Education

According to the Cambridge dictionary, education can be defined as the process of teaching or learning, especially in a school or college, or the knowledge that you get from this. This definition could be complemented taking into account all the teaching that people usually receive at home mainly during their childhood. At home, families show their younger members important values like respect, friendship, love, empathy, effort, etc. All these moral principles should not be underestimated because they define who a person is in the eyes of others more than his or her formal education.
Generally speaking, education allows members of a community to adapt, follow the rules, and be able to live in society and to be a valuable member of it. A good education helps people to understand the user's manual of society and that way it is possible to get something valuable out of it.
Education is not an easy subject to tackle. The main problems are that there are too many different points of view about it, besides everyone seems to think that their view is the best and this makes it even harder to reach an agreement to improve it. Furthermore, not everybody gives it the same importance, and if the importance is different, the budget to expend on it varies too.
Even though sometimes it seems the opposite, the way education is handled nowadays is going to have a huge impact in the near future. Firstly, the problems of the future will need people prepared to propose smart solutions, to deploy them and that way gives the human race the chance to avoid extinction in the medium term. The main problem on many occasions are the politicians ruling the countries because they put their own benefit before the common interest. As a result, education policies are changed every time the government changes its colors, and unfortunately, it is usually for the worst.
In Spain, for example, this situation has been happening for several decades and there are no signs that it is going to change. Not only all these changes have not solved any of the main problems of the education system in the country, but also the situation is deteriorating with every new government.
In this case, two issues should be sorted out as soon as possible. First of all, the way students are evaluated, lowering minimum grades to pass exams and consequently courses instead of increasing the level of education provided. Secondly, the lack of a serious periodic evaluation of the teachers' performance during their career, the existence of a great number of teachers with the knowledge of the subject that they teach but without the necessary skills and knowledge to teach others. Finally, and probably the most important issue is the lack of vocation among teachers. A lot of teachers in the national education system have no interest in teaching, they applied for the job because it is a well-paid work for life.
Considering all the above, it is clear that education should be considered as a leading role in governments' agenda and this subject should be seriously studied and obtain a majority consensus to develop a new way to approach education at all ages, fostering a culture of effort, teamwork, curiosity, self-learning, critical thinking, etc. This idea will also need a considerable amount of economic resources to put it in practice, but it would be a much better way to spend money than how it has been wasted in later years.
There are several examples of successful public education systems that are based on a clear vision, a consensual solution among all parties involved, and a lot of patience and hard work. This means that there is still hope but it is not going to be easy at all. I just hope our rulers realize the problem and they will be able to sort it out sooner than later.

Music

Music has been around us for a long time, several thousands of years as some anthropologic discoveries have revealed. Apparently, music is something all humans have had in common during a big part of our existence. People living in very different parts of the globe share the same attraction for music, different kinds of music, of course, but music anyway.
There is an important number of studies that show how music has important effects on our brain and the way it stimulates the mind. Different styles of music affect our body and mind very differently. While classical music can help us to relax and reach in a calm mood, others like rock or techno, for example, can get us excited or put us in the mood to perform physical activities.
Although music has been at our side during so much time, it is easy to understand that its importance has not always been the same. Music has acquired a lot of importance during the last centuries, where musicians have received recognition and influence in different societies and periods of our history.
During the last few decades, music has become a huge industry with revenue reaching billions of dollars per year. Even though it has suffered a lot of changes lately due to the advances in technology and the way people consume music, the songs keep playing louder than ever. This is in part because of the fact that new mobile technologies allow people to listen to music everywhere at any time, and offer them tons of music of all styles and regions of the world.
In fact, this industry keeps generating new stars, some of them are one-hit-wonder while others have a long time successful career. In recent years, thanks to social media, musicians, and singers have more opportunities to let the public know them and to have the chance to become a new star in the music industry's constellation. Furthermore, to produce a hit it is not necessary to have the support of a big record company, and a big studio available during a few days or weeks. Nowadays, you can get the job done at your own home if you have a few thousand dollars to buy some basic equipment. We could say that music is becoming much more democratic these days.

Saying goodbye

The last two days have not been very pleasant. A very good friend of the family passed away yesterday morning. Even though it was something expected because he had been fighting terminal cancer for more than a year, it was not easy to say goodbye to him. A lot of good memories with him have come to my mind during the time we spent at the funeral home, at church, and at the cemetery.
I met him a few years ago through my in-laws. He was the Catholic priest of the church where they go to Mass every Sunday, and they became friends. He came very often to have lunch with us and was a part of the family.
I must say that I was educated as a Catholic, but since more than a couple of decades ago, I consider myself as an agnostic. However, that fact didn't suppose any problem between us. That was one of the things that impressed me more about him, besides his sense of humor, humility, and kindness. He was a friend to me, and I am going to miss him a lot. I really hope that he will be in a much better place from now on, and someday, if he is right we will have the chance to meet again in the afterlife.

Bye, Manuel.

P.S. Let me remember the song your phone played when you had a call (Twist and Shout, by The Beatles):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-VAxGJdJeQ