En cierto modo, sí es una opinión/reacción más a los diversos movimientos que se han organizado recientemente. Pero también es un análisis un tanto económico a la situación política del país. Todo empieza con que Pedro Joaquín Coldwell cavó la tumba de EPN (y de su partido) en el momento que dijo que las protestas en la Ibero habían sido provocaciones de la izquierda, que los estudiantes no eran estudiantes y los tachó de porros y revoltosos.
Desde que la conocí siento que he dejado aquel estado temporal de alienación en el que me encontraba. No estoy muy seguro si es un efecto causal o meramente casual. Tal vez es por la capacidad de expresar correctamente lo que pienso. No le atribuyo el milagro a ella, sino que más bien ella fue el catalizador que necesitaba para superar la experiencia anterior. A final de cuentas, ahora estoy siendo honesto conmigo al 100%.
No. This is by no means a philosophical text, but it is closely related to something I was reading this week. Final exams are approaching, and as I was a bit behind on the philosophy syllabus, I spent much of this week’s time reading the course’s book. One of the many ideas I came across was that of justice ethics. In short, some philosophers argue that justice judgements should not be based on the consequences but rather the processes of the actions. They state that as long as the development of any action is just, i.e. that it provides everybody an opportunity of achieving his/her own goal(s), the action per se can be deemed as ¨just¨. I could not agree more. The simplest example is to say that I cannot complain by saying it is unjust that my mate has more money and a prettier partner than I do. However, if both had the same education and knew exactly the same women, the idea of justice changes because we both had exactly the same chances.
Precisely, the point I want to touch upon is this “equality of opportunities”. After running a reality check, I realized that I had lost a competition I was “participating” in. A rather important one. I attach(ed) so much value to it because the prize is something I have been pursuing since I am aware of its existence. Pardon me if I call you a prize, but I just do so to make the analogy easier. I saw this prize more as a long term (very long term) goal than something I could obtain in a near future. That has been always my bet. I cannot say either that I was indeed formally competing. Instead, I was following the competition from a quite distant place, just waiting for the right moment to step in. However, at the time I was doing this reality check, it came to my mind the idea that there will hardly be a good time to step in, that window has now been closed.
Referring back to the notion of justice I introduced at the beginning, I do have motives to complain. I never had a proper opportunity to even step in. There are few things more frustrating than losing a competition you wanted to win but never had the chance to even sign up for. The winner was the best among the competitors and has claimed his prize. Conversely, the prize has also gladly agreed to stay with the winner. It isn’t thus this bond I am opposing to, but the process. I was a mere spectator in the arena I so badly wanted to play in.
One could then ask, why is this so important? Simple. Life lured me with the prize’s perfectness, class, chic-ness, cleverness, smile and character, while holding me back from competing for it. Nevertheless, there is nothing I can do now. I accept the outcome as it is, but it doesn’t mean I am backing down. Perhaps, there will be a future scenario in which everybody starts off with equal opportunities. For the time being, it isn’t joyful to reckon that I have lost and perhaps now for good.
REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE/LANDOV
When traveling across the United States, it sometimes feels like the locals are speaking a whole different language. That’s where the Dictionary of American Regional English comes to the rescue. The last installment of this staggering five-volume tome, edited…
