Good crazy woman

NOTE: I want to share this story with the more than 1,000 new followers I gained in the past 12 months. I published it last year for Mother’s Day and as it is pure soul food. For your information, the main character of this story is in great health, and I see him every week.

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Last Monday, I was in a cashier line at the supermarket, distracted. As I placed my items on the transporting band, a familiar voice startled me from behind. His name is Juan. He is the kindest kid who bags groceries, he is from my home town in Colombia, and he had told me he was on a waiting list for a kidney transplant.

The last time I saw him was before Christmas Eve. My husband and I were leaving the store, and we saw him in the parking lot pushing a bunch or carts. He was pale and seemed tired, and yet he waved and smiled at everybody.

A couple of weeks later, my mom showed me a post on the Publix Facebook page about Juan’s successful surgery. She likes to follow the page for the recipes. The manager mentioned in the post that his positive attitude had marveled the medical team in charge of his care. Continue reading “A Gift for a Mother”

Last week I was a little sick, so I had the opportunity to stay home and do one of my favorite things: reading the news. During my search, I found an interview with one of the most important minds in the neuroscience field worldwide, Dr. Rodolfo Llinas.

This Colombian is Chairman Emeritus, Physiology and Neuroscience of the NYU School of Medicine. He has dedicated his entire life to the study of the most complex organ in the human body, the brain. Yet, his retirement plans are rooted in the simplicity of the country life, the foundation of the education revolution he wants to spear in our home country, Colombia.

Continue reading “Country Love”

Last weekend was the VIII Summit of the Americas held in Lima, Peru. What promised to be an interesting encounter thanks to the controversial American President, Donald Trump, the summit lost its momentum and the interest of the international community when he decided to cancel the trip to coordinate the retaliation attacks in Syria with England and France.

Although the main focus was addressing the Odebrecht scandal, the deep-state corruption case that began in Brazil and metastasized to several countries in South America–including the host of the summit, Peru, whose president resigned last month–the subject that gained media attention was the ongoing paralysis in Venezuela. Continue reading “Persona Non Grata”

Last Saturday, my son turned seven years old and I remembered that, when I was a little girl, my Grandmother used to tell me, “When you turn seven, my dear, you reach the age of reason.” I never cared to learn about the subject until now.

Throughout history, seven years of age marks a milestone in childhood. Around the world, this is the average age when formal education starts, social expectations change, and privileges and responsibility increase.
Continue reading “The Age of Reason”

Last Monday, something extraordinary happened to me. I was in the line of a fast food drive-thru, waiting for my turn behind a white Mazda. When the driver in front of me had to pick up the food, she took longer than expected, so my impatience started boiling.

“Come on! Are you buying for the entire city?” I said to myself, trying hard not to honk the horn. Then, I mocked her political affiliation as I noticed her bumper sticker. When I finally made it to the cashier and handed her my credit card to pay she said, “The lady in front of you already paid for your order.” Continue reading “Generosity is a Synonym for Tolerance”

Last Tuesday the United States Census Bureau published a revealing report about the American population. For the first time in history, it is projected that in 12 years, the number of seniors 65+ of age will exceed the population under 18. In other words, by 2030, 1 in 5 will be retiring.

When I read this report I was in awe. If there is anything I see every day, everywhere at any given store or restaurant in Jacksonville, FL, are pregnant women or families with three or four small children. Continue reading “Is the USA truly aging?”

From the moment I immigrated to the United States 13 years ago, I have said, kidding, that American is a crazy. Nonetheless, because of the media attention placed on mental health lately, I had time to reflect on personal experiences that led me to believe that the American craziness is more than a public health dilemma.

The stigma associated with mental health patients has hindered the efforts to find an effective and lasting solution to the problem. I say mental disorders are the modern era leprosy and just as in the past, social structures keep the ailing hidden. In other words, “Out of sight, out of mind”. Continue reading “Human Contact Saves Lives”

Last week I sat to write my weekly blog several times, but I couldn’t. The faces of the parents of the Stoneman Douglas High School children–clenching their cellphones next to their hearts, waiting for a text or a call to answer the question, “Is my child dead or alive?”, left me without words.

Two weeks have passed. All the victims were laid to rest, the Broward County Sheriff’s office can’t shield its coward negligence and alleged corruption inside its department, and the surviving students fight to keep the conversation about background checks and gun control trending.

But more than anything, I can’t imagine the ire that the grieving parents must feel after they read in the news that the perpetrator who murdered their children was on the police and FBI radar. That the Florida Department of Children and Families was providing him with mental health therapy. And the Broward County Public School system knew about his violent and erratic behavior since his pre-adolescence.

Continue reading “The Black Sheep”

Last Saturday, Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin–the most prescribed and addictive opioid narcotic in the U.S.–announced that it will stop promoting this medicine to doctors and cut its sales force in more than half.

Why? Perhaps it is a delayed conscience attack due to the 35 billion dollars they acquired by destroying the lives of more than seven million Americans since 1996.

Actually not. For more than 10 years Purdue has been developing through Mundipharma–its international network–emerging markets in Europe, Latin-America, Asia, Middle East, and Africa.

In other words, when the U.S. market became toxic, a mine-field of lawsuits and negative corporate image, they moved abroad.

Continue reading “Patients Are Not Clients”

For months I had been following the arrangement details of the first edition of the cycling race Colombia Oro y Paz (Colombia Gold and Peace) pioneered by the world-class stars Rigoberto Uran, Nairo Quintana and Fernando Gaviria. The purpose was to put Colombia back on the map of competitive world cycling.

I thought about the thousands of fans who would have the chance to enjoy the beauty of the Colombian topography and varying climates, as well as the opportunity to support the generation of “escarabajos”–beetles in English–that have made our country proud with their success. Continue reading “Where is the gold and the peace?”