Come back

 I start to write this blog when I was about 30, and I can't believe it is almost 10 years since my last post.

Not that I had a huge following, this was just my way to voice my opinions, putting them there into the universe, without necessarily making an impact.

I just read some of my entries, and I was amused. They were interesting, in my opinion (of course, I wrote them!) but at the same time they come from different world, even a different me.

So, why writing again here? 

It is a way to connect with that young woman, it is a way to share again my opinions, with anyone who wants to hear them.

It is a way, also, to have meaningful discussions if anyone cares to comment. 

I think expressing one's opinion and having the will to debate them is a skill that is dying these days. Political correctness killed it, together with the need of validation of too many people who cannot accept that their own opinion is not universally accepted. Ironically (life is always ironic, when you it 40 you get that) often they are the same people who advocate for freedom and tolerance.

So, I have strong opinions and I welcome everyone whose opinion differs from mine, only so long they use the same courtesy towards me. 

I have a mind, and I use it, without fear of offending anyone because differing opinions are what make democracy at its core...

Notwithstanding what too many people think these days!

How do we see the job in time of crisis?

It is some time now that I've created a survey to analyse the change in the economic world and view during this crisis.

It is very interesting for me to see if the problematic time that we are living is changing our perception of what do we have right to, and what is the extent of our rights.

So far, I've received very interesting replies, but the number is not yet significant to have some conclusions.

Therefore I kindly ask my readers to take the survey and share it as much as possible.

Andromeda: the fairest in the sky.

My favourite constellation is Andromeda. It is one of the fairest, and I think part of its beauty consist in the difficulty to find it. The joy perceived when finally you can distinguish it in the night add something to the the pleasure of contemplating its appearance. Also, additional charm is added by the fact that it contains the farthest object we can observe without telescope, the Andromeda galaxy. Andromeda was already known in the ancient time: Tolomeo described it in its work, in the II century b.C., and its myth was pretty famous: Eschilo and Sofocle, two of the greatest greek tragedians, wrote a play on it and Ovidio wrote about it in the Metamorphoses. Andromeda was the daugher of the king of Ethiopia, Cefeo, and her mother Cassiopea made the mistake of brag about her beauty: she said that she and her daughter were as beautiful as, if not even more, the Nereids. They did not take this as a compliment, and felt insulted asked to their protector, the god of the sea Poseidon, to defend their supremacy. Poseidon decided to act upon their request, and summoned a monster to attack the cost of Ethiopia. As the situation was worsening for his country, the king asked to the oracle how to mend their mistake. The only way was to sacrifice the virginal daughter to a sea monster. Andromeda was then chained to a rock in front of the sea, awaiting her fate, when Perseo, the hero killer of the Medusa, happened to pass by. Perseo immediately fell in love for the shy Andromeda and save her after being granted the permission of marriage from the father, killing the approaching sea monster. According to Ovidio the father had second thoughts, and Athena (the goddess of Wisdom) had to intervene to grant their marriage and promised them to become part of the sky. In fact, Beside Andromeda there are the constellation of Perseo and Cassiopea.

This is what tradition reported about Andromeda history. But I imagined things going in another directions. Andromeda was a very shy, honest girl, but strong in her principles. She did not share the mother's vanity, always considering her thoughts more important than her face. She felt the responsibility of being the king's daughter, and she understood that being a princess meant above all do the right thing for its people. When Cefeo went to ask how to remedy the situation, Poseidon gave him only one option: an hero had to kill the sea monster to appease his ire, or otherwise Ethiopia would have been slowly destroyed. Cefeo did not have sons, therefore he opened a contest into his kingdom to find the right person for the job. The winner of the contest would have to risk his life but, if succeeded, he would have gained also Andromeda as his wife. When Andromeda heard the terms of the contest and that she became a prize, she indignantly spoke with the father: "Am I nothing more than a trophy for you, father, that I am to be a prize like an object?" She was ready to sacrifice her future for the wellbeing of her people, but she was not prepared to be treated like a thing. The king replied sadly: "You are more than that, my beloved daughter, but you need to understand that no man would risk his life without a worthwhile promise". Andromeda, willing to affirm her value as woman and as human being, proposed to the father to fight herself for her life and the future of the country. Cefeo did not agree at the beginning, but Cassiopea intervened: "Let her fight for her life, as a marriage without love is a fate worst than death". Was then decided to let Andromeda fight, and to fool the seamonster she acted as she was chained to the rock. When it approached to a sword distances, Andromeda took off the chains and used them to blind it. Mad with pain but now blind, the beast moved toward the rocks where Andromeda was, but she quickly moved and the monster smashed its head against the cliff. For the smart method used by Andromeda in the fight, Athena rewarded her with the promise of be part of the sky to remember every woman to be the creator of her own fate.

Parting.

"Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow,That I shall say good night till it be morrow" 

 Shakespeare  knew. Parting is always bittersweet. It is not only when you're leaving for good,

 it is as well when you're leaving for short period of time.

I think this is due to the fact that leaving is always separate ourselves from the comfort of the known, usual routine for something new, exciting and unexpected. And if when you're 20 the question if the unexpected and new is more desirable than the routine is utterly rhetorical, when you hit 30 this starts to be a question that wants an answer.

 

So, so long to the new at all cost. We start calculating if change is worth it. We start calculating the consequences of our decisions, and to consider the probabilities of success.

Basically, getting older means becoming a mathematician!

How the Economic crisis is influencing our thoughts.

During the course of last years, whilst the job offer drastically reduced, I noticed a very worrying trend in the Western world. As if all the conquests made in the late 1800 and at the beginning of the last century were forgotten or, what is worst, considered not as important anymore.

I decided to try to analyse scientifically the extend of this new trend. It might be only a pessimistic but unrealistic interpretation of our time.

For this reason, I created the following survey: it is very simple, it just gives me an overview to begin a deeper research https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1TBkqzBzGqW8o6UJ5rg97TwzwKBLTB7JrWHizPSjAvd0/viewform

I would be very grateful if you, reader, would like to participate!

How does the Economy changes our perception of the job?

I would like to analyse if the present economic crisis changed the perception people have about jobs. It is still considered as a right, or it is viewed as a precious and undeserved gift?


I would be grateful if you can fill the following form, it takes only few minutes



https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1TBkqzBzGqW8o6UJ5rg97TwzwKBLTB7JrWHizPSjAvd0/viewform

Already December

It is already December. Time really flies.

I remember when I was a teenager I couldn't wait to be eighteen, to be "adult".
One day one of my aunts told me: "Enjoy these years because from 18 to 30 time will run and then will just fly".I remember the thought that my teenager self had: completely disbelief in these words.

And now I discovered, as I think everyone just after 30 discover, they were true.
Youth is over the first time you caught yourself thinking "They were right", they being any older relative of your childhood who tried to prepare yourself for the adult life and disappointment. At one moment, (one sad moment usually for women) you stop to grow up and you start to age.
The  process is biologically the same but, ah, how different it is in our mind! You are not anymore a world of possibilities, you start to experience the consequences of your choices. Oh, yes, it is still possible to change and there are still million choices out there to be made, but you will lose the freedom of taking the risk, taking the chance, because "Every action causes an equal and contrary reaction" will be more that a physic law. It is, as a matter of fact, a life's law. And there is nothing to complain about, it is only important to become aware of it. A superficial ignorance of the life is a prerogative of young people.

Growing up is loosing this prerogative.