On being silenced

Día Internacional de los Derechos Humanos 05,
originally uploaded by Sorgin.

I know i have not blogged in a while. Not for lack of interest, but mostly lack of time. Is just that having my sister around I want to spend as much time with her as I can. And also want to spend all the time I can with my husband (due to our crazy schedules this is very unusual).
Well, today I went to a music rehearsal and the director is a nice professor that comes from my country. As a matter of fact the 90% of the group are from the same country which is very unusual to see in USA. Maybe is like my mom would say "God gives them life and the devil get them together".
Anyhow, I met this professor and I made a comment about something that happened a few years before I was born. Things were crazy back then and protests were increasing constantly. One day some very young students got killed at the door of a school. They were shot like animals. They were so young. They just wanted to be free, and they wanted the country to be free. I casually mentioned that to the professor and he told me he remembered that. He happened to be the director of the school in which door these kids were killed. A little after that this professor himself had to flee the country to protect his own life since they took away his right to dissent.
I was really taken back by this revelation. I was not prepared for it and it reminded me of all the repression me and my country lived for so many years. It reminded me why is so important to protect the voices of those that dare to think different and to respect them even if their voices dissent from yours. And also reminded me where things can go terribly wrong. Where is the line and where is the use and abuse.
I hear people all the time talking about freedom of speech. Most of the time these same persons have no idea what this freedom is all about. They justify bullying and violence(verbal, physical or psychological) to get the point across.
I hold very close to my heart this: If I need to use violence to make you understand I'm right, then it means I'm wrong.

Fostering Cockatiels

We have two new members in our family. They haven't got names yet and they seem to hate me with a passion (sigh) but I promised I would give them my love and that is exactly what I intend to do.
This is the story: The cockatiels belonged to this old couple. They had them for about 5 years. This couple was living with their daughter, who btw is a very wealthy lady that made a fortune with some IT companies on the 90s. She is married to this guy who also has a nice income with his own construction company.They built this "in-laws" house in their property and asked this old couple to live with them, that way they would have privacy and live comfortably till the end of their days. but after some years this sweet lady and her husband have decided that they will move to Mexico and that the old people needs to get out and with no much of a notice they took away all their furniture (which was bought with money that all the family pitched in) including their bed and now they are living with a granddaughter where there is no room for the birds. They didn't want to sell them, but give them to somebody they trust and knowing how much I love my pets they asked me if I would take them.
This whole story is horrible and it kills me to see people that has worked all their lives so hard to bring up children that will pay back in this way.Can these people get any lower? Do they need the money so badly that they need to take even the bed from their parents? And this just days from having one of them checked out of the hospital? I'm sorry for this woman because I've seen other people behave this way before and getting the worst karma (or God's punishment, whatever you prefer) for the rest of their lives. I wish them luck... with that karma they will absolutely need it.