mills was a North American Indian that got the chance to run for the USA in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The story of his life is viewed threw the eyes of the beholder in the movie Running Brave. In a sort of quick summary, Mills was born and raised in an indian reservation in South Dakota. When it was time for him to go to college, he got offered a scholarship to study at Kansas University so he could run for this team. Once he left the reserve and became a student at this university, he encountered many problems due to his heritage. While he was there, others addressed him as "chief" as an insulting matter, he was denied entrance to a fraternity because he was indian, and neither his or his girlfriend's family approved of their relationship because she was white and he, as stated before, wasn't.

All in all, Billy went threw a lot of upsetting situations due to the encounters that he had with his peers, but eventually, he learned how to let all of those negative things slide off and become a better man and a better runner, but before that happened, he took some tough decisions. After college he went back to the reservation which he called home, and once he was there everyone kept asking him if he was gonna make it to the Olympics. This factor motivated him to actually make that dream come true, so he joined the marines and in 1964 he got the chance to run for the USA and won. Threw it all, Billy went threw multiple confrontations with others and most importantly, with himself. He had a really hard time trying to fit in a world that didn't accept him for who he is and where his family comes from. If you think about it, that's a very interesting matter, we can see how our families affect us in the future. Obviously they are a part of us, they influence who we become, but in reality, they are not us. Now, going back to the story of Billy Mills, the funny part of it all is that in reality he is half white, so, can I ask: when he won the race, which half one? Was it just the white half, or the indian? Well that's a silly question, we know both did, and that is because both those sides make what Billy Mills is, so in the end he won and he should be rewarded for it and shouldn't be judged because of anything else. In that moment he wasn't Billy Mills the indian, or Billy Mills half white, he was Billy Mills the runner, and a good one at that. In the end, everyone should be seen this way. By this I mean that they shouldn't be categorized to a social group, but they should be seen as a human being fighting for what they want like any other. It is a matter of people understanding that we are all equal and treating each other with the respect they deserve.

Adventures for the Soul

One of the things that I’ve always wanted to do is to travel the world. In my 18 years of life I haven’t seen that much of the world, but I’ve visited various places: Florida, about 6 islands here in the Caribbean, I lived in the Dominican Republic, and this past year I visited Chicago. This last trip has been one of those moments in life that make you see the world a little differently. While I was there I got to experience a completely different lifestyle, one I was not accostumed to.

First of all, it was the very first time I got to see snow, and it truly was spectacular, and cold. Second, I got, what I think is, the tourist experience in a foreign place: I got to walk through the streets of the city, rode a taxi to different stores, drank hot chocolate under the snowflakes, and all in all, I got to see a different way of living. It doesn’t sound like much, but to me it was an eye opener, because it showed me that life isn’t confined to my little island I call home. There is a whole new world that I don’t know about outside, and it is one that I’d love to learn more about.

Now, through the years, I’ve also learned that life isn’t only the physical stuff. It is a combination of what I’ll call the outside world and the inside world. The inside world I can define as the immaterial part of a person in which he/she can think, feel, and just go beyond the physical world in which we live in.  That inside world is composed by feelings, thoughts, ideas, fantasies, impacted by the lives of others and how all those things come together to create the person that I am today. Some situations in my life have changed completely who I am and how I see everything.

One of those “eye-opener” moments was when I was about seven years old that my seventeen year old cousin died in a car accident. It really was a life changing experience, not only for me, but for my whole family, and because it impacted all of us it changed how our normal lifestyle used to be. Situations like this have made me the person I am today, and even though some of them aren't good experiences, they are still little bad journeys that I have to go through in life so I can find the path that leads me to the good. Now, I find this concept to be very cliche, at least that's how I've always seen it. Everyone in my life has told me this at least once, and sometimes I take it for granted, but I have learned to understand this and know that it is 100% valid and true. I also can admit that I've only lived 18 years of my (hopefully) long life, and that there is still a lot of things I haven't encountered that will want to turn my world upside down. I'm trying to just take every day one step at a time: to just go with the flow and see what the new day will bring. Sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's not, but that's what makes life worth living, the thrill of not knowing what will come next, and I do know that whatever comes next will be worth every breath I take because it'll help me see things in a new perspective and grow into the wonderful adult I hope one day to be.