Of course I am more than happy that they are alive and well; no warm-blooded human being could not rejoice to the fact of a family reunited after so much time. Rojas' case is particularly rough: she had a baby while in the jungle, which had been giving to a family of peasants in 2005, who in turn had to take him to a hospital since he was in such a critical health state (leichmaniasis, typhoid fever). The baby even had a broken arm and cigarrette burns on his body, signs of torture, which made the hospital turn it over to the equivalent of Social Services in Colombia, since they thought he was the victim of child abuse. The FARC demanded to the peasant's family to return the child by December 30th or else, so the man searched protection in the government. The boy was confirmed to be Rojas's son just yesterday.

But there is a huge twist in this story: the president of my country, Hugo Chávez. He was requested to be the mediator between the Colombian government and the FARC, due to the ideological resmeblance between them. At first, Chávez turned this into a circus. No discreet acts on his behalf, oh no. Even Oliver Stone came down here to film the liberation. When there was a delay in the delivery of Rojas and González, FARC blamed it on the government, and Chávez almost immediately sided with them (he had already broken ties with president Álvaro Uribe over the initial spat). When the truth finally came out, that FARC didn't have the boy and were unsuccesful in recovering him, and with all the tremors coming from homke, Chávez apparently understood that this could not be used as a personal show to improved his battered international image. So, quietly and respectfully, he received the coordinates where the two women would be released, and requested in writing that two Red Cross helicopters take off from Venezuela into Colombia and pick them up.

Of course, this has raised a turmoil on the user comments on the site of the newspaper where I work. Those who support Chávez basically scream "All hail might Chávez!", and start saying Nobel peace prize. Those who oppose him --like me-- simply cheer that the women are free, and lament that Chávez is partying with somebody else's hat. And it was confirmed when, during initial statements, he send warm regards to Manuel Marulanda, the commander of the FARC, and hoped to form a leftist movement in Latin America. Nice going: ally yourself with people who have indiscriminately kill, blow up, torture and of course kidnap people, all for political purposes. That only increased my doubts that this was for "humanitarian" reasons.

But hey, two women are returning with their families. That should be the focus here. Hallelujah. But there will be questions later.

Now don't be calling me no Scrooge or anything, I'm just joking. I like the New Year. It's both the saddest and happiest day of the year. Gives us all a chance to start anew. Insert convenient cliché here: turn a new leaf, wipe the slate clean, start from square one.

A lot of people take those few minutes right before the clock strikes twelve to look back at the last twelve months and either regret what they didn't do (doing their best Marlon Brando saying "I coulda been someone, I coulda been a contenduh..."), smile or grin at the good things they did do ("Those were the best days of our life", said Bryan Adams; were they?), wish for the things that they will do, or all three. Those last minutes are for some the only introspection we do in any amount of seriousness. Shame on you, you should do that every day.

But there is something irresistible about the last day of the year. I mean, we all see time passing: the Sun rises and sets, seasons come and go, temperatures rise and fall. But on New Year we actually have a sense of a cycle ending, a sense that time is steadily moving forward. So we take it as a chance of doing everything a little better, wishing that the bad that happened in the last year was as bad as it was going to get, so working the best we can to make everything in our lives better.

Many analysts are calling 2008 a year of turmoil for my country. Certainly the signs are there: the President was dealt with his first major political loss in nine years, and many say that he's going to get even more radical. We have local elections for governors and mayors in October, and if that were blow Number Two that would be major. We'll see.

On a personal note, I can only hope that my life will continue the course it took this year, because it was a good course. New job, finished my thesis, finally seemed to get some respect for myself. Got big plans for ol' Oh Eight. New car, for starters, before this one kills me. And who knows, I just might pop the question.

I thank any of you who might read me with any consistency to have done so. I remember that old philosophical question that asks, "If a tree falls in the forest, and there's no one there to listen, does it amke a sound?" Well, if someone writes words, and there's no one there to read them, do they actually exist? Thanks guys, and I wish you all and your families a very Happy New Year. Peace out.

Two of the greastest Firefox extensions I've discovered in recent months have been the StumbleUpon toolbar (to randomly find interesting new websites) and the Clipmarks button (to save the best parts of webpages instead of the whole thing). Thanks to them, I discovered this: 9 QuestionsFrom A Christian About Christianity. (Please take a time to read them before you continue.) (Thanks. ;-)) And it certainly stirred up a recent controversy! I received 33 comments for the clip on Clipmarks, and the discussion certainly got heated at a point. It's natural; religion will always bring out the passion in people, both devout and atheists.

What I certainly noticed is that I sort of dropped the bomb, but didn't go back to pick up the rubble: I didn't answer these questions myself! I guess I was reluctant to do it:this will always be a very delicate subject, even more so than politics, so I will be very careful addressing this.
But here goes.

I don't want to answer them individually, but as a whole.

I go to church every Sunday. When I commit what I know to be a sin, I go to confession. I take communion, I had First Communion, Confirmation, and will get married in church. No big deal, most Latinos are pretty religious. But in the times we're living, with political unrest, high crime levels and such, it's not infrequent that we turn to God and ask Him: "Dude, what's up with this???"

This is the thing about God: you either believe in Him or you don't. You are going to ask for proof of His existence or you accept Him wholeheartedly. The only thing I wish God would change --and I'm no one to ask this of Him-- is that He would a better talker, as good as He is a listener. Then, all of these questions wouyld have an answer right from the source.

But that's the thing with God, as I would see it. He asks a lot from us, just by accepting things in blind faith and that's that. It's a tough sell --most of us are a lot more critical-thinking than that; we just can't take things lying down. We need evidence. We've all become CSI's.

And it's perfectly valid. Heck, I think it's mandatory. Jesus Christ came to be an example, and that means being more intelligent, more wary, more creative, more critical --as long as it's for doing good.

I think all of these questions can be answered concerning free will. I believe God loves us so much that He made us absolutely free --even to make mistakes. that is why our world is so absolutely f***d up right now; we have abused that free will. And the teachings of God are not enough to correct our evil ways. Remember the parable of Lazarus the poor, who lived at the steps of the rich guy? When they both died, the rich ended in Hell, while Lazarus ended with Abraham and Moses in Heaven. When the rich guy pleaded to Moses to send Lazarus to his family to correct their ways, Moses said that they had the Scriptures, let them follow them; if that wasn't enough, there was nothing they could do.

I think that also answers the "11th hour prayer". Somebody once told me something shocking: "God's love is so infinite, it is possible that Hitler is in Heaven." At first, I was outraged. That's impossible! The greatest killer in History, in Heaven, just because he asked for forgiveness???!!! Impossible! But then I rethought it. And before you cry blasphemy, I still believe it to be impossible. But not because I question God's love; I seriously doubt Hitler repented at the final hour. No, ol' Adolph is burning in Hell for eternity, that's for sure. But God gave him a chance all his life; the bastard just chose not to take it.

I realize I didn't answer many of the questions at all. It's because anything I--or anyone-- can tell you anything truly enlightening. This is another thing with God: He makes us ask the questions, but also makes us look for the answers ourselves, giving us little hints on the way. Of course, many times it's not enough, but what else can we do? We can either not believe in Him anymore, simply accept what has happened, or really try to seek the answers. Which I believe is what Brandon is doing.

I intend to take these questions to my local priest. He's a young guy, very intelligent, and an excellent talker. And very open-minded.  I'll let you know what he says.

In the meantime, I publish this story I've read many times (even in a Daredevil comic!) which always inspires me; tell me what you think.

By chance, a monk and a powerful knight shared a table in a road inn, and they started to talk cordially. Of course eventually the conversation turned to religion, and the eternity of souls. The knight boaste, "I have never followed the Commandments. I have killed when I have had to, taken women and wealth galore, never denied myself anything, and now I am master of many lands and castles. You, on the other hand"--and he pointed the monks ragged robes and bare feet-- "have lived a pious life, and that has led you to absolute poverty. I ask you this: how would you feel if you die tomorrow, and discover that there is no Heaven, no Salvation, no God?"

The monk thought about this carefully for a while and finally answered: "Well I suppose I'd be very sad. But now I ask you, milord: what will happen when you die... and discover there is?"

There was no answer.

And no, despite my first post, I know it's not something confined to the USA. It's worldwide, with exceptions I know exist but don't know which they are. Allow me to illustrate: if you're under 20, do you know who Bob Seger is? How about where Rwanda is? Who invented the telephone? Or the radio? What does "Pope" mean? Where would I go to find a platypus? Who was Siddharta?

I know, I know, it's not the end of the world. It's not like this is the kind of info that is going to get you millions (unless, of course, you're on Who Wants to be a Mult-millionaire). Or going to land you a better job. But won't it make you a better human being? Nah, that's not it either. I've known people who barely know how to read or write and are nearly saints. But it's my belief that people who have better information become better leaders. Information is power, you know.

There is information by the trillions out there thanks to the Internet. And what are we using it for? Porn. And news are a distant second. I'm not going to sit here and tell you what to watch or not --that's your choice-- but that's like having a Cadillac Escalade and using it to go to the corner and back. Watch your porno, but go to an encyclopedia, too. It's not enough to have the money to run a company; it's also a matter of knowing the world around it. Peace out.

ANSWERS: 1.- Bob Seger was a rocker in the '80s, a la Bruce Springsteen (and I know you know who HE is!). 2.- Rwanda is a country in western Africa. Remember? Hotel Rwanda? The movie? 3.- Alexander Graham Bell. 4.- Guglielmo Marconi (although it's being disputed). 5.- It comes from the Greek pappas, which means "father". The Church gives a traditional meaning as an acronym for "He who follws the steps of Peter" (or something like that). 5.- Australia. 6.- An Indian prophet who was later called Buddha.

Thanks for peeking into my Mind...

But no one --I mean NO ONE-- that has anything to do with origami --and no one in the world who has any sensibility for arts or human beings-- cannot think of the centuries-old craft without associating it with one name: Akira Yoshizawa.

The widely-proclaimed father of modern origami peacefully passed away on to meet Buddha on March 14th, the day he turned 94 years old. He left behind a legacy for the art of origami of such dimensions that it will be ages before anyone can so much as come close to matching up.

As so many people in origami have commented before, a Yoshizawa model is a relatively simple model, involving no more folds than a traditional one. But while anyone can fold a Yoshizawa, very few can fold like Yoshizawa. For the master, it was not enough to accurately give the model all its corresponding points and perhaps accurate color patterns; the model had to seem alive. A puppy folded by those gifted hands only needed to wimper; an owl was expected to blink in any moment; and a sheep would almost produce real fleece. Fifty years of dedication to origami not only acheived this level of perfection but also produced perhaps in excess of 60,000 models (in 1989 Yoshizawa estimated he had designed some 50,000, and he never ceased to create, as far as I know). Not only this, he had the idea to lightly dampen the paper which he was going to use to be able to mold the paper into three-dimensionalty and make the model harden to an almost permanent state when it dried. And refusing to leave origami in the hands of a few, Yoshizawa also designed a set of symbols so non-Japanese readers could fold them too. This system of symbols, slightly modified by another exemplary folder, Samuel Randlett, in the '60s, is still used today.

But perhaps Yoshizawa's greatest gift to the world is his spiritual take on the art, the way he was convinced it was the path to inner and world peace. By accounts of those lucky enopugh to have met him -- I am not among them-- he was a small man with a gigantic spirit, who wanted nothing more than to see his art bring a smile and content to any one who gazed upon it or attempted to recreate it. The world is a bit emptier now that he is gone, but let us all be happy and thankful that we had him at all.

Rest in peace, Yoshizawa-sama.

Thanks for peeking into my Mind...

Elections in my country seem to be heading it into brand new dictatorial country. Britney, Janet, Colin... lotta names in showbiz came and went. Me? I discovered blogging. And I'm loving it.

Some people take this time to evaluate their performance in the year and vow to make amends. That's nice, but c'mon, it's really b.s. Evaluate what you do every day, I say. Plan ahead, yes, but don't take this time to reflect on the couldave, wouldave and shouldave. That's gone, baby. Time to look ahead. You've got 365 days to make good on every promise you made and didn't keep. You got 12 months of ways you can improve your life, your close ones' lives and the world's life. And you got a whole year to plan what you're gonna be proud of on December 31, 2005. For God's sake, have a great New Year. May God help you on whatever it is you're planning to do. And be good at it. See ya in 2005.

Thanks for peeking into my Mind...