Week Forty-two – Yesterday’s news! #BringBackOurGirls

Missing Schoolgirls #BringBackOurGirls

Yesterday’s news is today’s tomorrow’s news and no one cares about it!

Back in May the whole world was astound by the kidnapping of 200 school girls in Nigeria and celebrities around the world participated in a campaigned entitled #BringBackOurGirls ncluding the US President’s wife Michelle Obama. For weeks all major news TV channels and Newspapers all over the world broadcasted constantly about the missing girls; awareness was being spread through social media for the whole world to do something about it, a kind of a global peer pressure for the government in Nigeria to react and take action. I too was gripped by this and week Twenty of my blog was dedicated to this subject doing my own slogan #realmenrespectwomen. I wanted to take part in this by sharing my views on the these men who had forgotten that those women they oppressed and hated so much had given them life and where in this planet because of them.

Spandau Ballet in their way back to stardom!

Why I am telling you all this and why have I entitled this week’s blog “Yesterday’s news”? To give you more background on the inspiration for this week’s topic let me also share with you a Television program I saw which indirectly links to the missing schoolgirls story. Back in the 80’s there was a band called Spandau Ballet which many of you will not remember the name unless you grew up in the UK during this era; but if I hummed their most recognised tune “True” you would know them instantly (click on this link to listen and youwill say “oh yea… I know this song!” I don’t know how to hum in a writtenblog!!!) Spandau Ballet literally shaped the way we dressed and acted in the 80’s and were the pioneers of the “New Romantic” era of the day. Like many other bands they lost their way, did not keep up to date with changes (techno took over the 90’s) and very rapidly they went from being one of the most successful groups of the 80’s to a bunch of unknown musicians; they became “yesterday’s news”. As I watched Television this week I came across a “special program” on Spandau Ballet where they were performing their hits and being interviewed about their lives, careers and raise and fall from stardom. Just before the end of the program I said to my wife “I’d bet you they have a new album coming out, that’s the only reason they are doing this “special” program” and sure enough at the end the presenter says “what’s the future for Spandau Ballet?” they are releasing a new single and going on tour in 2015!

I like Spandau Ballet and I am exited about their new single but the question is why did they fade away and did not produce anything for 25 years? They could have continued back then entertaining their fans all these years (they never officially split up unlike other bands). They just literally became yesterday’s news, and no one cared. This is common in any artistic profession, the moment you become yesterday’s news, no one cares and it is the end of your career.

So what does Spandau Ballet have to do with the missing schoolgirls in Nigeria? This week there was also another program, which I happen to stumble upon that feature this subject again. The question being raised was the same question asked 5 months ago “what happened to the 200 missing schoolgirls?” except this time there was no huge campaigned behind it backed by celebrities and politicians and it was in an obscure TV Channel at a non-primed time… in other words nobody cared. But what the presenter said actually send shivers down my spine; “5 months on and the 200 schoolgirls are still missing, and no one has done anything about it” this made me realised that anything in this world can be “Yesterday’s News” even if it is as important and impactful to the world as this humanitarian barbarism these men in Nigeria had done. Because people stopped to care and new things came up, they faded away, became yesterdays news and they are still missing, we assume and hope, still alive. And this goes on and on all of the time, the moment it becomes less sensational for the news programs and papers to sell, it gets push back giving room to more important and sensational news of the day, which of course will sell more and increase ratings. It’s a cynical way to look at journalism but it is a reality of the media, which nowadays is also driven by social media channels. Anything becomes very quickly yesterday’s news. Even your updates and posts in Facebook work on this principle; the more likes and shares you get the further up the newsfeed your post gets pushed, it doesn’t matter whether it is an interesting post or not, popularity beats context every time and if nobody gives you a “Like” you become “yesterday’s news”

This is even relevant in our every day life; think about it. When you join a company you are the “new kid on the block” and everyone is looking at you, you become the centre of attention. Unless you keep on producing and delivering up to expectations, people soon forget about you and move on. When you don’t keep up with trends, adapt or change with times, when you are no longer relevant, when you have passed your peak, when you are no longer useful, when you just simply do no fit in; you become “yesterday’s news” and fade away.

We have to make every effort to always remain relevant, to always be useful, to ensure people keep us in the forefront of their minds, that they don’t just give up on us because something else more important has popped up and even though we were the centre of attention, we no longer feature high on the agenda.

We should make every effort to care about things, it is shocking that #BringBackOurGirls is now featured on an obscure network in a non-prime time; we should not rest until the schoolgirls are back home and these men punished, if we cared so much back then, why are they still missing and why Mrs Obama and all other celebrities don’t continue to keep this subject as today’s news?

Week Thirty- three – #Culture

They say that Culture is at the heart of a nation and to get to that nation you have to win their heart!

You can take the boy out of Mexico but you can't take Mexico out of the boy!

This week I was talking to a group of people about culture and it is a subject that fascinates me for many reasons. And Culture is something so powerful and important in our lives that we should all pay attention to it and be aware of the implications that it has in our lives. But let’s first define what culture is. I am not going to give you the dictionary definition but rather what I have learned throughout my life.

First of all culture is at the centre of everyone’s life. It’s a set of values we live by and use to drive our actions. Culture is a passion for something we have inherited and will pass on to others and it is what makes us who we are. With this in mind, you can see why when I say culture is something very powerful I mean VERY POWERFUL! That is why often you hear people say “it’s a culture shock” essentially because when you are faced with something that doesn’t fit your culture, it throws out everything you know about values and set of norms you live by.

Now let us put this in perspective. I was born and raised in Mexico and spent the first 18 years of my life there. At heart and mind I am a Mexican and my routes are something I will never loose particularly because my formation years where spent living and breathing the Mexican way. They say you can take the boy out of Mexico but you can’t take Mexico out of the boy, a true statement for all of us. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been away from your motherland, you will always have something that ties you back, and it is who you are. And the reason for this is that your education and character building took place there and it is embedded in you.  For me growing up in Mexico set my views and values I now carry with me and live by, I am proud to be Mexican and will always carry it in my heart. There is a Mexican Mariachi song that says “Beautiful and beloved Mexico, if I die far away from you, tell them that I’m sleeping and return me to you” and nothing could be further from the truth, you main not be buried in your home land but spiritually that’s were we all end up.

But the boy left Mexico and went to the UK and did he have a culture shock! The next set of my formation years (teens) were spent in England, where things worked very differently! But here is where I became fascinated with culture without knowing it. Most people when they leave their country they become homesick, and they miss everything about their culture. It is a natural reaction; remember what we said about culture, it rules your life, so all of the sudden everything you know is out of whack! But for me it was different. Right up to the date I left Mexico I lived and breath the culture, it’s all I knew and loved it (Mexican’s do have a lot of fun!) but within days of being in the UK I was not missing Mexico any more. It’s hard to explain as I did and still love Mexico, but I was ready to embrace a new culture, which fascinated me. Some people saw this wrong as they believed I was forgetting where I came from, trust me I never have, but I didn’t need to miss Mexico to still love it, and at the same time I was learning a new way of life, a new set of values and passions of people in my new country, my new home. Pretty soon I realised that I wanted to stay in the UK and therefore I had to embrace the culture and live like an Englishman! Here is where I began to understand that culture is at the heart of a nation and to get to people’s hearts is through their culture. Often what cause conflict in society is segregation and the struggle between who is right and who is wrong. When you are a Mexican and live in the UK, if you live like a Mexican you will never fit in or indeed be accepted into society. You can remain proud to be a Mexican and still follow your traditions, but you must also embrace the culture where you live and conform to the values of the people there, after all you have chosen to be here.

I don’t mean to say I had to become English to be accepted, not at all, I still call myself a Mexican even though I’ve not lived there for over 28 years. But I had to learn their culture, accept it and live it, this was now my home and it would become part of who I am. So I guess I could say there is Mexican and English in me, Mexinglish may be the right word for me; I learned the values of the culture and lived by those values, which often aligned with my values as a Mexican.

I have sometimes called myself “citizen of the world” because I have been fortunate enough to also be able to experience different cultures and embrace them. My mother’s family came form Spain and I married a Spaniard, so I have also learned and embraced the culture. I have lived and worked in Germany and my father side has some German, so I declared myself German! There is some Jewish blood in our family and I have been fortunate enough to spend time in Israel through my work, I have felt home every time I’ve been there. I’ve been mistaken as an Armenian, Georgian, Azeri, Egyptian, Italian, and any other Latin Middle eastern countries you can think of, and when I’ve been in those countries I have learned and embraced their culture, and some times feel part of them! In my travels I have learned that the way to be accepted anywhere you are, first you have to accept where you are. Learn about the country, the people, their traditions, passion, believes, be respectful of these and try things, nothing is going to kill you. If people see that you accept them, they will accept you and also respect your culture back.

It is very rewarding to live and learn new cultures; it only makes you stronger and a better person. There are many values that are shared by all, Family, Health, Friendship, and Respect, we all live by these. So if we accept people’s culture, soon you will see that actually it’s not that far away from yours, the difference is the rich history and traditions that make each country and culture so unique and fascinating to learn, after all, we are all citizens of this world, the world belongs to all of us.

The sooner we remove segregation and separation of land, the sooner we will enjoy sharing our cultures and planned amongst our fellow citizens of the world!