Wonderful stories where the heroes and

heroines are ordinary people, a

collection of heart warming true stories
written by NA2 students.
Copyright Englishelxna2
 The extraordinary life of Nick Vujicic

Nick Vujicic was born the 4th of December of 1982 in Australia. He born with Tetra-amelia, what
is a very rare disorder. He is limbless; he has no legs or arms.
His parents were really upset, and they asked God why their son born this way. They finally
accepted the reality and tried to do the best for their son. Despite his problem, Nick was always a
very healthy boy.
At time to start school, it was recommended to go to a segregated school, but his parents knew Nick
was bright and he wouldn’t prosper in that kind of school, so they insisted to take him to a normal
school, in order to give his son the means to have a proper education.
He was among the first to be integrated successfully in a normal school. This made society to
change its mindset toward children with disabilities.
When he was only 8 years old, he used to think about suicide, because he thought he would be a
burden to his parents and he had a lot of questions about his future. He struggled against these
feelings for many years, and luckily he found some answers in the Bible, and he became a
Christian.
Nowadays he is a preacher, a motivational speaker. He travels all around the world and tells his
story. He focuses his topics in teenagers’ problems. He shares his testimony and helps people to
know that always there is hope beyond their circumstances.
Nick is completely independent. He lives in his own house and he loves fishing, swimming, golfing
and listening to music during hours and hours.
In my opinion, I think Nick is a role model because of his strength of mind and bravery. He is the
most inspirational and motivational man of the world. I just love the way he is. He is a gift for us.
By Marisa Guzmán.
 Political Identity

Beatriz Preciado was born in 1970 with a

maxillofacial deformity that ashamed her
parents in Burgos, where religion was the main
reference in her surrounding world. She went
to a catholic school indeed, but she wanted to
be a man because at that time in Spain only
they were able to do the things she wanted to
be: doctor, astronaut… When she was 9, her
mother got a threatening phone call where she
was called as a tomboy, but she was not
ashamed because she thought that it was
something she had the right to be. She even
had a piggy box to save money for a sex
change surgery operation. At the high-school
she was in a special group for problematic
teenagers, but most of them where autistic,
highly gifted or just weird. She was seen as a
rebel although she did not do it on purpose.
She wanted to study science so as to become
a Genetic Biologist, till she realised that she
could not solve the matters she wanted to with
science, but with philosophy. When she was 18 she had maxillofacial surgery in
order to arrange her new “normal” face, and when she changes into
“normality” she feels that operation as a change of sex. Her life changes as her
identity changes; she is not the same person anymore. Beatriz changes her
genre while talking or writing, and says that sexuality is very similar to
languages: everybody can talk as many as they want to and they just have to
learn them. As her parents are understandably conservative, they can´t
comprehend her current life or her eccentric philosophy, and they think of her
as a misunderstood rebel.

Now Beatriz Preciado is a Spanish philosopher with a PhD in Theory of the

Architecture in Princeton University, where she got an extraordinary award on
her degree and become a researcher. After, she obtained a master in
Contemporary Philosophy and Genre Theory on the New School for Social
Research of Nueva York.

She currently teaches Political History of the Body, Theory of the Genre and
History of the Performance in Paris VIII University, where she reflects about
identity and subjectivity methods. She holds that sex and genre are
biopolitical artifices, and that the body is the origin of everything, not as a
natural organism but as architecture, as a social and political construction. All
that we see as biological, such as the division between man-woman or
masculine-feminine, is a social construction. XX and XY chromosomes are just
a theoretical model that appears on the XX century. Sexuality, or subjectivity in
a wider meaning, as well as identity, sexual orientation, desiring modes or
pleasure obtaining methods is just plastic, that’s why they are managed by
politics. If they where natural and determined, they wouldn’t be submitted to
them.

Roberto Yáñez Pacios NA2.19A

 Extraordinary lives

I have always had an enormous curiosity about diseases, health problems and patient
worries and so, I started studying medicine just four weeks ago. Taking advantage from
the great variety of possibilities the university offers, I attended to the XXVIII national
congress of medicine students hosted in Alicante. Between more than twelve heart-
warming and exceptional conferences, I really fancied the one about sport medicine and
specially the last speaker, a paralympic elite athlete called Santiago Sanz Quinto.
When Santiago was only 17 months he began having difficulties with his mobility and from
that exact moment his parents got in touch with a group of doctors from "La Paz" in Madrid
who finally confirmed that he was suffering from a Charcot Marie's Tooth neurological
disease. The progressive muscle wasting of CMT also leads to problems with walking,
running, and balance and has a prevalence of 1:2500. Progressively his arms and legs
started atrophying up to the puberty and at the age of 13 he definitively stopped walking
and began to use a wheelchair as habitual means of transport. From then the neighbours
of Albatera began to see him rolling the surrounding streets of the village, organizing
trainings on his own account and starting feeding his great dream of turning into a
professional athlete one day. He is now graduated in sport science and specialized in high
performance, he has achieved more than ten gold medals and has participated in the last
three Olympic games (Sydney, Athens and Beijing). In a recent interview he declared that
his only dream now is sharing with his first son all the memorable moments of his life as
athlete.

By Alejandro Garrido
 AN EXCITING TRIP

This is the story of a remarkable journey that I made with my family last summer
during our holidays.
Travelling has always been one of our great passions. We spend a lot of time
planning our travels, day by day, minute by minute.
This time was Florence, Italy, the city chosen. We had all the trip programmed, the
places to visit, the museums ,the surrounding area.....
We had also booked the hotel and we had scheduled the transport from Pisa airport to
Florence.
When the awaited day arrived, after packing the luggage, we went to the airport
absolutely delighted.
Once we were just ready to check-in, we caught sight of the departures board and, to
our surprise, we realized that our flight was four hours delayed! What could we do
but wait?
Time flies when you are having a good time´, but, in an airport it was endless time.
Besides, that was not the main problem. Due to the fact that our flight was late in the
evening, it was expected to arrive at midnight. What a mess!Therefore, the flight
landed at Pisa airport at two in the morning. It was a raining night. Indeed, not only
there were no public transport at that time, but also a few taxis were waiting for us.
Thus another hour lost waiting for a free taxi!
After paying the most expensive fare taxi, we managed to get to Florence, and at last,
we arrived at the hotel. We were so exhausted that we felt asleep at once.
Overall, we were there, but our fascinating hotel was next to the Campanile Tower of
the Cathedral , therefore the bells began to sound at seven in the morning!
At that moment, our exciting holidays started.
TOÑI 2 NA . 9B
 Almost touching the sky
If you really want something, how far would you go to get it? If you see an injustice, would you
fight against it, trying to stop it, or would you refuse to prevent and accept it? This story that
follows told us about an uncommon and passionate fight, and taught us an important rule: fight for
the things you really want, and then, in most of cases, you will reach them.
This story starts in later October in 2006. One common Sunday, like many others, I thought. As a
routine, after having dinner I turned the TV on to amuse myself with the old-fashioned and common
Spanish soap-operas, said in a sarcastic way. I was changing the channels, running away from
vulgar realities shows and weird programs, until something caught my eye: a new series. Probably it
can sound ridiculous, but I have not watched anything like that before. It was the perfect series, with
a huge plot, magnificent actors and brilliant directed. When the series finished I surprised myself
clapping and open-mouthed.

Since this moment Sundays turned into my favourite day. I searched about the main actors, I learnt
by hearth about their careers and I joined to the official fan club. Every chapter was even better than
the last one and my passion was getting bigger.

One month later everything changed. A piece of news surprised all the fans with the suspension of
our TV series. The Channel gave us as an excuse that there were not to many audience following
the series, it was expensive and the channel couldn’t afford to carry on with the production.

Most fans accepted the Channel’s decision with some complaints, but nothing else. However I was
completely astonished and frustrated. For once on Spanish TV there was a hilarious and fascinating
TV series, and we were going to lose it forever. I couldn’t accept it, I couldn’t be quiet. Then I took
an important decision that would change everything, although in this moment I didn’t realize. I
wrote on the series forum about my idea to make a huge marketing campaign. If we could rope
more people in to watch the series we could solve the audience problem. Surprising and against all
the odds my dear reader we almost did it. We hooked one million audience! In spite of all we have
done, even the gratitude from the Channel about our passion and for the successful campaign, the
series was cancelled. Without any solution all the fans left the series forum and only a few carried
with the crusade for our series.

One day, someone joined to the forum. He thanked us for all the effort we have done for the series;
our constancy and our enthusiasm (illusion is a false friend it means espejismo)have shocked him so
much that he felt obliged to tell us. At the first sight I thought he was someone who has followed
the TV series, until I read his name with which he has signed: the name of one of the main actors. I
was left aghast and submerged in a sea of feelings. “Could it be true?” I wondered. He posted a lot
of information in the forum about himself, about projects he had and told us curious things abothe
series. There was a total trust between each other, fans and him, and he appreciated us not as fans,
but friends All the fans requested as a curiosity how long he has followed us before joining the
forum, as he asked since we did the marketing campaign. I couldn’t do anything but smile, proud of
myself. At the end, it was no such a crazy idea as I thought.
.

Our relationship with him was getting harder until one day a received a personal message. It was
from him. He knew I was the ringleader’s forum and total trustworthy person, so he ventured to say
me “I will be in Madrid by the next month and it would be great to meet with all the fans”. I had to
read this message 5 times at least! he didn’t mind meeting with the fans. I pinched myself checking
if it was real, not a dream. I couldn’t believe it! I answered him immediately showing my happiness
too.

That day came. It was a sunny and warm day in Madrid. Its streets, as a huge capital, were
overcrowded with people who seemed automatons, and where tourists were the dominant specie.
The quaint buildings mixed with the new ones, just like car’s noises hid behind the street musicians.
We had planned to meet in a Cafe, and there we waited until our meeting time. We were extremely
nervous. Then I looked at my friends, whom a few months ago they were totally strangers, and right
now we shared more than a hard bond. It was funny to see how far we have gone for a series, and
how it has joined people from different parts of Spain. Then the Café’s door opened and someone
came in. And there he was, the actor with who we have talked for more than 3 months. We smiled
each other, fans and him, but suddenly, the Cafe’s doors opened again and 3 guys more came in: the
rest of the main actors! There, in front of us, were the 4 main actors of our favourite series staring at
us with a big smile! If it was a dream I wouldn’t want to wake up!

We talked for a long while about everything: their careers, our lives, our crusade, the TV series,…
They thanked us for our strength and our support. They were totally proud of us and for everything
we have done for them and for the series. Then I realised myself about the saying “fight for the
things you really want”. We couldn’t get that the series come back on TV, however we get
something equal important. I smiled remembering that and looking this scene. Everybody was
laughing and happy. In this moment I felt it, since now we were no more fans and actors, we were
just friends, very good friends, sharing a precious and priceless moment together.

And it was like touching the sky …and we are still in touch.

By Ana Niñoles
 The wrong slope

All started a freezing day in the Pyrenees when I was seventeen years old. If I hadn’t gone
down on that red slope ten minutes before leaving, nothing would have happened and my
life would be totally different by now. Must have I gone with my friends to rest at the
cafeteria instead of skiing down on that red slope? Who knows?

My mother was working while she was anxiously waiting my call phone, but when her
mobile phone rang, it wasn’t me. She didn’t want to answer, “something unusual was
happening”, she thought. Effectively, it was my Physical Education teacher who was
calling her to tell that something horrendous had happened to me. I was unconscious at a
hospital in the Pyrenees, which means 7 hours drive away! My parents were so worried
about my health that neither of them could drive the car. So, it was my uncle who had to
drive the car and take my parents to the hospital where I was.

I couldn’t understand anything, “Why weren’t my parents working? What were they doing
there? What time was it?” all that questions and some others where what I asked when I
woke up after being 5 days in the “UCI”. Afterwards, they explained to me I had fallen
down while I was skiing and I had hit my head on the ice. That was the reason because I
was there; I had a blood clot on my head.

Fortunately, the blood clot disappeared in due course. But it wasn’t until six months time I
could come back to study and practice sports successfully.

Of course, it was a bad experience, which I don’t recommend to anybody. But from which I
don’t only keep on my mind horrendous memories, but it also let me to learn some positive
things such as, wear helmet anytime I go skiing. And I must confess I am not anymore that
courageous girl when it comes to practicing risky sports…

CRISTINA SANTAMARIA MELIÁ

 HE WAS LOVE
This is a story about love, or let´s say about what we call love because that is
the question…What is love ? Poets write poems about it, singers make us cry when
they are able to express those feelings in their songs, romantic books keep us
awake …dreaming about the day we meet “real love”. Love, I found love in this
story, my friend Susan ´s story.
Susan lived a quiet life, she had married one of her best friends, as everyone
of her classmates had done in her small town .She had a daughter, all of them
were healthy, they had enough money to live a comfortable life but she wasn´t
happy. She couldn´t understand why she felt that way if she had everything and
feeling so empty inside and without any more reasons she decided to change her
life. She learnt that if she wasn´t happy she couldn´t make anyone around her
happy and that was a bad life to live.She got divorced; even if she didn´t know
what she was looking for she got divorced and tore what it was called “ a happy
family”, that was the view from outside.
Then she met him, she met him through his poems.She knew about the kind of love
a man could feel for a woman and she fell in love with him.As she used to tell
me she had fallen in love with love, not with him. But everything changed when
she met him personally.He was love.Although he was torn inside he was the most
romantic person she had ever met. He had lost his wife and daughter in the past.
They had passed away and he threw love sparkles in his poems for them to get
them…wherever they were.One of those sparkles landed in my friend´s heart and
let her know what she was looking for.The kind of love which is able to fill
your life or to make a writer write the most beautiful love story.
Nowadays, my friend is the happiest person in the world, those love sparkles
shine in her eyes, in his and in their daughter´s,( I am sorry but I don´t know
where the mistake is; I wanted to say "y en los de su hija " a beautiful
two-year-old little princess.
All of us have questions in our lives, most of which are never answered . For my
friend the most difficult one to answer was why she couldn´t be happy and she
eventually found the reason. Nobody could understand her when she decided to
break a family .She was brave .She lost most of her friends, her “happily
married friends”, all of whom surely envy her. So do I…because I´m still
wondering what I am looking for…aren´t you ?

And now let me finish this story with their song…it will be the best full stop
for this little story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHL0Ucb9ZPA&feature=related

By María
 Borders to friendship

I am going to tell you the story of Karim. He is a twenty-two years old boy who was
born Agadir, Morocco. We shared great moments in Elche but nowadays nobody knows
where he is.
The story began a sunny day at the beginning of last summer. I went to play football
with friends in a school. We needed an extra player because we were an odd number of
players. Karim was looking to us and we asked if he would like to play. He played
amazingly, everybody wanted to be in his team. After the match we were resting and
talking about football.
Some days later we played football again. We started the match and suddenly
Karim appeared. We let him play with us though we were ten players. The matches with
Karim became a habit. After every match we talked about everything. We asked each
other curiosities about our different cultures. I asked about Islam and about his country. He
answered every question even if the question was polemic such as about our kings or
about religion or politics. I laughed when he asked me why a person called to another
Paco and next day he called him Francisco. He explained to me the meaning of
Ramadam, and he said me that he didn’t go to Mecca because he prefers to play football
and then, when he was older he could go there. We talked about taking a flight to
Marrakech and Agadir to know his culture and he would be our guide.
We get used to play football every Wednesday and every Sunday and Karim
became a captain of one of the teams. The last Sunday of August the captain didn’t
appear. He didn’t appear the following week. We were upset because none of us knew
where he lived, and we didn’t get his number. The matches weren’t the same without him.
We didn’t lose a player, we lost a friend.
Perhaps he would come back to our school to play a match one more time or we
would take a flight to Agadir. All of us will remember our captain and we wish he will play in
the Botola, the football league of Morocco.

Jesús Román Pastor

How to ruin your life in 10 steps (A sad story)

I’m going to tell you a story about an old friend of mine, a person who wasn’t my
best friend anymore. We can name her Raquel, but it isn’t her real name, obviously. I met
Raquel my first day at secondary school and quickly our friendship grew like a splendid
tree. She was unlucky with her first boyfriend, because he turned out to have a bipolar
disorder. So far, she had acted like a normal person and she left this problematic boy,
although here started her decline too.

Raquel made her first error. She established a new relation with an ugly and stupid
boy, Marcos. In other circumstances, she hadn't liked not even as a friend, but in this
situation, having a new boyfriend reaffirmed her self-esteem. While she was wasting her
time with this being, she met a friend of him. He was absolutely the opposite of Marcos
and immediately she felt in love with him. This is the person that Raquel had been waiting
for. Unfortunately, this fab boy died in a traffic accident the same day that he was going to
celebrate his birthday, and we received this horrible new while we were buying his
presents. This tragedy marked her forever and one or two days after the funeral, Raquel
and Marcos decided to get married. She resigned herself with him, she threw in the
towel...and she made a mistake. If I had tried to avoid the wedding, I would have changed
something? I don’t think so. Time after, I lost my relationship with her, or better, she threw
me out of her life.

Nowadays, they have a son and they’re very happy...No! They have a son and
they’re famous in their block of flats because of their shouts. Raquel and Marcos are
extremely unhappy, but this is the way she chose.

Mª Esther Gomar Manzanera

9B
 TO LEARN TO SEE LIFE IN OTHER WAY.

My brother-in-law have had to learn to see with only one eye. He is a nice guy ,
generous and helpful , however he is really shy, introverted, and I would say a bit
pessimist person, so I am going to tell his tragic story from what I know.
He had worked in a quarry company since he was eighteen. Back them he decided to
get out of the company and created with two friends their own company.
Three years ago he was cutting a piece of marble when something came into his eye,
it was a chip of the cutter disk that jumped into his left eye. If he had worn protective
glasses, he would have been able to avoid the tragedy. In spite of doctors took out the
chip, apparently the eye kept some end-of-chip inside what causes a strange illness,
as a consequence he was losing his eyesight little by little. Eventually doctors made
the decision to take out the eye because the left eye spreads the illness to the right
eye. The shock was extremely hard, what happened was he had to wear a fake eye
and the other eye was pretty damage. As a consequence he had to carry on an
extremely constant aftercare every week for some years, because it was a quite
unknown illness there is hardly any research about it, so he turned into a kind of
guinea pig.
He was looked after by his wife on whom the totally depended, he couldn’t drive, he
couldn’t work …loads of things that he was not able to do by himself. The terrible
trauma was shocking his life, he lost his job, he lost the money that he inverted in the
company, therefore he owed money to the bank and the worst was that his colleagues
didn’t support him.
Because of his personality nobody knows how he felt, what he thought and how his
daily life was. Then one day my sister-in-low told me what happened, he got in a
deep depression he used to be in a bad mood, he did not want to have any relation
with friends, he did not accept advices from anybody, he did not accept family
support, his self-esteem was on the floor and life turned into an unbearable situation.
Eventually, a day somebody offered him a job in a sport-shop and after more than
three years , he is a new person. In fact, thanks of his disability he got to be hired for
a year because companies have social benefits to hire handicapped people.
In conclusion, although sometimes we don´t attach much importance to our daily
routine, work, studies or whatever keeps our mind busy it is in fact of essential
importance to our general well being and self esteem.

By Mayte
 CARPE DIEM
I´m going to speak shortly about my experiences with relatives,friends, neighbours and other
known people who have suffered serious illnesses and some of them died or about something
worse the loss of a beloved person.I think all of us have known cases in which they defeated the
adversity and another they couldn´t overcome it.This is the story of winners and losers.
During our life ,we have a lot of projects,expectations,hopes,we want to share things with other
people but sometimes something happens that changes our plans completely such as an accident, an
illness,the loss of somebody and that forces us to give projects up,sometimes we fall in a deep crisis
because we can´t accept the reality.
A terrible hard situation is when we were diagnosed a serious illness.I had a friend to whom the
doctors had diagnosed cancer.I visited him and told me that he was going to overcome his
confounded sickness.He bought books about cancer to know it better,studied deeply the cancer´s
process,he followed the orders and prescriptions of the doctors but their efforts were useless and he
died a few months later.
A neighbour of mine lost her son in a traffic accident and she continued behaving like her son
were still alive.She told the people”I´m be in a hurry because my son wants to have the dinner and I
have to prepare it for him or my son is at home waiting for me”.
Another case that impressed me is a friend of my father that suffered a brain haemorrhage and
couldn´t move any part of his body anymore.He was in bed until his death but his strength and
courage were incredible.He believed in God and always says if God has sent me this is because is
the best for me,I don´t have fear to the death because I´ll get together with Him.He suffered a lot
but never said a word of complaining.His faith in God helped him to bear the situation and not be
afraid for the unavoidable outcome.
The opposite case was another friend of my father who managed to defeat a cancer.From that
moment his vision of the life changed.Now he is capable of enjoying more the small things such as
a walk,the smile of a child,the flight of a bird,the nature,the family,the stars in the sky,the
landscapes are nicest.After that bitter experience he says money doesn´t matter, if you can´t afford
something, if you can´t pay, if you don´t have a good car or house,don´t worry, these things are
unimportant,irrelevant.Now he is happier.
By Victor
 FLASH OF GENIUS

Do you know who invented the intermittent wiper for cars? The story I’m going to tell
you is about the man who invented this device and his problems to take credit of it.

The story began in Detroit one Sunday in the sixty’s, when Robert Kearns and his
family were returning from church to home. Immediately, it started drizzling, so
Robert couldn’t saw accurately through the windshield. At that moment, he conceived
of an idea that would revolutionise the automobile industry.

From then on, he tried to come nuts and bolts his idea: the intermittent wiper. He
finished his first prototype in his cellar with the help of his family. Afterwards he
went to the Ford Company in order to sell his patent. He showed his idea to the Ford
researchers, who were greatly impressed about Robert’s invent. In this way, Robert
and the Ford’s CEO made a business consisted of manufacturing intermittent devices
to sell them to Ford.

Robert was really glad about that deal. However, three months later he hadn’t had a
response from Ford, when he saw on the street one car with his invention. So he
realised that Ford had stolen his patent. Since that moment, Robert started a battle
against Ford in order to take credit of his idea and get compensation. Eventually,
after twelve years, he won a trial against Ford, so he could put his name to his
invention and get 18 million dollars.

As far as I’m concerned, I feel a bit identified with Robert Kearns, that’s why I’m
engineer and, obviously, I wouldn’t like that my ideas were stolen. In addition I liked
the perseverance of Robert because he was twelve years of his life fighting against a
big company in order to get his rights back.

By Pascual Soto
 After making a recovery from meningitis

I am going to tell you a story about my cousin Javi. He is 38 and he lives with his wife and
his son in a little village of Navarra. He is a plumber and works since he was 18 years old. Although
he’s a really healthy man, he suffered an unexpected illness which could have changed his life.
Few years ago, during the winter, he had a terrible cold which started with a high fever and
he was aching all over. Finally it produced him meningitis. He was hospitalized and next week he
went into a coma. When my uncle phoned my father to communicate the news, we could not
believe it!
Doctors didn’t know what to do and they moved him to the Pamplona’s Hospital. His wife
and my relatives moved there too. Specialized doctors studied his case and the only one possibility
was to take out his skull with the aim of going down his brain to avoid the pressure of this bone in
his brain. Furthermore, this pressure could have terrible consequences, such as loss of memory,
physical immobility and also death.
Nevertheless, they could not assure whether the surgery will be the solution. It was just a a
trial, but they had no choice. It was horrible for the family! The operation lasted eight hours. The
time was going so slowly and nothing was changing. However, one day he woke up! Firstly he
didn’t recognise his family. I would like to emphasise an anecdote, which is that he was left-handed
and after the operation he was right-handed!
Nowadays, he is healthy and he doesn’t remember anything. He has all his bones in his place. He
has learnt to enjoy the life with his family living everyday appreciating all what he has got. From
my point of view, it is a bad experience which makes us think about the opportunity we have to live
happily.

Rebeca Pereira Candela

 The eagerly awaited call

I met my soul mate during the adolescence, we got married quite young actually, he was 21 and I
was 19, six years later our daughter was born, although it was a surprise because she wasn’t planned
yet, it was the most wonderful surprise of our lives.

Since we got married we had dreamt of adopting a baby, our reason was simple, there are so many
babies in the world without having a family to take care of them, why don’t give a family to an
existing child instead of having one? We don’t see the difference. Just like that! This was, our
reason for the adoption, still being, in fact. We waited until our biological daughter was old enough
to understand our point and to participate in the process.

In spite of knowing that it was going to be an extremely difficult process, the tree of us were
interviewed many times by the social services to get the Capability Certificate, it wasn’t the fact of
being judged by these people what annoys me more, if not the time they spent on it, nearly 1
year…! Adding up 1 year and a half more awaiting to be called, it seemed not to have an ending, by
then my daughter was 12 years old already.

We were desperate to receive the eagerly awaited call from the adoption agency to announce us that
our son or daughter was already waiting to be collected and it happened…...

That day I was at work, I immediately recognized the voice of the woman from the adoption agency
and became a bag of nerves…she started saying; there’s a tiny girl, she’s 3 and half, she’s from the
South of Ethiopia, her mother died, her father doesn’t care about her, her grandfather is so old that
he can’t look after her anymore and has taken her to an orphanage, (and? I managed to whisper) she
continued; she’s passed all the medical examinations to be adopted and if you want to….she can be
your daughter. I started quaking, my voice didn’t want to come out and I couldn’t help bursting into
tears.

What I would’ve preferred it would’ve been, be with my family in that very moment, but my
husband was working as well and my daughter was in the high school, the only thing I could do was
phone him to tell what was going on, I shoot all the details I knew quickly and nervously and ended
asking;.. ...what’re we going to do?

He kept in silence for a couple of seconds and finally said: What’re we going to do? Go
immediately to collect her, bring her home and love her as much as we can!!!

Nowadays, she is five, her sister is fourteen, they get on pretty well, bickering from time to time as
all the sisters in the world do, but loving each other as if they would have been together all their
lives.

. Rosa Pérez García. 2º N.A

 Family stories

I had never imagined that there could be such an exceptionally intelligent person with so
little desire to work and use his mind in order to gain prestige, make a name of him and, as a result,
money. But it does exists, and he is my cousin Jose Vicente.

Being married very young and having arguments with his wife constantly, he started to drink
alcohol for which he was about to die. He was at hospital for long time and thanks God doctors
managed to save his life. While he was there he studied and got a diploma as an Electrician.
Afterwards, he started to work as self-employed in electricity, and soon all the marble factories and
quarries of the area knew him because he could repair any problem in any machine that before any
other electrician could do it. Levantina, the most important granite and marble factory in Alicante,
wanted him to work only for them, and they said they would pay him the money he would ask, no
matter how much. But he refused the offer claiming that they didn’t have enough money to pay
him.
Then, he continued working when people called him, and in his free time he was always
thinking of inventing machines, his mind was working at any time and even in the night he got up
suddenly because he had had an idea and it was the perfect time to get the ball rolling. Once, he
invented a machine that crushed the stone and put all the little pieces into a bag. Another company
wanted to buy that machine, and again he said that they didn’t have enough money to pay for it, and
now this machine is abandoned dusty in a garage.

Nowadays, he is even lazier than before and only goes to work when he really needs money.
Living with his parents because after all he got divorced, he spends his time working on inventions
that never will get success because he thinks that there is not enough money in this world to pay for
his inventions. So what’s the point of thinking all the time in things that will not give you any
benefit? What he is doing is wasting his time, in my opinion.
He would have made a lot of money if he had accepted the offer of Levantina or if he had
sold that machine he invented and he would have had a better life, but instead he’s living with very
little, alone and drinking again. Normal people work to get money so as to have a good quality of
life, but he prefers not to work and live without obligations and doing what he really likes. Perhaps
he’s happier like this, but I wonder: Is it possible that his extraordinary intelligence make him act in
that way? By Diana Mateo
 AN EXCEPTIONAL PERSON

There are many types of people you can meet in a lifetime. Although there are
only several people who would listen to you and also understand you.

This is the tale about quite a remarkable person whom I met long time ago. Her
name was Patricia and she was a 38-year-old accountant. She had a perfect family
because she had a good husband and two lovely children, all of which she adored.
Once I met her, I really liked her. She was sitting at the head of the table and
I was really nervous in front of her. I had just finished my degree at University of
Alicante and it was my first interview for an administrative position in a shoe
company. Our friendship started at the point when I was hired.

Everything was new to me. I had no idea of doing my duties but Patricia was
always there. She explained me how to invoice, answer the phone, deal with
customers, suppliers… She was more than a workmate because she gave me a love of
administration and accountancy.
During the five years I worked for the company, we made friends. We shared
10 hours a day and many times we had free time and we could talk hours about our
lives, families, likes, dislikes, problems…

In spite of the fact that I got a job in another company we kept in touch. Both
of us needed to talk at least once a month.
The reason why I am writing about her is because my close friend Patricia died
of cancer last January. She was only 43. Unfortunately, it was her that was always
saying that our friendship would never die.

By María Ibarra
‘Everything counts to fill a National television
programme’

Do you know bats?, Indeed, bats form a considerate part of human mythology,
although , I personally wouldn’t categorize them as a vampires they certainly
bite. I can tell you something really interesting about them: as you know, they
live in caves and also possess a remarkable echolocation for which they can
fly at night and avoid being seen, moreover the fact that they serve an
important function in the ecosystem of the world as a result the law protects
them.

Well, my story as you can guess, is about bats. It wasn’t until midnight when
it happened to me five or six years ago.Year by year, as a rule, every summer
a bat occasionally took a night fly in my old flat’s bedroom, maybe it was an
ancient way to them, I’m not sure at all.

That night, like many other ones, my husband and I spent so much time
awake, trying to avoid it and trowing it away, which was a very difficult task,
on one hand they are exceptionally fast and on the other hand you are strictly
forbidden to kill them, but this time was very different, an unexpected thing
happened to my husband, he was bit by a bat on his finger.

Inmediately, after this unfortunate bite, we went to see the doctor to the
nearest outpatient department , once there, the doctor confirmed that it was
no risk of rabies or infection, so it was a very pleasant good news. Soon, the
next day, news runs as fast as bats, local police and animal protection society
called us by telephone, but the big surprise, the most exciting was , when a
national television programme ‘People’ wanted to hear about our story, the
person in charge was absolutely nice and interested on it, she also encouraged

us to appear physically on TV.

You know, I had to tell my whole story to Spain.

At first, the conversation was funny, I was an easy going person, but
eventually I said correctly to her that it would be hard and quite
embarrassing for me, and after a couple of minutes of thinking about it, I
answered ‘no ’ to her question which I’ve never regretted .

Nowadays, there are lots of stories about vampires that drink blood and they
have played a very symbolic role in increasing the overall tension in the plots.
The symbolism in Horror movies and Horror literature associated with bats
would be ‘Vampires’. Bats always play part in scary movies and at Halloween
as a night creatures . ‘The Bat house on haunted hill’, ‘The devil Bat’ or the
latest ‘Bats’, are some horror movies that I remember where you might find
that Bats are used for more than just a simple scare.

In my case, I personally mean that the media was so interested in my story

because Bats are endangered species , have Ecological importance, and they
are mammals that you should be careful and never touch which was the
main aspect to provide audience to the programme.(I hope)

In conclusion, the end of this firstly eventful, and finally funny experience,
was great, it remains in our mind as past memories on which time to time, we
are still remembering and on which we can’t forget because now, in my new
flat, I also have animals inside of my roof crossing from one side to the other,
which is a bit uncomfortable.

By Montse Bas
 A PAIR OF BLACK PATENT SHOES

Ordinary people can often perform heroic acts of courage, overcoming fear and danger...When I had
to think about a special person to write this text, the first person who came to my mind was my
grandma Isabel. For me she is by far the bravest and most persevering person I have ever met, and I
admire her for many reasons; the story of her life has not been a bed of roses.

She was born after the Spanish civil war, so she lived all the poor, famine and sadness of these
years. She was orphaned at the age of three years and her father left her living with her grandmother
under the promise that he will be back very soon... Many years later, a couple of months before
having her first Holy Communion her father came to visit her and -as she has told me many times
with sorrow in her eyes -he asked her what she wanted as a present for her first Holy Communion.
She asked immediately – a pair of black patent leather shoes!- But she never received this present,
because he never visited her again.

She had to work in the agriculture to help her family financially. When she married and she had her
children, she decided to travel alone to Germany to work in the emergent factories trying to get a
better life and a good future for her family. She left her children and husband in Spain and she
travelled to Germany without being able to reading nor write because she had never received any
schooling. She worked there for a long period and later on she managed to bring all her family with
her.

At the age of 55 she decided to start going to an adult school in order to learn to write and read
because her dream had always been being able to read the signs of the streets and the books that my
uncles use to read. Nowadays she is not only able to read or write, but also gives classes of
different craftworks in the same school and she keeps an incredibly and amazing energy and
enthusiasm for each single thing she is about to learn or do.

She is a very special person to me, she is fun, generous and above all, she is a great human being
who always have a smile to show you or a good advice to help you.

By Jessica Nieto
 SOMETHING TO TELL: DANGEROUS EASTER

It was the Easter holidays. The white carpet of snow that covered the Pyrenees mountains, was on, almost as beautiful
in April it was in January. This winter has been generous with rain and snow, and we were expecting to enjoy the
“Aigües Tortes” National Park in Pyrenees.

Now, some months later, I want to write the story of what happened to me there, climbing the “Encantats” peak,
because of the beauty of this mountain, because of its difficulties, and more than nothing, because how absolutely
grateful I’m feeling with this new opportunity of writing it, of going on with my life.

6- April – 2010.
We got up very early, at 5:30 a.m., to have enough time to go up and down with the snow frozen enough to be climbed.
All we required was 20 minutes for arriving to the mountainside with all our equipment: ropes, helmets, ice-screws,
warm clothes, crampons, piolets, 2 litres of water and something to eat.
We had to pass through different stretches of ice and snow 45-80º slope, and we decided to take both in turns to climb
first to go up faster.

Because it had been snowing two days ago, our feet sank deeply in the snow and we walked much more slowly than
we’d expected and the sun became hiding just when we finally got the top of the mountain. After we ate some dry fruit
and finished our water we began to go down along the normal route (the easier one) of this mountain: only
two……..and 2 hours walking to the refuge. I felt so happy to see near the safe forest…then, the madness began.

It was my left foot which sank in the snow and, ¡I couldn’t believe! I was rolling down the mountain, while my partner,
Toni, shouted ¡You must stop!! ¡Pleaseee!! And it was after some heavy stones that I was able to stop myself in a
section of snow. Although I felt a great pain in my left leg, my shoulder, my back, and also I couldn’t open my right
eye, I was able to stand up.

Helicopters can’t fly at night and we decided to follow the way down for as long as we we could to prevent the low
temperature dangers. We’d lost our way, we had only one torch and no water. We walked so much…we got lost and
found the path so many times…I was in agonising pain. I was so afraid… step by step the pain was forgotten and what I
felt was the strong desire of surviving.

Finally, in the middle of the forest, we found a little river which looked the most wonderful place for us, and it was
then, drinking, when we found the track to the refuge. There was an unknown man looking really worried, who made
fire to warm us and treated all my injuries. We were safe at last, together and alive.

The next day, lying on the helicopter to the nearest hospital, I only felt incredibly surprised about what can we do if we
need it, and absolutely grateful with life. By Olivia
 My story

In this essay I am going to talk about my father and my mother, both of whom are the most
trustworthy people in my life, as they have been always there for me.

Her eyes were the first ones I stared at and his forefinger the first one I caught with my hand. Since
my birth, their eyes had looked after me and their hands had helped in loads of big steps I have
done. A sine qua non condition is that they fell in love thirty-eight years ago and, as a result,
brought me into the world. Childhood was not great deal, I was an easy-going healthy kid, but my
adolescence can be described as a time of high rebelliousness against authority. We fortunately
went through it in a few intense years, because I became more conscious about the enormous effort
they were making bringing me up. Presently I am very proud and grateful for the education my
parents gave to me.

To sum up, I am conscious that the previous lines may be viewed as a modest life account, however
in these words you are reading just now I’ve tried to reflect, from my unavoidable subjectivity, not
only my parents’ story but also the one of billions of people all around the world. All of them quite
similar but, at the same time, so different.
Jose Luis Boj Poveda – 2º NA
 Yes, we can
This story begins in Winchester, 43 years ago, when Rick was
asphyxiating with the umbilical cord before being born, what
severely damaged his brain. Doctors told his parents he was not
going to be able to control any of his extremities and would remain
in a vegetative state, and recommended them to institutionalize
him.
Nevertheless, when he was 11 years old, their parents took
them to Tufts University to ask them for something to communicate
with him, because they saw he was able to understand what they
were saying. Some years after, when a classmate got disabled
because of a car crash, Rick told his parent with a computer he
would like to complete the 5 miles race it was being organized to
collect funds for him. After the race, Rick described his father all the
feelings he had while he was carrying him, he felt free and enjoyed
it very much.
From then on, Dick (Rick’s father), started improving his shape
just to be able to offer Rick the possibility to feel like he felt during
the race. They were increasing the difficulty of the race each time
they participated in one, until they reached one of the most difficult
races, the Ironman, which consist in 3,8 km. swimming, 180 km
cycling and 42,2 km running.
It was the love for his son what made Dick complete these
races, and it was also what saved him from a heart attack doctors
said would have killed him if he had not been so fit. By Javier
Contreras

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDnrLv6z-mM&feature=related
 The remarkable achievement of Ana María Méndez

This quite exceptional story started in June of 2004. Ana María Méndez, who was the owner
of a computing shop in Barcelona called Traxtore, received a visit from a representative of the
SGAE. This man told her that she had to pay the SGAE 16,759.25 € for the trade of digital storage
devices between 2002 and 2004.

She couldn’t believe it. The SGAE asked for that money by way of digital canon, that is, by
way of compensation for the use of these digital devices for making private copies of works
protected by author’s rights. However up to that moment she had never used her devices but to sell
them. She was absolutely surprised at that and began to get angrier and angrier, because the SGAE
wanted to get money from the whole sales of her shop, on none of which they had worked at all.
She firmly believed that the SGAE’s demand was unjust and decided to face them and not to pay
the money.

Then the SGAE took Traxtore to court. The first instance court found in SGAE’s favour, but
then Ana appealed to Barcelona Court. She argued that the indiscriminate application of the digital
canon to digital storage devices, without distinguishing the purpose to which they were used,
contravened current European regulations.

A few weeks later Barcelona Court set out the question to the Court of Justice of the
European Union. This Court has recently found Ana María´claim lawfully right . As soon as she
received the sentence, total pandemonium erupted. Ana was extremely proud of her courage. She
had defeated the SGAE.

According to the sentence the application of the digital canon to digital devices acquired by
legal persons, that is, by private companies and institutions in order to different purposes from
making private copies of works protected by author’s rights is contrary to the European laws.
Nevertheless the European Court does not question the application of the canon when the digital
devices are bought by physical persons, because it is supposed that they benefit from the capacity of
these devices for the storage and reproduction of protected works.
 In short, Ana María has just won her partial fight against the SGAE, from which,
consequently, a lot of companies and institutions are going to benefit. But, what about physical
people? Is it quite just to pay the digital canon for using digital storage devices without
distinguishing the purpose to which they are going to be used? It seems that now in Europe it is
legal and in the future it is going to keep being so. She has fought a battle and won the case for all
of us.

Ana Mª in her shop Traxtore

By Ricardo Teruel
 LIFE ON MARS

I’m going to write about the extraordinary life of Temple Grandin and her struggle to
learn and survive.

Temple Grandin is nowadays a talented world-renowned American engineer,

university teacher (she has a Ph.D. in animal science) and businesswoman.
Nevertheless, her life has not always been all roses since she suffers from Autism.

Knowing she wouldn’t be able to interact with people surrounding her, from an early
age, she tried to ape the human behaviour. So part of her success lies in her courage,
in the fact that she is always swimming against the current.
Actually she may lacks social skills but she has an astounding creative power and an
exceptional brilliance, both of which she uses to design farms and other livestock
facilities at lightning speed. Furthermore, she is so conscious of her mind disorder
and how she has been left stranded in a world completely incomprehensible that she
has written about her medical case; she even designed a device for calming
hypersensitive people which is called “hug machine”. However, she is such a gutsy
woman that she can cope with everything and she has stated that she doesn’t need it
anymore “It broke two years ago, and I never got around to fixing it. I'm into hugging people
now”. (From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hug_machine).
Overall, what more amazed me of her story was not only that she has an incredible
talent for designing but the way she can feel empathy for animals. For this reason, she
improves the “slaughterhouses” so the animals suffer as little as possible. Indeed not
only it would help animals but also the workers because a lifetime dedicated to this
violent job can do no good.

To conclude, what I meant by writing this is show how her iron will has helped her to
survive in a world where she feels like An Anthropologist on Mars, which is certainly
the title of the book in which I read about her amazing life. Written by superbly gifted
neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks (Awakenings’ author) this and other stories that
fall into a grey area describe in a humane way how a disease may actually bring out
latent powers otherwise wouldn’t be shown.
By Irene.
 War, Life and a Happy Ending.

María was born in a small village of Soria in the North of Spain, she lived with her older brother
and her parents .
One day misfortune came home and her mother became ill with a terrible disease. That tiny village
only had a rural doctor, there was no hospital or other health care centre where Maria´s mother
could be cured .The doctor said that she had to go to Madrid to receive adequate treatment for her
illness, although they had no much money , her parents did as the doctor had said and travelled to
Madrid in an arduous journey as you can imagine it 74 years ago.
Maria and her brother stayed with their old grandparents in the village , the time passed and Maria´s
mother did not get better and suddenly the Spanish Civil War broke out. Maria´s father was
desperate and he tried to return home but to make matters worse , communications had been
closed .
Unfortunately her mother died and her father made the back trip home in utter desolation, some
times on foot , some times by cart . When he arrived he realized that the grandparents had also died
and that a neighbour had been looking after the children during the last three months, on whom they
totally had depended.
Maria´s father was forced to send children to an orphanage so he could work, they stayed there until
the war ended, and after that Maria was sent to a convent in Alicante , there she grew up, studied
and she learnt “all things are supposed a girl should know”. When she was twenty years old she left
the nuns, got married and she went to live to Elche , her father and her brother came to live with
her.
María wanted her own children and finally she achieved her challenge which was to have her own
family.
María is a client of mine and I do not know how the conversation began, but it was because her
story was the most touching and moving story I had ever heart that both of us, María and I burst
into tears.
Although it happened many years ago I vividly remember it and make me think about how much
lucky my own family is.

Pilar Quinto Martínez 19A

 EXTRAORDINARY LIVES

Sometimes extraordinary things can happen in the World. Generally, these remarkable facts don´t
have any logical explanation. Although there are many theories of that, none of which have yet been
proved. A good example of these extraordinary facts happened to me five years ago.

It was during the summer holidays when my boyfriend´s cousins decided to come to Spain to visit
him. As it was a scorching day, we went to the beach to cool us down. However, that day the sea
was extremely bad, there were big waves and the lifeguard´s flag was dangerously in red. That
situation was a challenge for them so they went into the water, in other words nothing ventured,
nothing gained.

I spent the worst minutes in my life, because I was on the shore keeping an eye of them and I was
watching how big waves hit them once and again but fortunately all of them went out of the sea safe
and sound. However, I noticed something different in my boyfriend. It wasn´t until I saw his naked
neck when I realized he had lost his gold necklace with a latin cross whose mother had given him
as a present when he was a child.
After that, we sought out it but it was impossible to find it. When we were exhausted we decided to
went back home. Obviously my boyfiend was deeply depressed because his parents will be bitterly
dissapointed when they know the news.

The next day the sea was calm so I went into the water with my boyfriend. We were swimming and
talking about how telling their parents the true when I trodded on something rough. I couldn´t
believe in my eyes, it was his necklace. I was freaking out because I found it buried in the sand in
the middle of the sea. As a result of that we had a happy ending.

To sum up, sometimes extraordinary things can happen and I don´t know the reason of that.
Religious people may think that is an act of God, other people think in destiny or whatever.
However, I think it depends on your luck.

Verónica Chico 2ºNA

 An exceptional man.

I was thinking a lot about a person whose life was extraordinary, but to my great surprise I realise
that he was closer to me than I thought.

What I’m going to tell us is about my cousin’s life. He was born in 1951 in a town from Albacete
and when he was a teenager he got a scholarship to go abroad in order to finished Secondary
School. He has been in USA for a year and after that he returned to Spain to study Communication
and Tourism, degree that helped him to work as a Director in the famous hotel Hilton in New York.
After a long time working in hotels as in America as in Spain, he was interested in Graphic Design
and he returns to the university. It was his impeccable work at the Culumbus University that
became him as a teacher. During his years at university, he met his wife, a wonderful Photography
teacher from Ohio.

Few years later, they return to Spain and it was there when he started to work for many recognised
national and international public and private companies as a designer. His main works were things
that everyone knows, for example he designed the Spanish identity card, the famous Curro of the
Sevilla’s Expo in 1992, the logo of the Spanish Television, the designs of companies such as El
Corte Inglés and Shell, a well-known global group of energy and petrochemicals companies. All of
them are pictures that every day we see, but we don’t think that a person is behind them.

But this incredibly story hasn’t finished yet, he started to research about the Flamenco history that
anyone hasn’t studied before, and he wrote the Flamenco Anthology. Afterwards, he started to go to
flamenco classes to sing and learn this kind of music. My family hadn’t heard him before, and when
he showed us his show on the TV we lived a moving moment.

Nowadays, he can’t work a lot because of an illness in his eyes which it causes him to lose his sight
gradually. But, he is absolutely motivated with his new hobby, and perhaps one day I can say that a
have a famous cousin!
By Marisa Córcoles
 Breaking down barriers

I was on the way to home when I heard that amazing story on the radio. It was an ordinary
day for me and I remember that I was feeling flat; in fact nothing exciting was happening
lately. For this reason, when I listened to this fantastic story I immediately turn up the
volume.

The interview was about a young man in his thirties whom suffered from Down syndrome
condition and he recently starred a film relating all the problems which concern people like
him. The film was about some situations in life and the way they need to deal with:
education, love, jobs, society…His story was an amazing proof that there are no limits for
human beings, just need to be secure and constant in what you want to get. He incredibly
studied two degrees at university and a Master in Business and Management so, who
says that these people are different? He found a job and he became independent at the
age of 25 because he didn’t want to rely on his parents, he got a room in a shared
apartment with some flatmates and afterwards he fell in love with one of them although he
didn’t have so much luck in this matter. It is very difficult to find a partner for people who
suffer from this condition therefore they feel much more comfortable with someone in their
same circumstances.

He is an extremely constant person so when he finished his first degree in Business he

decided to start “Social Work and Occupational Therapy” this time in order to support
people with mental handicaps. He started working in a Centre for mental disabled people
in the mornings and in a Marketing Department in the evenings for a quite popular car
enterprise. He was realising his two desires in one hand helping the community and in the
other being a business fish.

At the radio station they were all as amazed as I was listening to such a real, emotional
and unbelievable report; it was a lifelong lesson of courage and braveness. He utterly got
all that he had determined to himself proving that there are no barriers at all.
To sum up I can affirm that this man is brave and enthusiastic.

LETICIA SEGURA 19A

 Raquel Miralles Fabra
My Story

Juan Withoutfear is a man who always puts his foots in it, and not always in a
methaforical way. When he was 32 he tore a ligament, he had a terribly operation but
he didn’t give up easily. Five years later he has managed to do his dream true.

Prior to tear his ligament Juan hadn’t been very sporty, but during his rehabilitation
he started to practise and he liked it. Besides, he had been for three months without
walking so he was quite fat therefore, he had to go on diet. After two years, he had
overcomed several difficulties, but if he had been thinking in a gloomy future, he
wouldn’t have had a second chance. After that, he heard about ironman, which is a
competition that consists in three differents events. He had talked with his wife
about the ironman, but she wasn’t in favour of it and they argued. Finally, he did it
knowing full well that his wife wouldn’t like it.

Last month, took place the ironman. He entered in the three differents events, there
were forty eight hours swimming, running and cycling, all of which he won. He has
achieved his dream and, like the advert said, imposible is nothing.
A remarkable story could happen when love takes
control of your life…
May be, this is one of many love stories you have ever heard in your life, one of
which I have lived closed to my heart. That´s the reason why I´m going to
focus my story in an event that happened to my friend Ana many years ago.

When Ana was more or less twenty years old, she decided to become a nun so
as to travel to poor countries and help in education-related problems and
diseases. That decision didn´t surprise her family very much because she had
been waiting for a long time to devote her life to helping others.

Then, she enjoyed about 7 or 8 wonderful years living in Africa helping to

school children in extremely deprived areas. Ana was ecstatic with her new
lifestyle and she never thought that her life was going to change.

The change happened when she returned to Spain to visit her family. During
that period of time, she felt madly in love with a man and she couldn´t return
to Africa to be separated from him.

Ana had to face a very important decision in her life. On one hand she had her
old life she always wanted ; but, on the other hand, she felt so intense love for
that man, that she needed to try a relationship with him. Then, with many
doubts, she decided to stop being a nun to be the wife of the man she loved.
Nowadays, she is still married and she works as a religion teacher.

Well, as far as I´m concerned, I think that Ana has been absolutely brave to
give a full turn to her life without knowing that the final would be satisfactory.

Now, she is proud of what she did because her life is a great deal happier than
it was.

So, broadly speaking, we can say she is really reflected with the idiom, nothing
ventured, nothing gained.
Verónica Torres Barragán

A TRUE STORY

Sometime have yourself asked about the value of your life for you?,well, I would like
to start by saying that people don't appreciate their lives generally. What I'm trying to
say by that is that most of people live everyday doing the same things and the same
way or put it another way, as robots. But quite honestly, I have to say that since today
I have been living the same way. So I wonder if it would be a good idea to reconsider
our lives?...In any case, now I'm going to tell a brief story about a person called
Francesca.

Francesca was born after the Civil War, a period of time extremely hard and
miserable. Appart from that, she was submited to sex abuse by her dad and didn`t
receive love of her mum because her older sister fell ill each time that she saw that
her mum gave affection her younger sister. So the doctors told her mum that her
older daughter suffered from an illness called jelousy. For this reason, she grew up
without one caress from her mum. Because of that she got married quickly, but the
situation was the same, in that case her husband was the person who mistreated
her. Moreover, she was almost illiterate and had four children and the situation was
support after a very lengthy period of time. But instead of that, she didn't manage to
change her life. However, arrived a day in which she was thirty-five years old and
suffered an accident by which changed her life completely.

After that, she achieved a graduate in psychology and kinesiology, she got the
divorce and her life changed extraordinarily, so this phrase " A bird in the hand is
worth two in the bush" wasn`t really true. Nowadays, Francesca is an icon for a lot of
people and she had recuperate the control from herself.

In conclusion, I have a question for everybody, if you had lived a similar situation,
would have done the same?"A leopard can't change his spots",really?. I think all of
us should ask ourselves if this is the life that we have dreamt always. Indeed, you will
be able to get only the objectives that you try. Don't forget it!!

By Jose Sánchez Tordecillas