An Inside Job

 

During the pandemic many strange things started happening in a certain building in downtown São Paulo. Three apartments had been broken into perhaps on different week with an interval of fifteen days. These apartments were where the people were either away at work because they were doctors or nurses and others were away at their beach houses or country houses. When they came back to their homes, they had noticed that the kitchen door had been broken open and inside it looked as if a tsunami had hit. Each incident was posted in the building´s WhatsApp group. All the information about the occurrences only caused panic among those who were away and even among those who were not leaving their homes.

Some of the people in the building we're putting up barricades against their kitchen door while they were in their homes resting, working or sleeping. Others were having locks put on their doors as well as peepholes so they could check out what was happening in the hall. Mind you, in this building there are a lot of elderly people who live alone and most of them live on their government pension. One particular 82-year-old woman living on the 10th floor all by her lonesome after her husband had passed away a year ago was the victim this past week.

On Friday night she noticed that someone was putting a key in the lock of her kitchen door trying to force the entry into her apartment. She panicked and called her relatives that live in the same building but on the third floor. They ran up the stairs quickly to see if they could catch who was doing it.

The same incident repeated on Sunday, however or luckily, as she was calling her daughter, she did not hear the pounding on the door. This time they were trying to kick in the door. At this point the daughter had lost it and ended up shouting about it in the building´s WhatsApp group. She had to take her mother to her apartment to sleep over because the mother was in great fear.

In her post, the daughter accused the owners of the apartments to be renting out to groups of men and, in her opinion, the apartments in this building should only be rented to families. As a result, this started a fight in the group. Some of the people accused her of discrimination and segregation while others agreed with her. Some even mentioned that the maintenance fees in the condo should be raised that way the type of the people who would rent the apartments would be higher; again, another comment of discrimination. The fight went on and on and yes it got to a pretty low level; however, no solution to the problem came up.

The 82-year-old woman´s apartment was attacked on Friday, on Sunday and the incident repeated on Monday. Not only was her unit vandalized, but also her daughter´s on the third floor. It was the last straw. The daughter screamed out war. She really lost her temper and call the people who were doing that to combat. If it didn´t come to a stop, she was going to call the police.

After this last post, the Superintendent decided to schedule a meeting for the coming Friday to talk about installing cameras in the fire escape stairway and also in the service halls because that's where the four kitchen doors( there are four units per floor) meet and where the aggressors have been breaking into the apartments.

The mystery is that no one comes into the building and they do not use the elevators. If they did it would be caught on camera for these places have them. It is an inside job. The burglars are living in the building.

Written: September 23, 2020

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AFTERNOON FIGHT

Afternoon Fight

doors banging

people screaming

swears flying around contaminating the air

doors banging louder

name calling being shouted out

what's one to do when your neighbors are having a brawl?

you realize the voices were coming from the adolescence

the youngest one is pretty loud and keeps begging the older one to be left alone

the parents cannot control the situation

the mother cries and begs the oldest to let the youngest go

more doors banging

more screams and cries

what's one to do when in your mind it sounds like someone's being killed?

the other neighbors contact you to see if you are right

they know that all the noise is coming from next door

you answered their messages by asking what should be done

but no answer comes through

no one calls the police

no one calls the doorman

no one rings the doorbell

the oldest one bangs the door and leaves the building

the youngest one is still sobbing and saying that it was out of care

you stop listening because then it is just eavesdropping

you start praying that the situation will be resolved in a peaceful way

it all took place within 20 minutes

the bomb exploded and then there was silence

 

Written:  September 16, 2020 ( I have not added punctuation to this text on purpose.)

 

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SEPTEMBER

THE MONTH STARTED FASTER THAN USUALLY

MAKE IT A MONTH TO REMEMBER

AUGUST WENT BY SO CASUALLY

NOW WE ARE FOCUSING ON SEPTEMBER

 

SEPTEMBER THE END OF WINTER IN THE SOUTH

SEPTEMBER THE END OF SUMMER IN THE NORTH

SEPTEMBER IN THE SOUTH THE LAND IS BEING PLOUGHED

SEPTEMBER IN THE NORTH WARM PLACES ARE BEING SOUGHT

 

30 DAYS TO LIVE IF CONCEIVABLE

4 WEEKS TO MAKE MEMORIES

744 HOURS TO REACH WHAT IS ATTAINABLE

4 WEEKENDS TO FIND THOSE REMEDIES TO REDUCE STRESS

 

SEPTEMBER, MAKE IT A MONTH TO REMEMBER!

 

Written: September 19, 2020 

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Pride and Stupidity

 

               There have been some firsts during this pandemic, which has taken over the world. Birthday celebrations online, Lives on social media, talking to your doctor via web call, not being able to exercise outdoors are just a few to mention. However, teaching online or remote teaching has been a whole experience within itself. Teachers are spending hours trying to make their classes different for the students and for themselves, too.

               Going to bed late planning activities; attending webinars on how to make classes more interesting ; attending online workshops on how to use the tools available to you; fighting for the students to turn on their cameras during class; trying to make sure the students stay online without interacting on their cell phones; making sure that they are participating in class and not watching another video while you are teaching; making sure that they are in the room while the computer is on and not just having turned it on and gone off somewhere else are just a few of the new experiences. The list is endless. Bet you are tired of just reading what needs to be done to do this task successfully. (I am not even going into the wi-fi stability or connection, which is a whole separate text.)

               A true first that has sprung up is giving a test. Lots of questions pop up in your mind. Are they going to cheat? Are they going to consult their materials and or friends?  Should I ask them to keep the cameras on or not? Can I ask them to keep their cameras on or not? Shall I record the session? Am I allowed to record the session?  Apparently, you sit and talk to other teachers who have had the experience before you have, but the truth is, your experience is yours alone. What other colleagues have told you can help somewhat, but it doesn´t mean that it will happen to you or help you out. Each test is a test. Each class is a class. Each student is a student.

               The tests you choose to use can vary into writing, speaking or listening. Speaking and listening are ok to control because you can control the audio (you play it the amount of times allowed) and you need to see them when they are speaking. Even if they tend to read the text of their oral presentations, you can tell because it is not natural, and they tend to sound like robots. The big issue is when it comes to writing. Questions start popping in your head just like fireworks. Can they use the editing component in the word program? Can they use the online dictionaries?  Of course, a teacher knows how much his or her pupil can produce; whether or not the control + C and control + V keys have been used; whether the dictionary was used even if they are having problems with their computers at this specific moment. So, it is common sense that if a student (or any person)  does cheat on a test, the only ones they are fooling are themselves.

               First time giving a test online can cause the butterflies in the stomach to stir and fly , however, at the end of the test, it is good to know that your student has made a great effort to be true to himself or herself and do their very best; making you proud of them. On the other hand, a feeling of stupidity also takes over because you waste so much energy thinking, or better yet, overthinking about the event.

              

               Written:  September 10, 2020

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Isn´t it stealing?

 

Thou shall not steal. Exodus 20:15

The other day while was watching a video about a passage from the Bible, my jaw dropped as the Preacher was speaking. Those words sounded so familiar to my heart, not the passage itself because I had already read it, but the interpretation about it. I was appalled. Here you have a man who is supposed to be a vicar, whom many people follow and look to for a soothing word; who is always saying that we need to live free of sin; using someone else´s lecture word for word. He must have memorized the homily, not only that but he also used the same hand gestures and facial expressions.

 In my mind, I tried to find several excuses for why he had done that. Perhaps he was going through rough times not being able to come up with his own sermon. Maybe he had forgotten that he would be the one preaching that day. It could have been that it just slipped his mind. Or perchance he doesn´t realize that was he is doing is incorrect.  A true mind boggler.

I do realize that he is a human being and we do make mistakes; however, this act was just simply improper. It would have been more graceful if he had simply said in the beginning that he had watched this sermon; was overwhelmed by it and simply wanted to share it with the people listening so they could appreciate it as much as he had.

This reminds me of a friend who says he hates people who lie and that he always tells the truth. Ah-ha, the other day I caught him telling a lie. When I questioned him about it, he went on and on about that there was a difference between telling a white lie and lying. Not telling the truth is a lie. Simple as that. Using another person´s ideas as if they were yours is stealing not borrowing.

          Now, I do not trust the Pastor any longer and whenever I watch one of his sermons, I am inclined to think that it must be somebody else´s idea.  No sooner said than done, just ask Google and there it is.

 

Written: September 8, 2020

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The Crazy Stuff People Try to Pull

 

The pandemic struck and people had to stay home. Not everyone took this so seriously, however, there were others who did but had to work because they were needed to work in hospitals, supermarket and so many other jobs that were entitled the front-line jobs.

Working from home became a great option for those who had the appropriate equipment and whose job allowed it. More and more people started their home offices. Thank heavens for the internet and the high technology we have nowadays. It is still sad though that so many people do not fall into this category and are not only putting their lives at risks but their families´, too.

Many people were also able to go to their beach houses, farms, cottages in the mountains (as long as wi-fi was available) or gather their family members under the same roof but keeping physically distant from one another.

People were also using their homes more, therefore they were starting to realize that updates needed to be made, for example, walls painted, furniture changed and customized. They were not aware that these simple tasks could bring on consequences, such as, make a lot of noise or simply run out of the construction material due to lockdown or simply running out of money.

Those working in the construction business saw an opportunity in the crisis. Buildings were being put up faster than you can count to 100 backwards. People were coming in and out of residential buildings bringing in an overload on elevators and in the hallways.

For our character it was not any different. She had decided to take the time off and remodel here apartment while she stayed with the family down at their beach house. Hiring the best carpenter in her neighborhood, she signed the contract and he said he would have all the new built-ins put in in 30 days.

30 days came and went and there was always an excuse of why there had been a delay; prices had gone up so he needed more money; his children were not feeling well and he had to leave the shop to take them to the doctor´s. Since, she was at the beach enjoying the hot weather, she really didn´t mind right up until he asked for another 30 days.

Another 30 days she could not accept, being with her sister´s family at the beach for such a long time was not very healthy, their relationship would not survive another 30 days under the same roof. So, she called the carpenter and asked him what was really going on.

He did not answer her calls but sent her written messages and audio messages. In the last message, he said that his youngest of 4 was in the ICU because she had caught the covid-19. In fact, the whole family had been infected. Her heart broke until he sent her a picture of his covid-19 exam.

Saddened she showed it to her brother-in-law, who looked at it suspiciously. “Hold on. I have seen this before”, he said as he got up and went to get his cell phone. “Here. Look!” She couldn´t believe her eyes. They carpenter had sent her a picture of the exam of the mayor of a nearby city. It was identical.  She couldn´t believe it. The biggest problem here was that she had paid him for most of the service and she needed the built-ins. To sue, would take years for a settlement. She decided that she would hire a lawyer and write up a contract that the carpenter had 30 more days to finish the job otherwise he would have to pay a fine which he naturally couldn´t afford. The carpenter signed and was grateful for her actions and sorry for what he had done. He had no excuse. He was just desperate because he had spent all the money she had paid him and didn´t have money to buy the material to make the built-ins. Now, how he was going to resolve this was up to him. He had 30 days.

 

Written: September 8, 2020 (Based on real facts.)

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