I Am Not A Morning Person!!!

What time we do we all have free to work on this project, asked one of my group partners. “We can work on the project at seven tomorrow morning”, was my answer. Suddenly the expression on their faces changed. My answer was not what my course mates wanted to hear. We hadn’t worked enough on an important homework that could terribly affect our grades; however, no one was willing to sacrifice some sleep to make up for it. I ask why no one wanted to do work early in the morning. “We can’t think in the morning; we are not a morning people,” seemed to be their main reply. This was my freshman year and I didn’t know the meaning of this saying, morning person. Later I ask my girlfriend what it was, and she told me that in America people could sleep until 11:00 am with no problem at all.

I was SHOCK. 

In my country it’s almost a sin to sleep past nine. Only if one was drunk the night before parents would accept teens to sleep until late. And yes, teens drink before eighteen which is the legal age for drinking in my country. Even after spending the night parting you are still expected to get up and work. So when I heard that people could not function in the morning I was curious to know why. This is what I have gathered in my years of living in America.

There are two main types of people the morning person and the night person. For those who don’t know the difference, a night person is one that can stay up until late hour in the night with no problem at all. They can think clearly after midnight and they can write five page papers between 1:00 am and 4:00 am with no problem. (They are a kind of a type human-vampire if that makes any sense.) However, the next morning they cannot wake up. Only by the power of almighty coffee they are able to stay awake. The morning person, on the other hand, cannot stay up till very late. After certain hour in the night they have to go to bed. However, they can be up and working as soon as possible in the morning with no need from coffee or any other kind of legal drug.

In my concept, the morning person phenomenon is a choice or a bad custom. No one in other countries suffer with this type of problem because we have to get up every day between 5:00 am and 6:00 am to be at school at 7:00 am. Classes start at 7:15 so you better be up and ready to learn math, science or physics.

One thing that plays a huge role in helping people out of their bed is called morning shower. Get under the shower. Do not turn up the water to scalding temperatures; let the cold water hit you for some 30 seconds. This works just like Colombian coffee and I guarantee it with the Juan Valdez seal.

I want the walking zombies to chew on this and tell me what you think if they are awake.  

Got Silver?

I wanted to start off this blog with a proverb or famous quote about old age; however, I will just say this, “The older I become the more I realiz, how foolish it was not to listen to the wisdom of those who walked this road before me.”



When one is young they say one has no experience, but if one is old they say you have too much experience. Those are the words you are most likely to hear when you are looking for a job back home. It’s hard for a young person to get a job in Colombia but it’s much harder for an elderly to get the same job. That is why when I saw an elder guarding the gates at the international airport in Atlanta I was surprised. Later I understood that old people in America are not discriminated because of their age. I will not lie, it’s still weird when I go to work and I see people in their sixties doing hard work.

treehugger.com



I have mixed feeling about this one. I am glad that they don’t discriminate the elderly, but at the same time it is hard for me to see an elderly being forced to work in order to feel valued by society or even their families.  It is very sad to see a person over 62 years of age struggle to find a job (in Colombia); nevertheless it’s rare to find older people who are not been taken care of by a  member of their family.  I have to specify that in Latin America, 'family' includes parents, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, nieces and nephews, and everybody who is related by blood and/or descended from that elderly person somehow). On the other hand I see many elderly people getting dropped off at a nursing home here in America. Seems likes no one wants to take care of the one who gave them life, much less listen to the wisdom that comes from their experience (old stories). It often looks like if it is a burden for families to take care of their elderly relatives. 

minfirm.com

Is life too busy to care for others?

Chew on this and tell me what you think, but don't forget your dentures,

I don’t have time for You

I was walking out of the building and a friend was heading inside the building. He said “hello how are you Mr. Dean”, and he smiled. I smiled too, however I was having a terrible day. I was about to tell him what I was going through but he kept on walking.

Has it ever happened to you, that someone that you know asks, “How are you?” but you didn't get the chance to answer how you really are? Maybe they don’t really want to know or they are too busy to even listen.  Maybe this is just a polite thing to do when you see someone.  Maybe you don’t have any time to open your heart and spill the beans. Maybe that is just the way it is and I need to deal with it. Nevertheless, this is shocking to me. 

According to Douglas A. McIntyre from 24/7 wallSt.com, America is the third most productive country in the world. He came to this conclusion by using the GDP as the tool of measurement. However, sometimes it seems like America is the busiest country in the world, even to the point where we are so consumed in our own business that we leave out the most important things. Things like friends, family, love, or God are exchanged for my dreams, my plans, my homework, my money, I, me, my, etc. What would you do if you were late to class or to work, and a friend told you he is having a terrible day? Would you say “sorry about that” and slowly try to get back to your daily life? Would you try to give him a hand shake or a half hug and ask him to tell you about it later? Would you look very interested but then walk away and forget about him in the next ten minutes? The question is not what would Jesus do but what would you do? What good is it to have everything but no one to share it with? Or as the Bible put it, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” However, we seldom sit down and chew on these things. I believe we must evaluate the way we do things.

Why are we so busy?  Why do we choose to ignore some of the most important things in life? How can I break away from the status quo?

 I hope that at the end of our years we don’t discover that the time we were given was used selfishly and that we invested time in things that are meaningless. I hope we have told all our loved ones that they are our loved ones. I hope we give God the place he merits in our hearts. I hope we love our neighbors.

In memory of one of my first friends at COFO

Trevor Waugh
Live In Peace 

cofo.edu