Causes of poverty

Poverty is a serious problem that the world is facing right now.  Every day, the number of poor families increases around the world and the situation is getting worse.  There are a lot of factors that cause poverty. Some are: unemployment, immigration, lack of studies, lack of interest to work, low economic resources, large families, the economic crisis and more. 

The first factor is unemployment. Not every worker receives the enough money to live without necessities, some people with or without degrees is having trouble to find a job, any kind of work. Nowadays, some companies are discharging employees because of the economic crisis and others are paying a low salary. Unemployment is a serious cause of poverty because is a common situation in our country and in the world.

The second factor is immigration. Thanks to the immigrants the countries become saturated, the services collapse for example, here in Costa Rica the hospital services collapsed because there is a lot of Nicaraguan population here, and obviously all the hospitals can’t attend so many people. So this problem not only affects the services it also is a cause of the existence of suburbs where people live in extremely poverty, with necessities of food and basic services.

The third factor is the large families. Even though, nowadays, the majority of families are having only one or two kids, other families are still having many children. For these large families, it is necessarily to receive a high-pay salary, but unfortunately some of them receive a low salary, and so this is an important cause of poverty. But the most important cause is the crisis that the world is facing.

We all know that poverty is increasing, but what can we do to eliminate this problem? In order to achieve that purpose we can work hard but with the entire world, making the efforts together as one. That is the only choice, poverty can be solved but we need to start now.

Religions (activity in class)

There are different religions with different beliefs, for example the Jehovah's witnesses believe that Jesus Christ is inferior to God, on the other hand Christians think God lived on earth as Jesus. Also, for the Jehovah´s witnesses the Holy Spirit is not a person it is God's active force; while for the Christians it is a trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We think that whereever the religion is, it is important to believe in a supreme force that some people believe is God.

Religions (activity in class)

Both religions are very difficult to follow because I am not used to them. The rituals are very difficult to follow; they demand time, commitment and money. Also, you have to to have a lot of time to pray and I pray but five times per day is too much. I prefer my religion, I am an evangelistic and I am good like these.

Religions (activity in class)

Judaism has a bible named Tanakl, and Islam's is Quran. Also, the muslims have five pillars of wisdom that include the salat and zarkat, on the other hand Jewish people have the ten commandments including that God is the only one.

Arts

Art is very important for people because it is a way to express our emotions, intellect and ideas. Every person has a different way to express what he/she thinks, and if someone doesn’t believe that he/she is good at a specific form of art, in any moment that person will discovered it.  Art has many forms from visual arts to performing arts. For example, painting, sculpture, literature, architecture, music, dance, theater, films, and more. 

The visual arts are drawing, painting, sculpture, calligraphy and photography. Drawing is a representation of any form or object by hand through the medium of pencil, pen, charcoal, etc. A drawing can be abstract, illustrating certain emotions and ideas that are in the mind of the artist and which are open to interpretation. There are many drawing and sketching techniques and what an artist uses depends upon his skills and preferences. Paintings are classified according to the style in which they are made as well as the genre and main object of the painting. For example, life, landscapes, seascapes, abstract and pop.  Sculptures can be defined as a three dimensional art form that uses materials like clay, stone or wood for its execution. Calligraphy is the art of writing letters in a manner that it looks visually appealing. Photography is the art of producing an image of an object on a photographic film. The way the image is captured with the use of light differs from photographer to photographer. There are different types of photography, from fashion photography, wild life photography, food photography to wedding photography and more. 

The performing arts are dancing, singing, films and theater, and music. Moving the body in a particular sequence to music is called dancing and there are many forms of dance. Another form of performing art is theater and films. Both theater and films use stories that capture the imagination of people; it is also a good form of entertainment. Music is one of the most difficult art forms to define; music is also one of the most admired art forms. Any harmonious sound either vocal or produced from a musical instrument can be defined as music. But music is so much more than that. Music has the power to change our mood, lift our spirits and emotionally move us. There are different types of music like rock music, country music, jazz and soul.

As we see, art is very important and it involves a lot of forms of expressing feelings. We should value arts and practice one form of it because that is a way to cope with stress and also to express ourselves. We should encourage arts and tell our friends, family members, teachers and classmates the importance of it.

Women in the army

Women are not assigned to ground combat units. That means they are not allowed to serve in the infantry or as special operations commandos. But women are serving in support units as truck drivers, gunners, medics, military police, helicopter pilots and more. So, they are not permitted to do the same things as men. As a consequence, there isn’t equality of rights and duties in the armies. Some factors that we should know about this situation are: the equality, consequences are the same for men and women and that women make the decision to go.

First, it is important to mention that women make the decision to go to the army, no one force them; so they go because they like the army and they want to help; as a result they go by their own will. They know the consequences and risks they are taking when they decide to go there, so why is it prohibited for them to participate in special operations commandos? Only because they are women?

Equality between men and women have been always a problem, women fight every day for their rights and also to ensure that people treat both equal with any difference. So, we easily notice that in this situation there is not equality. If women decide to go they should do, if they want, the same things as men because women have the same rights as them. 

The consequences are the same for men and women for example terrible problems in physical and mental health. And also a lot of people died, so there are consequences for the families when they lost a family member that was in the army. So what is the difference between men and women? There isn’t any difference.

We choose what we want for our future and we make decisions every day. If women decide that they want to go to the army, they should have the same opportunities as men, also the same treatment. If they want to risk their life as men do they have the right to do it. In my opinion they should participate in operations because women are the same as men.

Why shouldn’t employers be allowed to read their employees e-mail?

Every person has the right to privacy and everyone should respect everybody’s vital space. But nowadays is common to hear that the employers are putting into practice a new method in order to know every movement in the company, including knowing if an employee is working.   Technology now makes it possible for employers to keep track virtually of all workplace communications by any employee. But is this correct? Three factors that employers should take into account before reading an employee’s e-mail are: the right to privacy, the risk to be involved in a problem and the respect to the employees.

The first fact is the right to privacy. Every person has privacy, privacy in our personal life, in our house, at work and in school. To be specific, at work employers and co-workers should respect our space including the e-mail. It is a lack of respect read an e-mail of another person, no matter if it is a personal e-mail or a workplace e-mail, for me every e-mail is private.

The second fact is the risk that employers have to be involved in a problem. What kind of problem? For example, if the company doesn’t have e-mail policies the employees can denounce the employer because that is not right, to check their e-mails and not tell them. In my opinion every company that wants to monitor the e-mails should inform their employees and also have a contract so they sign it. 

The last fact is the respect to the employees. This is very important; the respect is a value that everyone should have in life. We have to respect everyone including at work, and that includes respect the privacy. 

Unfortunately, this situation is very common now but employees can avoid problems by limiting the communications with family and friends and avoid sending any messages that others might interpret as unkind; even if the intent was humorous because it won't look that way to others. And for the employers that can disagree with this situation at work perfect because they will respect others but for those who have to check the e-mails maybe they can try reading only the ones that involved work and ignore the personal ones.