Competition. Uhm, who doesn’t like competition? And, whether
it is to get the win, or to say that the “important thing is to compete”, which
I agree, it could be fun and challenging to compete and see what happens more
than who wins all.
We already know that technically in a competition someone has
to win, and someone has to lose. Now, what about from a resolution for 2015 to
a competition between 2 very good friends?
In this case, it is going to take 12 months to “declare the winner”. I’m
sure there are going to be more than one winner in this competition.
Everything started with me spending my New Year in Bogota,
Colombia and celebrating with family. I asked to ask everyone to share a resolution
for the New Year 2015. In circle we went through one by one, and when it was my
turn, I simply say that I wanted to read 1 book per month and to write 23 pages
of something. Why 23 pages? Well, I am going to celebrate 23 years of living in
the USA. Not the greatest country in the world, but yes, the GREATEST country
to me, and for me. I will write about that another time.
Next thing, I am writing “one of my pages” as an email to my
family and my best friend in the world. There, I reclaimed my resolution of
2015: 1 book per month and 23 pages of writing.
My dear and adorable Maryalejandra (best friend) said that
she loved my resolution, and she was to copycat the resolution, and talk-discuss-chat-debate
about the books we read. And, she also mentioned that it is also the same resolution
of Mark Zuckerberg (he doesn’t need introduction), to read 1 book per month,
and that the first book he picked (now, this sounds like Oprah’s book club) was
“El Fin del Poder” (The End of Power) by Moises Naim, a Venezuelan author. We’re
originally from Venezuela, so it was kind of interesting to hear Zuckerberg
picking up this book. (I think I like him a little bit more now. No that he
cares anyway).
But, back to the competition and the resolution…this is
going to be a great competition where I hope to keep “bringing” one book to the
table by the end of the month and to have some fun enjoying the “tertutlia” (a
“classic” and special Spanish word for conversation) about the books.
The competition has begun, and I’m going to finish reading
the wonderful book “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander for the month of
January. Although, it is focused in the USA judicial system, it got universal
value, and certainly, people like my friend Maryalejandra will appreciate the
discussion.
I got to be honest, and now this is related to my other resolution:
writing 23 pages. I said in my email to my family and Maryalejandra that I’m
going to write in Spanish and English (since I “dominate” both languages), and
now, I’m realizing that the challenge of continuing writing in English is making
me a winner, because, it is not my first language, but I love writing, and
expressing myself in my second language that I keep listening, exploring, reading
and enjoying passionately.
Now, this is the end of this page. Yes!!!
How many more to go? I can’t remember, but I’ll be sure to
save it in my January 2015 folder. ;-)
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