Last Assignment; Current Issue

AIDS. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused bye infection with HIV. By affecting our immune system it makes us prone to other diseases which slowly degrade our health. AIDS has no cure or vaccine, however there exists an antiretroviral treatment that slows the disease and may allow the infected to live "normally" from 9 to 11 years.
There are various ways to transmit HIV/AIDS, like blood transfusions and unprotected sexual intercourse.

AIDS is an important problem that affects us now more than it did several years ago. There are countries with high poverty and prostitution whose index of people who have AIDS is very high.
What worries me more, is that Playa del Carmen has one of the highest percentages of infected people, and most of them are teenagers.

With AIDS being so spread in our small town, and with the most affected being my age, it worries me a lot. This kind of thing wouldn't have happened 10 or 20 years ago. Sexual education campaigns each year inform us about the many risks there exist; unprotected sex shouldn't be a thing, but it is; because of all the information we have, teenagers tend to think they are safe from harm, we think AIDS or teen pregnancy can't happen to us, it just happens in movies.

I don't worry for myself, because I'm very cautious and thoughtful about my actions and decision, I worry for the ones I know and surround me. There is a risk that threatens anyone, anywhere, but specifically here this risk is very high.

I can't find a solution for our community if sex-ed didn't work. There must be a way for us teens to become self-conscious and be aware of the risks out there, but I can't think of anything else than taking the precautions we have already taken.

3 Issues

Problem: Technology

The continuos development of technology is a problem as much as it is a benefit. Our lives are much easier than our parents' or grandparents' lives were at our age; this might not sound like a downside but from a certain point of view, we can realize that at our age they have had much more experiences and they had put a lot of hard work in their activities. They learned how to do things the hard way and with effort; we on the other side, have access to the solution of almost any problem with a few clicks.

Another problem is that technology is taking over social interaction. It is something that affects even our parents. Sometimes when people get together, they are on their phones doing anythings, interacting more online than they do offline.

Of course technology brings a lot of benefits, facilities, and opportunities to us, but there are also some downsides as the ones I described.

I can't find any definite solution to this problem, the only thing we can do is avoid paying more attention to our technology.

Problem: Peer pressure

This is a big issue for some teens, not for me though. Almost all teens act not for themselves, but in order to be accepted into a social group, so they can fit in in society. It's a problem because it builds "default" personalities in each social group, personalities molded by the dominant people who are the example of those who want to fit in and be socially accepted.

My solution would be to not care about anyone else but yourself, there will always be someone who will be similar to you and won't make you change to fit in.

Problem: Global Warming

It is a problem that has been developing itself for a hundred years, more or less. We, as teens, are not guilty of what has become of our world today, but we are living the consequences. And those consequences will be worse for our children and grandchildren.

A solution is for us to take action and try to fix what was destroyed by our elders, we must make a clean world for ourselves and those who have not yet arrived.