Economics, finance and Math make a lot of sense for the rich and the privileged, but for the poor and the Deprived of Skills and Knowledge it simply doesn’t add up at all.
Copyright © 2013 Jorge Luis Carbajosa
Shack in the Kibera Slums of Nairobi, Kenya
Diseased Kenyan child in Kibera slums, Nairobi
You are born into this world without anything and you leave this world when you die, without anything. So what makes you think that you can own this world, that you can own the environment, that you can own skill and knowledge, that you can keep it from us, sell it to us at piece meal and make us dependent on you? What and who gives you that right?
You have developed a system of voting with your rules, not ours. You say that we have the right to vote so we can change our leaders who make your rules, not ours. And we have to wait for change, which once again comes in piece meal.
But the environment and our children cannot wait. While you make us wait to change your rules, our environment is being poisoned by your rules and our children are diseased and dying.
So if we are to survive in this society created by humans, we must take back what should have never been theirs and create an equal, open and transparent society for all. Without that the world will continue to be for the privileged and the few and injustice will continue to reign in our society because it is controlled by the few.
Copyright © 2013 Jorge Luis Carbajosa
Although it is true that we live in a time of potential terrorist attacks and armed lunatics who shoot innocent people for dumb reasons, no matter what your opinion is of what happened yesterday, the fact is that our police forces shot a single unarmed mother in front of her toddler.
Did the police not see that there was a child inside the car? How much of a threat was this woman? The press reports that she “flattened barricades” but were any of the police officers there in real fatal danger at any given time? There are no doubt a lot of unanswered questions.
The police once again acted by shooting first and asking questions later. We live in a society that condones and justifies armed violence. It’s all for the fatherland, isn’t? Our armed security personnel and soldiers overseas are unquestionably nothing but heroes….allegedly working without pay that day, going beyond the call of duty….but killing a demented woman in front of her little girl nonetheless.
It is at times like this that it sickens me to live in the U.S. and I fear for my two boys. God help us all.
Copyright © 2013 Jorge Luis Carbajosa
Unlike corporations and countries, humans can have hope for the future. Corporations and countries, unfortunately, are more concerned about the stupid societies they have created. The sooner we get rid of countries and change our societies to be more reflective of human and environmental needs, the better.
Copyright © 2013 Jorge Luis Carbajosa
Once again yesterday I heard someone in our legal system make the statement and argument that “driving is a privilege.” It was an immigration judge. And whenever I hear someone make a statement or point their finger, I try to ask myself if the opposite is true. Many times I am surprised that it is.
First, I’d like to say that I find it appalling that the secretary of state in Illinois and our legal system has come to the conclusion that driving is a privilege for drivers. It is apparently based on a legal decision made by the courts that driving instead of being a right is a privilege. The courts have the right to make whatever statement they want since we do live in supposedly a free country but I personally believe driving is actually neither a right nor a privilege, it is a necessity and a responsibility.
And if you really think about it, the privilege is the government’s not ours. They have the privilege to regulate, control and facilitate our driving.
So please, judge, state attorney, city attorney, secretary of state, explain to me how driving is a privilege. Who purchased my car? Who pays for the gas? Who pays for the insurance? Who pays for the maintenance? Who pays for the children’s car-seats? Who drives my children to daycare? Who buys medication for my children late at night? How do the children go to their after-school sport activities? Who pays for the tolls? Who pays for our highways and bridges? How do I get to work? Who pays for the police, the sheriffs, the courts, etc? Driving is not even a privilege in European cities or in New York city, where public transportation is excellent and where arguably, one can live without a car. In those places driving could be called a luxury, but like here in Chicago, driving is also a responsibility and a necessity but never a privilege. The statement “driving privileges” must be changed immediately by our government to “driving responsibilities.”
In the U.S. most of us don’t have a choice around buying a car. Our public transportation is simply not good enough and in most cases, it is basically impossible to survive without a vehicle. Our government has set up our infrastructure and our lives so that people can buy cars and pay for car services conveniently. There are really few alternatives, if any, for those that cannot afford a car or choose to live without one. Our government clearly has given privileges to gas and car companies but not to the common people. Paying for a car, gas and services involving vehicles is always a struggle.
So in short, as things stand today, I ask our government to refrain from stating that our necessity to drive is a “privilege.” It is your privilege that we do drive, not ours, because you live, exist and gain from our driving, not the other way around.
Copyright © 2013 Jorge Luis Carbajosa
I moved to Chicago in 1994 and I went to my first picnic barbecue yesterday along the beach front on Foster. I was surprised at the size of the area there available for barbecues. It’s huge.
Some of the people I went with had asked me to purchase some beer, which I did. Now, I don’t drink so when I got there I just brought it with me and walked nonchalantly to the area where my friends were. I was soon told to hide it because drinking is not allowed at the beach and/or park. Why did they ask me to bring it in the first place? But it is absurd that people are not allowed to drink alcohol. Why not? In the European countries I have lived in drinking in public spaces is not so restricted as in the U.S.
Another thing I noticed is the lack of trash receptacles. There was also no encouragement to discard food waste right on the park itself. This would be the ideal thing to do instead of mixing it with plastic and putting it in a plastic bag.
There were some recycling receptacles but the lack of trash receptacles had a lot of people filling those up with regular garbage.
We left at dusk and there was trash everywhere.
Copyright 2013 Jorge Luis Carbajosa
I was celebrating Easter with my girlfriend, at her aunt’s house. Most of the people there were from Togo because she is from that country. The party had a lot of wonderful food and great African music. People were dancing, drinking and being merry.
I was speaking to a man from Sudan about several things. We were conversing in French and at one point a man in his fifties who was dressed in a beautiful colorful striped African shirt approached me and remarked that he was surprised I speak French. Well, I understand a lot more than I speak, I explained. I introduced myself and my girlfriend who was sitting next to me. I thought maybe they were relatives but they didn’t know each other despite the fact that this party was at her aunt’s. The man was pleasant. He was also surprised that my girlfriend is from Togo and he called me “Beau-frère.” In French it means “Brother-in-law.” The man from Sudan said it was a privilege to be referred this way by a stranger. After greeting us he left us and joined the people he had come with to the party.
Photo by Craig Adderley on Pexels.com
Later on when we decided to go home and when we started to say our good-byes, this same African man came to bid us farewell. He was very polite and held my hand. Then he looked at my girl-friend and said: “This woman is my daughter. Please make sure you take good care of her. Take care of my daughter please. Treat her well. I trust that you will.”
I promised and assured him I would always treat her well. I thanked him for his concern. I was touched by this man’s good intentions and sense of fraternity towards his own kin.
Copyright © 2013 Jorge Luis Carbajosa
And what is it? Well it should be a number given to everything that is for sale and it would determine the impact it has on the environment.
For instance, think about a cereal box. The cereal box has several components: The box, the bag the cereal comes in and the cereal itself.
To calculate the EIU or Environmental Impact Unit, we would have to see how the cereal box was made and how it impacted the environment. What impact on the environment did the box, the bag and the cereal have before it landed on your grocery shelf and what impact will the cereal box create on the environment once you’ve disposed of it. What happens to the bag that contains the cereal and the box itself whether they get recycled or not? What happens to the cereal in the event that it is eaten or not eaten, environmentally speaking.
A box of cereal at a store would have it’s price, say $3.00 and the EIU. So the cost would be $3.00 + x EIUs.
It is time that we consumers start demanding what impact our purchases have on the environment and what is it that we own and hold in our hands when we purchase or buy something. It is time to become responsible for our ownership, and hold companies accountable for what they produce. We need to assign a EIU to every product that is for sale. Only then will consumers have a more comprehensible idea of it’s real cost, not it’s partial human determined cost.
I encourage everyone to start a conversation on how to best calculate a formula for this EIU. For example:
EIU = Time to manufacture + Energy Consumption + Time to degrade back into the environment + Toxicity level for other beings + Mortality level for other beings
Copyright © 2013 Jorge Luis Carbajosa
If you think about it, there was probably a time in human existence when unemployment did not exist.
A society that makes individuals dependent on itself, instead of a society of individuals in which society is secondary to their survival will inevitably have unemployment.
In essence, your knowledge has become a commodity. Something that you have paid for to then be granted a job in a society that governs you. It is an unfortunate model of existence.
Copyright © 2013 Jorge Luis Carbajosa
El descampado 
Corporations are the new Kings and Queens of the World
December 12, 2013Copyright © 2013 Jorge Luis Carbajosa
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