Aged people, do they really become useless?

 By Carmen Calderon

As years go by we become more aware of the deterioration of our bodies and "minds". It should be considered that ageing (could be) is “normal” (without chronic diseases or pathological mental states) 

Among the causes we can mention is the increasing mental inertia of routinary lives, without stopping and asking ourselves “Is there anything else I would like to achieve?”, which triggers the little or no contribution to society by our generations and the resulting feeling of despair in a stage in which learning to be "with oneself" becomes vital.

Research carried out on the social image of the elderly has concluded that the social perception of older people is basically negative.

Therefore, in this sense we have the responsibility to inform ourselves in order to treat older adults in a dignified, comprehensive, and non-discriminatory manner, considering them to be the socially active subjects they really should be.

Furthermore, speaking integrally, we quote Peck (1959, 1968)1, who establishes four stages:2

- Appreciation of wisdom versus physical strength.

- Socialisation versus sexualization in human relation.

- Emotional flexibility versus emotional impoverishment.

- Flexibility versus mental rigidity.

Science is currently demonstrating through its research how a good quality of life in the Third Age is a necessary and achievable aspect by making use of the resources and potentialities inherent to the Human Being, and which far from being limitations at this stage of life, are capacities that keep on developing.

One possible solution is the creation of spaces where the elderly can socialise and use their talents, in the activity they enjoy the most. It would be a place for entertainment, a place of respectful coexistence between people of similar ages and/or interests. The activities to be developed there could be a reading club, dancing lessons, or putting into practice talents to express themselves in a creative way, such as painting, singing, public speaking, and many others.

To conclude, older people would take advantage of their experience and talents to learn how life can be enjoyable regardless of how old they are. Being aware of this, we can enjoy life much more than our predecessors did as we age and the incidence of mental and emotional disorders could be reduced to its minimum level ever!

1 https://www.gob.mx/inapam/articulos/envejecimiento-y-vejez?idiom=es

2  https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/3498/349832315005.pdf

 Pride & Prejudice 

The film has setting in England, and represents the life stile of late 18th century and is about a young couple who will have to overcome their prejudices of the time to engagement and finally get married. The main roles in this film are played by Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen.  

The story opens with the five daughters of Bennet family, Jane, Lizzy, Lydia, Mary and Kitty,  who live in a rural property called Loungbourn. That property coul be loosed when their father, Mr. Bennet, has died, so, their mother is desperately finding gentlemen to marry off their daughters to protect their future, economy and surname. Some of them, wish to be married and accept their destiny without rejects, but the second daughter, Lizzy, met to Mr. Darcy, a rich, apparently arrogant and proud gentleman with who will have a kind of struggle of personality, influnced by the customes and beliefs of the period of time. 

This film is based on Jane Austen's novel (1813) with the same title, which was launched in 2005,  skilfully directed by Joe Wright, with an incredible and well selected cast, it's romantic, gripping and moving, because, shows the old English customes and how the brave people manage their feelings, personalities, how they deal with own beliefs, morality and challenges of time, to find love. 

Lizzy, interpreted by Keira Knightly show us a smart, laughinh and single woman whose behaviour is always finding the true love. Her role in this movie invite and encourage us to reject things that don't make us happy and to be brave to defend our essence as a person. I would highly and thoroughly recommend this movie and I am sure that you can enjoy it. 

By Lucia Moo. 

Arrival (2016) 👽

Arrival is set somewhere in the US, in the present and in different periods of the near future. The movie is based on a book "Story of your life" by Ted Chiang, which is absolutely amazing. It stars Amy Adams as Louise Banks, a professional linguist, and Jeremy Renner as Ian Donelly, his academic colleague.

Imagine one day 12 alien ships landed on earth in different countries and there’s no way to know what these creatures want. That’s the challenge that Louise Banks has to face, who is taken to a military base where there’s one of the alien ships. Her task is to communicate with the visitors and figure out their intentions. Surprisingly, these creatures have a message to humanity, what is this message about?

Poignantly directed by Denis Villeneuve, the film assesses language, memory and life in a singular and brilliant way. The scenes are fast-paced, so you need to pay attention to every detail. However the soundtrack is beautifully composed by Jóhann Jóhannsson. The best part? There's a track written by Max Ritcher that is the theme song of the movie.

This movie is widely praised by academics and other directors who saw how outstanding the plot is. With its mystery and gripping story Arrival is a film that I highly recommend. ✅

Andrea López.

 Forrest Gump

This great movie is set in Greenbow, Alabama in the 60s and 70s. It is based on the novel Winston Groom. It stars Tom Hanks as the main character, Forrest Gump, Robin Wright as Jenny Curran, Gary Sinise as lieutenant Dan, Sally Field as Mom´s Forrest and Mykelti Williamson as Bubba.

Everything starts with Forrest sitting on a bench waiting for the bus.  While his transport arrives, he tells about his life, how his Mom wanted that he went to the school as any child, where the school principal said that Forrest doesn't have the same abilities as other children, and how he met toJenny on the school bus and they became best friends.

Although at first Forrest couldn´t  walk very well because he had to use special appliances, he became a good runner, with this skill Forrest could go to the University playing American football in its team. After winning an important game of American football, he met the USA´s president  and later he went to the Vietnam War, where Forrest met Bubba, his best friend, and the lieutenant Dan. When the war finished, Forrest received a medal for saved his companions and he mets USA´s president again. In that time Forrest discover a new skill, playing tennis, with it he became famous and a rich player so he bought boat and with lieutenant Dan they fished and sold shrimp, their business named “Bubba Gump”  but Forrest comeback to home because his mom was sick and  after some days she died.

At the end, Forrest discovers that gets a son with Jenny so he married with she and takes care of them.

Skillfully directed by Robert Zemeckis, who is an American director, producer, and screenwriter. Convincingly and poingantly acted by tom Hanks, also known for the movies “Naufrago, Milagros inesperados, Salvando al soldado Ryan”, among others.  The movie Forrest Gump was widely praised by the public.

It's a moving, hilarious and dramatic movie where Forrest has several historical events like teaching Elvis Presley how to dance and meeting John Lennon. I am sure that you are going to love the plot, I would thoroughly recommend it.

Social media use and depression during the pandemic confinement (Problem-Solution Essay)

Can you guess how many people who you spend time every day are depressed? Let me give you a word: - many – yes more than you’d ever imagine. Depression is a state of mental illness. It is characterized by deep, long-lasting feelings of sadness or despair. It can affect people of any group, including young children and teens. 

Some of the common factors that may cause depression are genetics, high levels of stress, schizophrenia, drug abuse, bad medical conditions, alcohol, and trauma. The worst fact about depression is that nowadays there are thousands of people suffering in silence.

It has been published a large number of studies that reveal that one of the causes for depression is social media, more than 90% of social media users are pretending to look happy, which has as a consequence, superficial relationships between people, so, there is no place for sad people. Currently, another cause of depression is the confinement during COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of personal coexistence with family, friends, co-workers, etc. has affected the mental state of many people.

There are several medical treatments to deal with depression, for instance, psychotherapy and pills, but actually, prevention is the best option, to practice regular exercise, a healthy diet, and stable relationships can be helpful in keeping stress low and thereby reduce the chances of feeling depressed. Veronica, who was depressed for more than one year during the pandemic because her father died and she could not visit him, and she decided to start practicing gym and yoga, activities that she did not do before, after that she made many friends and now she is calm and accepting that she mustn’t blame herself for not being able to visit his father during the quarantine.   

In conclusion, we should change the way we currently socialize, avoid the excessive use of social networks, find opportunities for real interactions with people to restore social connections lost during confinement, and, of course, reinstall activities that improve life quality and mental health to improve moods, clearing thinking, have a greater sense of calm or inner peace, and increased self-esteem, etc.