Majito’s Weblog

Child abuse is one of the biggest problems facing the world today. Children whose parents abuse them often turn to a life of crime, or suffer physical or mental scars. In severe cases the child may even die. In Saint Louis a boy was attacked by a pack of dogs, after he had finished playing basketball at the local court. If his mother had reported him missing he may have been found in time to rescue him, instead he bled to death under a tree. Of course this is an extreme case of child abuse, and it is often not this severe. The best way to prevent child neglect is to start family planning at an earlier age. It is tough for many people to understand why anyone would abuse a child, but it happens more than people think. Intergenerational transmission of violence is a major cause of child abuse. Children who were abused when they were young are more likely to be abusive when they grow up and have children.

The consequences of child abuse go deep into the subconscious. Many people think of child abuse as being physical abuse only, but usually child abuse is mental abuse. Physical injuries can range form bruises, scrapes, burns, and brain damage. In severe child abuse cases the child can suffer permanent disabilities, and even death. The psychological effects of abuse stay with the child forever. The person may have a lowered sense of self worth, an inability to relate to peers, reduced attention span, and learning disorders. In severe cases the child may suffer from psychiatric disorders. These disorders include: depression, excessive anxiety, dissociative identity disorder, and an increase risk of suicide. On top of these problems many of the children have difficulty deciding right from wrong. Neglected children often find family structure with their friends. They will try to find some friends who make them feel secure. They will inevitably join a gang with a family like structure.  

Children who were abused can develop behavioral problems, including violence and juvenile crime, because of their reduced sense of right and wrong. Children who are mentally abused usually suffer from depression, excessive anxiety, identity disorders, and inclined risk of suicide. Children who were sexually abused face larger problems when they grow up. They will show an unusual interest in sexual organs. Sexually abused children may demonstrate abnormal public behavior such as public display of their genitals. The long-term effects are almost the same as other types of abuse, depression and low self-esteem, except they may have sexual problems like avoidance of sexual contact, confusion about sexuality, or involvement in prostitution. All children who are abused do not turn bad in fact the majority turn out just fine. High intelligence, good scholastic achievement, good temperament, and having close personal relationships can detour abused children from a life of crime.

Prevention of child abuse is the best way to prevent it from happening, but it is not always easy. In order for prevention of child abuse you must first identify possible cases. One solution to the problem is better family planning. People don’t realize how much stress a child puts on their parents. Children also cost a lot of money, most child abuse cases are by people living in poverty so the cost of a child makes it that many times harder on the family. Adults who have abused children should get counseling as the first defense against it happening again. They need to learn to deal with the stress of having a family.

Family planning is the best way to stop child abuse. Family planning will help the parents to understand the difficulty in raising a child. Kids cost a lot of money, the program could help people make the right decision. Kids require lots of physical energy, late nights, and changing diapers are a few examples. Many people are not in their best physical condition when they have children. They may not be ready for the late nights, and when the kid gets older indelibly they will have to chase him or her around stores, and other public places. Children are mentally difficult to raise as well. They are a major cause for worry and added stress to an already stressful life. Family planning would help families realize how hard having a child is.

To what lengths would you go to get something that you are passionate about? Write down what you would sacrifice or trade in return for your quest. Then write down your limits ­– what you would NOT trade for any amount of money or fame.

During my lifetime, everything that I am passionate about or everything that I want to get is like a goal for me, things that I have to do anything to achieve. I think that I would trade for anything in my life, because God have give me what I have, and I accept it, I have to live happy with the things I have, just to enjoy my life. I have to focus on more important things than dreaming on things that I do not have. I think that I am full of values and I have knowledge that help me to get what I want. Every thing I want to get is like a new challenge for my life, so I have to do anything I can to get it.

One thing that I would want to get is if one moment of my life, I lose somebody I love; I would like to be with him or her again. I know that I would sacrifice or trade something like a positive opportunity in my life, like going to a trip or something else. The things I would not trade for any amount or money or anything, are my feelings and the memories of the experiences I have lived; both are what makes me a unique person and special.

I think that the things that have value in the world and in life are not material things are the feelings and experiences that I have lived. Things that cannot be seen neither touched, but represent an important part of my life. My feelings, thoughts and experiences makes me happy, I do not care about material things because those things does not teach me anything, and also does not gives me a long term happiness, like feelings and experiences does.

Beeing popular was cool, I did not shamed about what I said and do. I could talk with anyone I wanted, well I felt really good about the situation. Bothering my classmates was really cool, I laughed a lot and did not cared about how the others were going to feel. Do not think that I made rude jokes or something like that, well, my jokes were things to laugh and be happy. During classes, I always talked and talked; I liked to bother one of my classmates, she was kind of a friend, well she was only a classmate, but I had great times talking with her during classes. She was too closed with her life, she never talked about the people she liked or situations that happened in her life, so I bothered her by being interested in all t he things she did not wanted to talk about. One day, she talked about a guy called Juanfra, and she said that he was one of his brother’s friends and that she really liked him. Just to bother her, I wanted to meet that guy; I really was not interested in the guy, I was just living my life and I did not wanted to have a boyfriend.

That was the time, when I went back home from school, and spend all my afternoon in the computer, talking with everyone in the messenger and spending my time doing nothing interesting. One day, I met a guy, who was a friend of that girl’s brother, and I asked him that he knew that guy called Juanfra, and he told me that he was one of his friends, so I asked him for the e-mail, so I could add him to my list of friends in messenger. After I add him to my list of friends, I went to school and talked to the girl of my class about the guy, just to bother her. Time went by, and one day in the school, one guy talked me, he said “are you majo?” minutes later I knew that he was Juanfra. In the moment I met him, I went into his beautiful eyes; I talked to him for a while and then I went back to my classroom. All day long I thought about his eyes, I was really impressed about those beautiful eyes and my perspective about the guy changed.

Time went by, I knew that I was just bothering that girl, but then after talking with him in the messenger I started to realize that he was a great guy. I did not felt guilty about my feelings because the girl liked that guy but he does not liked her, just because he was the best friend of the girl’s brother; and as a rule of friendship, friends does not mix up with sisters or brothers. One day, I was in the car with my mother, and my cellphone rang, I picked up and somebody said “hello majo, do you remember me?” and I said “No, who is it?” minutes later, he told me that he was Juanfra, and we talked for a while. The next weeks, he called me, we talked for hours, about any topic or just about stupid things. Everything was interesting, I was feeling comfortable with him and I really liked him.

One month later, I decided to go to a concert of Bacilos with my friends, and Juanfra t old me that he was going to go too. In the concert, we danced and talked a lot, and at the end he told me if I wanted to be his girlfriend, and of course I said yes. The next weeks we went out some times and spent great times together. The relationship was incredible and we ere having a great time. We were together in school, and also we went out to the movies and parties.

As life changes and time goes by, we created a great relationship. Now, five years ago after I met him, he is still by boyfriend. We have matured together and we also have created a great relationship, with great qualities that make us to be together and feel comfortable forever. As every relationship, we have had some issues, but the clue of every relationship is to know how to solve the problems and get the positive consequences of them. He has helped me during my life to become a better person and I know that I have helped him too. Is really difficult to know the clues for every step that we take in life, but we are experimenting what to do, to have positive consequences of the things we do. As I tell him “we are a relationship, and the purpose of it is to put together both ideas and perspectives of life to get a better result”.

Today, August 11, 2008; I am living my life with a great boyfriend, a great relationship, and the best part of everything is that the girl that liked Juanfra, before he was boyfriend is my best friend. After many years of fighting because the issue that that girl and I had before I met Juanfra, the time went by and it solved the issues that we had. Two years ago, I started talking to her again and we became great friends. We have a lot of things in common and I know that this friendship will last forever. Is incredible that now, I can have a great conversation and a great time with my boyfriend and my best friend. I love them and I really care about both; and I know both help he to be a better person every day.

During the eighteenth century, I would have liked to be be friend of Samuel Johnson. He seemed to be a good man, very wise and with a lot of knowledge. Is really impressive how he wanted to get success and also to help others in life, just by making the first english dictionary. I would have liked to be his friend because of the characteristics he had in life, I think that he would have been a great friend, very comprehensive and with many other qualities. His house seemed to be very comfortable and cosy, a place to rest and concentrate in many things that a person has in mind.

Samuel Johnson was a man with a great life, even though his family was poor and humble, he was interested in many great things that life gives every person. The poverty of his family, was not a limitation for his success. He seemed to be a person with a lot of values, like perseverance; this value was the one that tought him how to accept the things he had in life and look for success with any limitation. He seemed to be a person with values because he wanted to make the dictionary, which was something that helped everyone to understand the meaning of many words. He always accepted what his parents have him, and he took the advantage of the book store that his father had.

Boswell, in the moment that he met Samuel Johnson, both became great friends. Boswell was impressed by all the things that Samuel Johnson made during his lifetime. I agree with Boswell, became Samuel Johnson seem to be a great person with unique qualities. During his lifetime, maybe he had a lot of friends because of the qualities he had, with a lot of values and compassion for others. Boswell expressed many characteristics of Samuel Johnson and reason why he admired Johnson. Johnson was person that even though he did not accepted Scotish people, he met Boswell and became a great friend. This shows that Johnson had his own way of thinking, but he was opened to many things in the world and life.

My life has been something full of experiences, from I have learned what I know. Those experiences have gave me the tools to live every day with more knowledge. This helps me to do everything with a better idea about life and about the world. Off course, I have made a lot of mistakes in my life, but those mistakes have formed the knowledge and expereience that I have, without those mistakes I would not be the person that I am. Once, I read an article that said that mistakes are the best way to learn, so that is really normal to have mistakes in life bacause those help us understand many things and finally reach for success. Last Saturday, during the TOEFL test I had to make an essay which was about success, in which I expressed all my feelings and thoughts about it; including some possibles strategies to reach it. All the mistakes in life are like new challenges to prove how we grow up and mature as persons.

Thinking about every situation in my life, I would change many things but I really do not know where to start. I would prefer to mention thinks that I would change but at the same time I would like to change because those mistakes have formed who I am and have teach me many things that help me now and will help me in the present.

When I was born,  my parents were economically stable, everything was geat. We could go every two years to Disney. As the time passed, everything changed, our las trip was to The Bahamas in 2001, and then my parents suffered an economically imbalance. SinceI was eleven years old, I have been growing up with the economically imbalance, and the problem is that I have not received the same opportunities as my brother and sister have received. Two years before my brother graduated, my parents gave him a car and his graduation’s gift was a trip to Europe with his friends. My sister have also received other type of opportunities; she received painting classes and also went to many psychologist, which reperesent a amount of money. These examples does not mean that I have not received many other provileges, but I have grown up in the reality of myfamily, in the economical reality, and the only explanation for my reactions is that I have to accept the reality and live happy with it. The mistakes that I have made over this situation, is that sometimes I get really mad because life s not fair and I would like that I could have the same opprtunities, but then after I have a fight with my parents, I realize that I made a big mistake. They give me everything they can, and I have to accept it and live happy with it, as I said before. Almost 3 month ago, I realized that my dream was to study in another country, but after I found some information about some universities, my father told me that, because of economical reasons, he cannot pay an university, expect the university Landivar. At first, when he told me that, i got really mad, but then I understood that he was dong the best he can, so I apologized and understood the reallity.

Another mistake that I did in the past years of my life, is that I could not keep strong relationships with my friends, which  is something that now I am really sorry about it. I do not know why I could not handle strong relationships, but I needed those friendships in my life. I think that it was because many mistakes that I made in the past friendships that I had, but now those problems have taught me the methods to change many things in my attitude, just be a better person. Now, I have great friendships that I hope that last forever. Every time that my friends and I have a problem, we find out the way to foregive each other and grow up into the friendship. My friends are really special and now, because of the mistakes I made in the past, everything has change and by friendships have lst many time and this is just the beggining of a happy life with true and close friends.

In conclusion, I have done many mistakes in my life, but even though I would like to change those mistakes, I know that they have helped me to change as a persons. Now, I realized that every mistake is just a step in life that even though it has negative consequences, it also have long term positive consequnces that will last forever. Those consequences make me grow as a person and lead me to succeed in life, just by learning from the positive and negative situations.

This morning I was hoping to rest and sleep a lot, because yesterday night I stayed watching TV, but the story was different. Many time before, my parents loved to go to church every Sunday, but some time ago, they stopped going, because there was so many cars in the road to get to the church, and this morning, it was all different, because they decided that we needed to go to church. We went to church at a place named Santa Rosalia, and after one hour, we finally got out, and drove all the way to Mc Donalds, where we got breakfast, I ate an Egg Mc Muffin with juice, and also a new beverage that is a Chai Tea.

I thought that after eating breakfast, we were going to my house again, but the story was not like that, my dad needed to go to buy some things, so he drove to Pradera Concepcion and entered a store named Cemaco, he bought some new carpets for his car, materials for a reparation inside my house and a gift for one of his best friends, because his birthday is coming, after going to Cemaco, my mom needed to buy some shoes, so we walked all over Pradera Concepcion, I was a little bit angry, because I have my knee hurt, and we kept walking. Finally, my mom bought her shoes and I remembered that my mom told me days ago that she would buy a new cell phone for me, so we walked again to Tigo, where we looked at some cell phones, but the one that I liked, wasn’t available. After going up and down, we finally got inside the car, and drove to my house.

Inside my house, I rested for a while, and later I turned on the computer, while the computer started charging, I called my boyfriend and he told me that he was with his family at a place near my house named Loops, and that he was having such a great time driving go karts, at that time, I was just wondering how delicious it would be to be with him in that place having fun, but after talking, I started doing my home works. Then I watched a movie on the TV with my dad and in the middle of the movie, I got asleep.

In the afternoon, my boyfriend called me, and told me that he was eating at his uncle’s house, because it was one of his aunts birthday, and that when he finished eating, he will arrive to my house, so I told him that it would be great. An hour later, he called me that he was already outside my house, so I went downstairs to open the door.

I have told him that I needed to buy a gift for one of my friends, because she had borrowed me a dress for a really special dinner I had about two weeks ago, so he told me that he needed to buy some things in Cemaco, so I went back to Pradera Concepcion, while he was looking for some stuff in Cemaco, I went to some stores looking for the gift, and finally I found it, and I really hope that this special friend likes it.

Finally we got to my house, and ate dinner, then my boyfriend told me that he needed to go, because there was going to be a great concert of Maroon 5 on the TV, so he left my house and I went upstairs to continue doing my home works and I also watched the concert.

The weekend is going on and I still cannot rest a lot, like other Saturdays of my life. Saturday is the day that I wake up really late and I do not have things that stress me or any duty during the day. Everything changes, and today was my TOEFL, so I had to wake up early and prepared myself to leave at seven o’clock, so I could be at IGA at seven thirty. Last night, before I went to sleep, I found in internet a free trial of practice for the TOEFL, so I tried it, and it took like two hours, so I went to sleep at two in the morning. In the moment that I waked up on Saturday, I was tired, but I had to wake up and go to the exam. I was really nervous, and I could not believe that I had been many weeks thinking about this day, and the day has arrived.

My mother took me to IGA, and when I entered, no one had arrived to the exam, so I was the first. Ten minutes later, my friend Paty, called me to check if I was already there. I went up stair to get her and then we went with a secretary to ask her about the exam. Almost half and hour later, she told us that we had to fill and sign a paper, so we made it. It was really funny because she had to use cursive letter to fill it, so we spend a lot of time filling it, because we do not use cursive letter since we were like twelve years old. Then, we talked for a while with a girl that was also there for the TOEFL, she told us that she had to make the TOEFL just to graduate from the university Francisco Marroquin. She studied business and specialized in marketing and finances, she also told us that the university was the best time of her life, so that she advised us that we have to take every advantage that we will have the next years of our life.

At nine o’clock, we entered to the exam, I felt and heard the beat of my heart because of the nervousness I had, but I thought that I had to tranquilize myself so I could concentrate in the exam. This was a four hours exam, and it was divided into two hours and then a reassess of ten minutes and then two hours. The first two hours were really difficult, well, not too difficult but really boring, which consisted of the part of Listening and Reading. Then, when I got the ten minutes, I rested for a while and went to the bathroom. When I went back to the exam, the last two hours went really fast, the part of Speaking was not difficult, but I was really nervous, and the part of Writing was really easy, now I understand why Miss Lorena ask us for many essays, and I am really thankful about it. The only thing is that I think that the school should have a class in which we can practice more to talk, so in the moment we have to talk in English we are not nervous.

After the exam, my boyfriend went to pick me up, and we went to say goodbye to his uncle and aunt, and then we went to a lunch because of the birthday of another of his aunts. I really needed to go to my house, even though I spend a great time with his family, but my knee hurts a lot because spending many hours in the same position during the exam. My day ended when I came to my house and fell asleep.

Finally Friday has arrived; I am tired of the week and everything that has caused me stress. Today I waked up earlier, feeling worse; my knee hurts a lot because, yesterday when I was writing my Literature’s diary entry I forgot to talk about something, before the dinner I had with my boyfriend’s uncle and aunt, my mother and I went to sell some cakes, and I had to stay into the car for many hours because of our bad lock, the car stopped in the middle of the street and we had to stay there until a crane went for the car. We stood there almost four hours, and also I was wet because in school all the rain entered into the classroom and I got wet. So, on Friday mourning, when I had to get up for school, I was feeling really bad of my knee and also I had the consequences of being wet during all the afternoon on Thursday. After talking to my mother and telling her that I did not had many important things to do in school, I asked her if I could stay home to get the energies for the next day, which was the day of my TOEFL. After talking for some minutes, she told me that I could stay home resting, but that she wanted to had lunch with me and spend some time with me too. I accepted, and I also told her that I was not going to the lunch that one of my classmates organized for that day because I could get worse there.

Today, my boyfriend was going to go for me to school, but I called him at nine o’clock to tell him that I did not go to school, so I invited him to have lunch with my mother and me. He came at two o’clock; we helped me to prepare the lunch and then he ate our delicious hamburgers. After having lunch, I wanted arrange a puzzle that we bought last week. Well, I was the one who was concentrated on it, because he was falling asleep. He turned on the television and found a good movie, but I was concentrated in the puzzle but also I watched the movie. After he took a nap and rested some time, he started helping me with the puzzle. This puzzle is a photograph of the skyscrapers of New Work City, is really beautiful and it is not too difficult because the building have different appearance. We spend a lot of hours doing the puzzle but then we got bored.

Hours later, after doing the puzzle, we decided to go to Pradera Concepcion just to walk and talk for a while. We went to Claro, were we got a formulary that my mother has to sign, so we can have the offer of a laptop. Then, we go back to my house because we wanted to prepare the dinner. My boyfriend loves to cook, and he found a recipe of fettuccini a la carbonara, and he wanted to prepare it. We started cooking, at first we made one recipe, but then we realized that it would not be the amount we needed, so we made another one. After cooking, we served the dinner to my father, my mother, my sister and her boyfriend and of course to my boyfriend and me. We ate a delicious dinner prepared by us and then we organized the kitchen. We concentrated a little bit more time in the puzzle and then he leaved at eleven o’clock, he had to go to his house because his mother was waiting him and she was really tired.

Today I waked up at 5:30 in the morning, because I wanted to study more for a Math test that I was going to have at morning, after studying for a while, I went downstairs to take breakfast with my dad, and we talked about the importance of going to college, and both agreed that it doesn’t matter if you study in the most expensive one or in the cheaper one, the only thing that matters is how much you want to study. I explained him that I am going to study in Universidad Rafael Landivar, because I think that the prices given by them are fair, because you don’t have to pay Q 5000 like in Universidad Francisco Marroquin and neither Q 100 like in Universidad de San Carlos. After eating, I went to take a bath, and then I was hoping to drive all the way to school, but my mom didn’t lend me the car, because of my problem in my knee.

When I arrived at school, it was seen like a very ugly day, because it was kind of rainy, I got really early and there was no one in the classroom to talk with, but as time went by, more of my friends approached. Katina was talking to me about a graduation gift that her parents were thinking to give her, but she is not sure to take it, because she does not know who is going in that trip, the trip is about flying one month around 7 countries in Europe, I told her that she should go, because opportunities like those, do not come every day.

After going to school, I had an appointment with the doctor of my knee, so my mom went to take me at the school and then we arrived at the medical clinic. We stood many minutes waiting for the doctor to take care of me and when he finally attended me, he told me that I should get another medicine, because the one that he first gave me, wasn’t so good as the one he gave me today.

My boyfriends uncle live in Geneve, Switzerland, because they work as the ambassadors of Guatemala in Switzerland, and they invited me to a dinner, I immediately accepted, my boyfriend was going to be at my house at 7 pm, but my mom and I had a problem. After visiting the doctor, we were driving to my house, when the car broke down, and we stood at the road for approximately an hour, until I called my boyfriend and he helped us with the car. My boyfriend told me about a month ago that the car was not functioning really good, because it had a weird noise, but I forgot to tell my mom, so she thought the car might need some gas, but when we filled up the car with gas, the car didn’t worked, so we waited for a special car to take care of it, I got to my house really late, the dinner was at 7 pm, and we were arriving at 9 pm.

The dinner was delicious, we ate chicken, rice, carrots, and a delicious mousse, we talked for a really long time with all the family, drank some tea. It was late when my mom called me, and told me that it was time for me to get home. I told my boyfriend about what my mom told me, and he took me back home. When I arrived, my mom was reading a book, so we stayed some time talking about all the mechanical problems the car had experienced that day.

I wake up and my knee hurt so much, I did not understood why. After getting out from my bed, I went to my mother’s bedroom, I told her that the harm that my knee was doing to me was incredible and that it hurt a lot. After talking to her, I went back to my room and get into my bed again. Minutes later, my mother got into my bedroom and told me that going to school was my decision. I knew that she was telling that, to give me the option to decide whether I went to school or not, but she was trying to convince me. Obviously, I went to school because if I did not go, my mother was going to get mad. Another reason why I went to school is because I had many duties, like the Biology exam, Literature quiz and Mathematics test. I think that those reasons convinced me, and pulled me out of bed; because is really boring to go after the teachers so they can repeat me the exam just to get my points.

After the nap I took in my father’s car, I arrived to school half an hour before it started. I was really focused on studying for my Mathematics exam, studying for Biology was easier because our teacher assigned us a report that we returned it on Monday, which was a summary about a lecture that he gave. The summary helped me to understand the information, but he also gave us two classes of explanations. During some free time that I had during classes, I studied Math, just by practicing the exercises I made at home.

All day long I spend the time with my friend, talking about some gossip and talking about our interesting topics. The exam of Biology was really easy but the examen of Math was difficult, it consisted of five questions, which four, I made and one I leave it in blank. The four I made, were difficult but I did all the effort I could.

After the exam of Math, the bell rang, the day was rainy and cold; my friends and I went to one of my friend’s house to study and make some homework. We went but all we made was talk and laugh. Obviously, we had a great time; we ate pizza and tried to make a little bit of homework. This day was rare; I got sick of my stomach, even though the only think with fat was the pizza.

During the afternoon I made my homework and spend time with my boyfriend. He came to spend time with me, but also he likes to help me in everything I cannot do because of my knee. He stood here during all the afternoon and also had dinner with my family and me. This afternoon, I spend almost all the time in my bed because I was feeling really bad of my stomach and my knee. My boyfriend was here for me but he leaved because I was feeling really bad. After he leaved, I fell asleep earlier than other days, because of the sickness. My mother came into my room to talk me for a while and then I fell asleep again. I was tired but also I was feeling really bad. I really hope that tomorrow I feel better of my stomach; because I think that the stomachache is the worst thing that can happen to me. My knee is better because I have been resting more every day and also because now I have been using a new cream that the doctor told me to use.