QUAN LA TEVA MARE MOR.

Quan la teva mare mor, quan se’n va, es desferma a dins teu una buidor insuportable, una tristor que atura el temps en un instant. L’esperit s’esgota. Per molts sentiments compartits amb companys i familiars per la marxa dels seus estimats no es pot ni comparar quan la teva mare se’n va, el sentiment es com un cavall desbocat. Perquè una mare ha estat amb tu abans de de néixer, i desprès t’ha continuat alimentat, t’ha donat de beure, t’ha curat, t’ha besat, t’ha abraçat, t’ha aportat al metge, al col·le. La meva mare va perdre a la seva de molt petita, massa petita i per tant no la va poder alimentar, ni donar de beure, ni curar-la, besar-la, abraçar-la, ni portar-la al metge, ni al col·legi. I això la va condicionar, com a qualsevol persona sensible, per tota la seva vida. 

A La seva vida va venir l’Ernesto, veí seu girant la cantonada. Es van enamorar, es van casar i van formar una família fent un binomi perfecte. El pare a fóra de casa per que no faltes de res a dins i la mare a dins perquè no faltes res a fora, ni a dins.

Passat el temps va començar a patir, les malalties greus la visitaven i les suportava fins que, desprès de una desgastadora lluita, ens ha deixat. Un dia va dir, ja no conto els cops que he entrat a un quiròfan. Malgrat això unes de les últimes paraules cap al meu pare, quan ho veia tot perdut, van ser: me has hecho feliz.

Tal como dice el final del Credo de los Apóstoles.

“está sentado a la derecha de Dios, Padre Todopoderoso. Desde allí ha de venir a juzgar a vivos y muertos.

Creo en el Espíritu Santo, la santa Iglesia católica, la comunión de los santos, el perdón de los pecados, la resurrección de la carne y la vida eterna”.

Una vez dejada la tierra Cristo sentado a la derecha del Padre, nos juzga, junto con nuestra consciencia. La sentencia, consecuencia del porqué de  nuestros actos, es una nueva vida, entre el cielo y el infierno y así hasta conseguir la plenitud divina, la vida eterna.

Yo, Mamá estoy seguro que vas directamente al cielo. Tu juicio, si lo hubiese, será un pequeño trámite. Por justicia, justicia divina, porque te lo mereces. Y desde allí te pido que nos protejas y nos ayudes.

Escogiste hace ya tiempo, como despedida:

“Yo muero pero mi cariño no muere,

Os amaré en el cielo como os he

Amado en la tierra”

Es justo mencionar a mi padre, Ernesto, y a mis dos hermanas, Esther y Cristina. Mi padre ha estado siempre a su lado, cuidándola, hasta el último esfuerzo, hasta la última noche. Piel con piel. Cinco meses durísimos. Esther muy pendiente de ella. Cristina, siendo grande como te dijo la mamá.

Ayer, amigos y amigas, tenia que ser un día muy duro, como hoy. Pero vosotros lo convertistes en un día gozo.

Vau convertir la vetlla en joia. No sabem la quantitat d’amics, família que vau venir a acomiadar a la meva mare, a donar-nos uns moments molts valuosos dels vostre temps. Potser 200 – 300 persones. Quantitat sobrepassada per la qualitat. Ens vam emocionar. Ens vau emocionar molt. Visites inesperades que feia molts però molts anys que no veiem, i que vam sentir que se’n recordaven de la María Teresa, de la Tresa, i de nosaltres, amb molta, amb molta estima.

Amics i amigues la meva família us agraeix de tot cor la vostra presència i recolzament ens uns dies de molta pena. Moltíssimes gràcies per haver vingut.

WHY OLDER PEOPLE ARE NOT HIRED BY COMPANIES

PORQUE LOS MAYORES NO SON CONTRATADOS POR LAS EMPRESAS.

Unemployment is a big problem in Spain, especially for elder people, because companies don’t hire persons older than 40. These kinds of workers can have enough experience in business and good professional skills to be hired. However, the age is a handicap to get them on board.

Companies instead hire young professionals because they are convinced that they have better knowledge that the elder ones. Besides, youngers are assumed to have technical skills to use any kind of devices and a good level in foreign languages as English. Also companies’ managers believe that professionals who have just gone out from the university are more motivated to work in any kind of job, so they are going to do things better and faster than others who have been working for years. Therefore, it is quite difficult for people over 40 to apply for a job.

It is not easy to change this attitude towards workers over 40. Perhaps the only thing left for these elder people is to keep updated through business training courses during their professional career. This continuous training should be reflected in the senior’s curriculum, showing an interest to learn new subjects like languages, technical devices skills as a smart mobile, and being updated in his / her profession.

In my opinion, workers of any area must study every chance whenever they can. The reason for that is to be updated and to be able to have a curriculum to show to anybody and, why not, to themselves, that they are enoughly trained to work in any company though they are more than 40 years old.

HOMEWORK

LOS ESTUDIANTES DE LAS ESCUELAS TAL VEZ ESTÁN DEMASIADOS CARGADOS CON LOS DEBERES.

Nowadays it is heard a discussion in the media about whether children have to do homework at home. It is a topic with many pros and cons. Besides, it is not only an issue for kids but it is also for parents.

On the one hand it is important for children to check what they have done in class during the day and prepare for the next one. Also, boys and girls should try to hit skills like effort and sacrifice because they are being educated for entering in the adulthood life. Therefore they must know what working hard means.

In addition, if they didn’t do their homework, they would waste time watching silly TV series or surfing through stupid topics in the computer.

On the other hand, children are too tired after a hard day in school. They can be there from nine to five even though most schools only have morning schedules form eight a.m. to three p.m. However a morning schedule is not any advantage because kids are too tired when they arrive home.

Parents don’t know what to with their sons and daughters when they have arrived home, because most parents are working until seven p.m. so they have to hire a person to take care children.

In my opinion homework is necessary, nevertheless the time dedicated for it should be only half an hour at home. The rest of the time kids should be able to watch TV or help cooking dinner with their parents to be fresh and rested for the following school day.

A CLASSROOM FOR THE BEST

         

UNA CLASE PARA LOS MEJORES.

           

           It is known that most of schools, both public and private ones, have a classroom for those students who are much below of the average level in comparison of all students with their capacity of learning. It can be found schools with three classrooms for each grade of ESO which have an additional one which is called D class.

         However, there are students who are over the average of the class and nobody knows what to do with them. They can be bored in different lessons, like maths, because they do not need much time to understand what it is taught and, moreover, they do exercises faster than the others. Everybody agrees that if they stayed in another classroom according to their level of knowledge they could improve a lot.

         Although we cannot see this segregation in schools in order to learn skills, it is possible to see it in other situations as sports. Main football clubs around the world have special schools where boys can live there while they are receiving a top instruction in this sport. Not only in football but in others sports like tennis. Therefore, it could be also for maths, science or others.

         All in all, it is a pity that these boys and girls do not have a proper education according to their educational skills. Even though it would increase the social cost of education because schools would set up news classrooms and hire more teachers, it would be a good investment and the benefits would return to the society few years later.

BUSINESS IN THE CLASSROOM

-         Introduction.

The students of “Ciclos Formativos”, “Vocational Training” or “Training courses” have a serious problem when they want to get a job in a competitive market. This problem is the lack of business experience.

Although students of “administration and finance” do 350 hours of internship in a company as a subject like the others in the classroom, they may only get experience in a particular part of the administrative tasks, so they need a much wider one to get a whole experience in business administration.

One of the tools to achieve this purpose is the subject “Business in the classroom”.

-         Business in the classroom.

The subject "Business in the classroom" not only is a subject but an interdisciplinary project that allows students to obtain a right experience in the workplace.

Therefore, it has to be set up a business inside the classroom to get a real company environment. We have the suitable furniture with computers for each student, a printer, a telephone set and stationery (and other stuff like any kind of office supplies like folders, files, stapler, clips and so on)

Moreover, there should be a business decoration like the company logo hanged in the wall.

The business is chosen by students and teachers being our current the business sale of workwear. We can found another business in other schools like book publishing, gardening, sale of computers and hotel business among others.

The business is structured into four departments: Accountancy and finance, sales, purchases and Human Resources which I speak later because now I have to talk about SEFED, the computing platform that allows us to work with more realism.

-         SEFED platform

SEFED platform is a computer on line environment which performs a virtual market made up of, more or less, 250 virtual companies or practice enterprises around Cataluña, Spain and Europe. Moreover we can find in Morocco too.

-         Departments

o      Sales department. It has two basic activities:

Firstly, to make properly and accurate the administrative circuit of sales. The network launches a sales order, and then the members of the department send it to the purchasing department to buy it because the business works by just-in-time system. Platform launches an automatic sales order every week.

Just-in-time system is all you sells all you need to buy because the company is working without warehouses.

When the purchase is done, the good ordered are sent to the customer with the delivery note and later the invoice. The three documents of the sale departments are sent stapled.

- Secondly they have an important marketing activity. They have to look for new customers. To get new customers out from the SEFED platform is a very exciting challenge. The network gives a list of virtual business to contact whom we can do it by e mail or telephone. Also, we received information from other business to start a business relationship

In addition students have to make up a catalogue with goods and their prices and hung it on the SEFED network which is a very good toll to get new sales because all the business of the SEFED environment can see it.

o       Purchasing department.      

Firstly, they have to make a purchase order to the network because the only supplier of the company is from the SEFED system.

Three days later, more or less, the company receives the delivery note of that order and three days later too, it is sent the invoice. These documents are given stapled to the accountancy department to record them.

The purchasing department would be the storekeeper if the company did not work with just-in-time system.

Also, they have to hire supplies like water, gas, electricity, insurances and others ones to companies from the SEFED system.

As you can see the mainly activity of the department is related with the platform SEFED. However, it can buy any kind of good or service from any company linked to SEFED. The administrative business process is the same that it has been told before but with no link with the platform, only between two external companies.

This department also has the task of managing electronic mail and telephone support.

o       Human Resources department.

The various activities carried out by the human resources departments are:

-         Preparation of payrolls

-         Calculation of the payment of the social security system.

-         Absenteeism control.

-         Health and safety at the company

-         Employment contracts

-         A Register the insurance number.

-         IRPF tax

o       Accounting and finance department.

They do:

-         Record all the business documents mainly invoices. both issued and received.

-         Make payments and collections

-         Bank reconciliation between accountancy and bank statements.

-         VAT Report and other tax settlement

-         Payments and collections forecasts.

-         Analysis of financial statements.

Departments have to have a fluent communication then otherwise things are not going well.

Students will rotate through all departments during the course to learn the functions of each.

-         Skills to get.

Students also achieve other goals.

o      They learn to manage different business information in the computer, therefore they can have a file structure in the drive. It can seem easy, but it is not, because not only students have to file paper documents but also virtual ones. They have to look for a lot of information on Internet.

-         Other topics related to the subject

o      International Practice Enterprise Fair in Barcelona 2016

Every two years an international fair rides SEFED two-day in Barcelona. There we can find more than 75 different companies from different schools throughout Spain, especially Galicia, Catalonia and Basque Country and few in Europe, mainly from Austria. The companies set up their stands and offer their products and services to the visitors. They also make presentations of their companies, products and services in front of a public in a suitable room for it.

SEFED companies who do not want a stand can also participate in the fair as visitors. That visit could be used to distribute commercial material so we can get new customers.

All in all, thanks to this subject students can get:

-         the chance to experience in all areas of the company.

-         apply the theory learned in class to business practice

-         gain confidence for their professional future

-         basic experience in the main administrative tasks of a company 

WINSTON CHURCHILL, THE FATE OF A LEADERSHIP

WINSTON CHURCHILL, EL DESTINO DE UN LÍDER.

On 10 May, 1940 Winston Churchill became the Prime Minister of Great Britain. He was 65 years old. Maybe too old. However History seems to say that Great Britain had been waiting for a PM like him.  His appointment took place at the same time the German forces were crushing and pounding Holland, Belgium and France. On 14 June the same year the German forces indaded Paris. It was the defeat of France, the Great Britain's main ally.

In spite of being a well-known politician, Churchill was away from major political responsibilities. He made a big mistake in the First World War, Gallipoli and he had paid for it. However, he had the opportunity to become what they expected of him in those trouble times.

When he arrived to be the Prime Minister he spoke frankly and honestly. He was a master of speaking. He made speeches which have become History like “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”. Another famous one was “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. “

He gave confidence and hope to British people who were sunk and afraid because the German army was in Calais waiting for landing in England. Nevertheless, he was always smiling with his cigar and with his famous V sign. We can watch videos of smiling to people and people smiling back. When your Prime Minister is smiling you, you will smile too. When your Prime Minister has confidence you also have confidence.

To speak about Churchill without mentioning some of his quotes is pointless. My favourite one is when a Lady Astor, a Member Parliament told him.

- “If I Were Your Wife I’d Put Poison in Your Tea!”, and he answered

-  “If I Were Your Husband I’d Drink It”

      

    The war ended and Churchill was the winner, but he lost the elections in 1945. Clement Atlee, the deputy minister with the coalition government, won. However Churchill wrote History, the story of a man who a great nation was expecting to win a war.

          All in all, we have to be expected to do our best when fate can call us.

           

SHOULD WE CREATE MORE SOCIALLY MIXED RESIDENTIAL AREAS, WHERE RICH PEOPLE LIVE NEXT TO POORER PEOPLE, INSTEAD OF IN SEPARATE COMMUNITIES?

DEBEMOS CREAR ZONAS RESIDENCIALES SOCIALMENTE MIXTAS O COMUNIDADES SEPARADAS ?

In order to answer this question, we must first examine how people want to live, whether they prefer to live in separate communities depending on their social and economic, religious and political situation, or they want to live in mixed areas. Another question we can ask ourselves is whether it is a good idea that people have the possibility to choose this kind of segregation or not. The public administration has to answer.

Admittedly, people want to live with people with similar lifestyle. We can see this fact from Catalonia to other places around the world. For example, rich people live in certain towns, such as Matadepera, while that is mostly made up by wealthy people, a town like Sant Adrià is mostly a working class town.

In my opinion separate communities are not so good for a harmonious coexistence, because these kinds of neighborhood are likely to turn into ghettos, sooner or later. People from an area can live quite unaware of the existence of other communities. Therefore, this ignorance of two economic realities can bring about social conflicts as a consequence of big frustrations of poor inhabitants.

In conclusion is we should create more socially mixed residential areas where rich people live next to poorer people. I believe it had to have good consequences. One of them, in the long term, would be that wealth would be distributed over that area, then, poor people would be able benefit from it. Furthermore society would be more equal economically. If rich and poor people are living separately, then differences will be bigger and social disorders might arise like the riots of London or the banlieues of Paris which banged five years ago.