They still alive forever and ever

They still alive forever and ever

I was writing an anthropology essay and while I was trying to develop an argument in the field of ethnicity, I wondered to myself a rhetorical question; even if all people of an ethnic group die, can an ethnic group disappear? then a categorical answer raised on my mind, no, never ever can disappear, let me explain why. All that we are have been building up by our ancestors, each ethnicity of the world have been the best that have fitted to our planet in a particular time and place, no other could have fit better, so it is like a human chain, but to understand better what I want to say we should leave apart for a while our mundane life that use to be less than 100 years and look our world in a conceptual way, then from my point of view, we can see how all that we have build up still alive although there is not a representative people to explain it, even if we don't know of its existence, it still in there, alive, in fact, we only know a few grains of the sand of all universe.

Well, returning to our ordinary and selfish way of think, it still difficult to understand what I'm saying when we can only understand life and death in biological terms. Also, my explaining skills should improve a bit more. However, it has been said and that's it.

Antoni Font 19/05/2021, Aberdeen.

 

A parallel world (true story)

A parallel world (true story)

Once upon a time, in August 2000, I went to Brazil as a volunteer for a Catholic NGO called "Enllaç". We went to a small town in the middle of nowhere called São Miguel do Guaporé. Mainly, we were around the church helping with whatever; I remember painting walls and doing events with the youth of the town. However, for a week, each member of the NGO went to live with different families from the "Lineas".

The "Lineas" are large lands that the government gave to families in exchange for their taking care of it. I don't know more about the details of this deal, but it sounded good. I went to live with a beautiful family, they were a married couple with a young son and daughter. During the week, I mostly spent time with the son; he showed me his horse and we went fishing in a little stream too. But the most I remember is when in the afternoons we used to meet in a courtyard with people from other lines. Although we speak different languages, we understood each other, our will to understand each other was above our different language. They explained to me what their life was like there and I what mine was like in my country, we learned a lot from each other.

On my last day, there was an event that brought together all the families of the different "lineas" in the area. As we walked to the event, different families that I already knew from the previous days joined us on the way to go to the event. It was then that something got stuck in my brain, it was a feeling, in fact, I felt deeply as if I was in a dream, or more likely in a parallel world that was absolutely different from my world and where there was no one from my world, I was alone with these new friends. Today, a piece of my heart is still there.

For a period, I corresponded with my friend on the line. Every time I received a letter from them, I had the same feeling, the feeling that I was having contact with a parallel world. I love them.

  Antoni Font 04/02/2021, Aberdeen.

Acknowledging your guilt

Acknowledging your guilt

   Nestled in a cool green valle, lies the small town of Greenstone, with the gentle Gosp River winding through it. Max Scott is the town’s mayor, though his reputation is less than stellar. One morning, he receives an unexpected visitor: Melanie Bardell, a county administrator. Melanie’s purpose is straightforward: she needs Max to sign documents that would secure essential funds to enhance city services, especially since Greenstone has been expanding rapidly over the past decade due to the opening of a nearby factory beside the old town. This growth has led to a surge of small businesses and, with it, a demand for improved municipal services, like more medical services (first aid), bus service, improve shool structures, nurseries, etcetera.

Melanie and Max have a long-standing, rocky relationship. Melanie harbors frustration toward Max, who she sees as an absentee leader. Instead of attending to city matters, Max offloads tasks to his team and spends his days with friends, using his mayoral title to benefit his private ventures. Her unannounced visit is no accident; she’s strategically timed it, hoping to catch Max alone, knowing that he often prepares for meetings with his team in advance to deflect her questions to his team and exempt him of giving any explanation.

Max seems irritated, protesting that this unscheduled visit disrupts his day, but Melanie is insistent. She reminds him of his duty to sign the county budget document, urgently needed for Greenstone’s development. When he asks for the document, Melanie explains she emailed it to his private account that morning. To download and print it, he must access this account himself, as only he knows the password.

Reluctantly, Max opens his laptop, pulls up the email portal, and tries to enter the password. His first attempt fails, much to Melanie’s silent satisfaction. Each second he struggles, her confidence grows. “Everything alright, Max?” she asks, barely masking her amusement.

Max hesitates, blaming a slow internet connection as he tries to collect his thoughts. But as Melanie steps closer to peek at the screen, she raises an eyebrow, “Could you have forgotten your password, Max? By law, only you can access it.”

After a pause, Max takes a deep breath. “You’re right, Melanie. I may have been neglecting my responsibilities. But I know the password—I’ll prove it.” Acknowledging his failings eases some of the pressure, and, with a clearer head, he successfully logs in, downloads, and signs the document.

As Melanie leaves, she reflects on Max’s admission. While he ultimately did his duty, she still sees little true commitment in him and hopes for new leadership in Greenstone soon. Her last thought is simple but satisfying: “At least he admitted it—better than nothing.”

 Toni Font 04/09/2020, Aberdeen.