Inequality

Good news: Kids on the Block! The Pakistani activist of the rights for girls to have education, Malala Yousafzai, has recently won the Nobel prize, being the youngest to receive the prize and giving hope over the gender inequality that hover over women around the world. In her speech at the Commonwealth Day in March of this year she says, "Dear sisters and brothers, in this world, we are living as family of nations and it is necessary that each member of this family receives equal opportunities of economical, social and especially educational growth. Even if one member stays behind, the rest can never go forward." Malala was shot for defying the authority in a kind of censorship political effort to ban females to attend school. They are afraid women can be part of social and political activities thus making changes in a patriarchal system and they think that talking women out of their human rights will diminish their power in society. Does any one of those men in power know that if it was not for women that they would never be? It is time to end this and many other nonsense inequality in this world. With the globalization there is no more room for this type of feudal mentality. The planet is so interconnected nowadays that a health crisis in West Africa threats the whole West world with an Ebola outbreak. But we shouldn't think of the world as subdivided into categories, poorer countries, less advanced social and economic regions, a high society, a poor neighbor and less provided parts, underdeveloped world, etc, etc. Because we as planet are One. If we continue to have that mentality of us against them, of fighting global poverty we will miss the train of thought that can take us to a more clear reality. Nothing says more about inequality than poor and wealthy. But Happiness goes beyond economical crisis. It's an inner disposition that has nothing to do with social, economical, gender inequalities. And it has everything to do with an ulterior reason from an interior force, pulse, for being happy and helping others find their way to happiness. That's why I wrote the book "A-Z of Happiness". Finding your bliss in true equality and great quality can only benefit others, helping the world being more equal one step at a time.

For example here in Brazil, where inequality took such an unbalanced proportion that rich people live encapsulate in their own house and living side by side with slums, and the wealthy people have to be literally incarcerate inside their own mansion because they will risk being robbed or even worse, being assassinate if they put their feet outdoor. The inequality became a knife with two points. And why inequality exists? In India, besides the economical plateau we still see the downturn in society. There is also the religious issues. In Brazil the inequality has some similarities and although it is quite ambiguous it's clear that inequality comes from other things been too equal. That meaning in the other side of the scale there is a factor that distorts deeply this equation making it quite unbearable to see the facts. But the truth is while we fight to change this so controversial issues things are in a very general and slight way improving. In Brazil, poverty is decreasing and it's thanks to a political change in the way things were handled, not so much from a global political change but rather from private initiative that generated an avalanche of projects and perspective. As a good result if in a continue process equals a better result in an exponential effect, the chances are that changes will happen in a happy merry-go-round way. But we still see much inequality in places where issues such as Education and violence, health and home, transportation etc should already be resolved if we see that poverty is diminishing. But inequality still plays a major role because, let us face it: it's not making anybody less poorer or people less richer thatn we can vanish inequality for good. We cannot and should not divide the world in rich and poor. That only agravates the issue. The problem here is not how many people or countries in this world have lack of education, home, a decent income, or whatever differentiates what's to live with dignity and what's to live with the dignifying amount of money. It's the way we think of inequality that we need to change. It's not US versus, but much more UNIversus, us together as one, no inequality means no to say that we may differ from others, we are no different than our neighbor, a country cannot differ from another if all of them lives on the same planet, breath from the same air, and depends on the same source. There is no inequality and period. Thinking like this sounds pretty silly, Utopian even. There is no way to see inequality if we don't see it as nonexistent. Because if we ought to see reality as it is, inequality cannot be. Once we are all born equal and human rights are accessible to all and not only some, there will be no such thing as inequality.

BLOG ACTION DAY: Why "water" is a vital issue

The UN declared access to clean water and sanitation as a human right on July, 28th of this year (a day before my b'day, by the way!:) o what does that mean?? It means an effort and most of all a commitment for all governments... well, not all as some countries abstained their votes, mostly from the developed countries which claim they don't want to pay for the underdeveloped countries' toilet. Now the question is, "If there is no safe water to drink anywhere, how is it possible for anyone to have clean water in their own home if the planet is one? Do I make sense here. So instead of abstaining of taking action with a matter that is vital to ALL of US, and I say US as the whole world, shouldn't it be worried and help EVERYONE to live in a blue planet free from pollution and diseases?? Remember that SWINE FLUE that attacked not only Mexico but the whole planet not long ago? Yes, that was thanks for a bad sanitation that could be avoided by simply having access to clean water.

Search of the Blue Lagoon from Ana Antunes on Vimeo.

So instead of turning our heads and saying "That's nothing to do with me" let's face the problem and see that, YES, that has everything to do with you, with me, with all of us living in this amazing planet, which can and will provide all the resources if we use it wisely.

Water Resource on Planet Earth from Ana Antunes on Vimeo.

So finally here are some tips we can start right now to act:
Ask your government to take action now but stopping polluting our rivers and ocean with oil spills and other chemical substances that just deteriorate our beautiful planet Earth.

Don't use hot water when cleaning your clothes. They are well clean with just cold and besides the colours from your cool T-shirts won't be washed away if you use soft cycles.

Use the same water you shower yourself by having a recipient big enough to control the amount of water that goes out to flush the toilet, cleaning your backyard, your floor with what is called greywater.

When brushing your teeth or cleaning the dishes, don't spare water. Just use it when the whole ensemble are well brushed and wash it with conscience.

Actually every move you make with consciousness is a blessing to the entire world.

It's a God's Life!

With the recession and the global financial turmoil, it's time to roll up our sleeves and help people get in touch with what truly matters in our world by spreading the words of equality and fairness, and putting our fingers in the economic problems to solve some issues that have been like a plague, and giving solutions to the mess we all are. People are so concerned about their loosing money that they got lost amidst the deepest despair when so many live in hunger and are getting hungrier by the minute. In our rushing times it's just so easy to disconnect from what is really important in our lives. The basic needs are indeed what truly matters in all languages, all nations and all colors: to have a home, food in our plate, a good health, piece of mind and someone to share all that. So in five days I will be joining the world with words at the blog action day to getting verbal about poverty around the world. Would you join me too?