Braveheart

This little boy is Luca Senatore, a 9-year-old boy whose brave struggle against cancer has been known all over the world. On May 14th, in Buenos Aires, began the treatment against the Hodgkin's lymphoma which affected Luca. His parents had a wonderful idea: they released a campaign which consisted on a quite simple task: writing posters saying "Fuerza Luca" in order to encourage him during the tough process of chemotherapy.

In our country and in Spain, India and Italy, footballers, politicians, artists, friends, family, they all joined the initiative. All united for one cause: cheer Luca up through social networks.
More than 18 thousand solidarity greetings were posted on the Facebook page "Fuerza Luca", created by the family. 
A Boca Juniors fan, Luca was also greeted by players and even Carlos Bianchi himself.  The idea even reached the ears of one of the greatest idols of football: Lionel Messi. The crack of Barcelona sent a photo via Instagram to give the boy his support at the difficult time he had to live. 

Marcelo Senatore, Luca's dad affirmed that whenever his child saws one of the messages left on the Facebook page "a smile drew on his face". Thank God, today Luca is recovering and he has the chance to go back to his normal life.

We are so accustomed to hearing terrible news that our sensitivity might be anesthetized. However, when we find out about cases like this, we can realise that values such as affection, loyalty, patience, courage, will not ground down into the dust. It is not everything lost! We can all contribute, we can all help, with a simple kind action, and that will make us more human.

I'm a nomophobic

 Yes, I have to admit it. I cannot be without my mobile phone, it is like one part of me is missing! Why??

Raise your hand who is capable of leaving his mobile at home and not having a strong desire to come back for it... Who is out of battery one afternoon and does not have the feeling of being untraceable...
If you cannot raise your hand, then, you are one of the thousands of people who suffer Nomophobia. The term derives from the combination "no-mobile-phone phobia" and it consists on the fear of being without your mobile phone, which experts affirm has become the disease of the century.

Obviously, the dependence of the mobile is of particular concern among young people. Having this irrational fear of not carrying the cell phone with one, might be a consequence of the fact that young people are increasingly bored with the usual leisure activities.

According to experts, the fear of being without one's phone can nowadays be diagnosed as a disorder for a large part of the population, and most of people are not aware.

6 signals to detect mobile addiction (1)

• Change in attitude: when I talk on the phone, I act differently to when I'm face to face, for example, I do not feel so shy. 
• No separation from the mobile: The mobile is always, all the time with me, during lunch, at school, in the cinema, etc. Also, when I am with friends or family I am all attentive to the mobile. 
• Changing sleep patterns: sometimes I wake up at night and, besides going to the bathroom, I look to see if a message or call has entered.
• Nervousness when the phone is not available: I feel nervous or anxious when the phone is not near me or is turned off because I have no battery. 

If you feel identified with most of these behaviours, you should start worrying.

Some suggestions: 
Change radually your relationship with the mobile: Try using it only at certain times of day, turn it off when is not needed, or occasionally leave without taking it with you. All progressively, so that it does not produce cause anxiety and nervousness. 
Ask yourself what image you have of your mobile: Your phone cannot replace a face to face talk or the contemplation of a real landscape... it should be a tool to help you and not a device to control your life. Only if your belief about the mobile is correct, you can be free and start enjoying the people and things around you.

(1)http://www.larazon.es/detalle_hemeroteca/noticias/LA_RAZON_436328/6785-nomofobia-la-enfermedad-que-quizas-padece-y-no-lo-sabe#.VBzhBpR5P3R

Beautiful or... dead?

Hard, but true. Think about your charming Barbie doll and those fictional curves which defined the model of a beautiful body. Watch the ads on TV, what kind of stereotypes do they show? Could you oultline the parameters of female beauty in the 21st century? Here I give you some hints:

Children are bombed with thousands of images all the time, and they absorb this model of beauty that the industry creates and disseminates. The negative consequences are innumerable: later on, the struggle for a perfect body derives in a series of eating disorders, lack of self-esteem, illnesses, plastic surgeries and the list goes on.

Thus, it is our time to act. We must raise awareness that female beauty does not consist on the 90-60-90 standard. Beauty is much more than that: it involves armony, feminity, and -above all- health. And in nowaday's society, the pressure exerted by media to have a "perfect" body, interferes with health.

Photoshop distorts the reality and imposes a deceiving ideal that we can never reach.

Every women is a treasure. Her weight or the age that she appears to be do not make the difference! 

Time devours beauty and youth, and the only thing left in what is inside your heart! And real beauty cannot be bought.

Life is a precious gift, and each of us were created unique. Do not let TV make you think differently.

MAN

My 13-14 year-old-students were given the assignment to bring to class material related to the topic we're dealing with: ENVIRONMENT. They came up with pictures, news, and so forth, but this video of a plump, apparently harmless man took my breath away... Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfGMYdalClU

When it finished, we were all shocked and wordless. The video poses a series of increasingly serious issues, ranging from the animal abuse to the ever escalating exploitation of resources.

Steve Cutts, its author, uses a bizarre combination of music and characters to display and criticise something that is really happening (no matter we want to admit it or not).

Firstly, we can observe how the "MAN" (evidently embodying the whole humanity) runs into different animals that become fur-lined coats, shoes and junk food. Along his path, he continues hunting and fishing. Other evils such as pollution and deforestation are denounced. Later, we get in contact with the process of urbanization and experiments with animals. At the end, the planet has become an accumulation of waste, and when aliens arrive in our world, all they see is a dim picture and guess what? They do the same thing the "Man" did with a bug (in the beginning). Outrageous? I don't think so. For me, pretty realistic.

Who's to blame? Factories? Capitalist empires? Or you, me, us?

Think about it.

We believe we're the kings -and queens- of the world, thus, anything is allowed; we've got the "right" to kill, abuse, manipulate everything, just because we've been given the power.

Does this mean that there's no way out and our planet is going to an imminent and unavoidable destruction? 

No. I would say it MUST be a Wakeup call.

My students made a list of very simple things that each of us can do to help our planet. Just to mention some of them:

-Reduce the amount of water you use (don't let taps and hoses open, take shorter showers)

-Re-utilize bags and bottles

-Plant trees and respect green spaces

-Walk instead of using the car or a bus

-Don't throw papers in the street

-Turn of the lights and appliances you're not using, take advantage of daylight

-TELL YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS ABOUT THIS

So, is it possible to bet on ecology and put the brake on the current environmental decadence?