Writing Vivid Details: A Letter to Something I Love or Something I Hate

Writing in English requires attention to detail. Writing is considered far more interesting and lively when vivid details are included to help us see or hear or feel or experience what is being discussed.

LIEP Instructor Karen Greenstone

To encourage the use of greater and more vivid detail, LIEP instructor Karen Greenstone asked the members of the Advanced Writing class of the Loyola Intensive English Program to choose something they love or something they hate, and to write a letter to that loved or hated item, being very specific about why they feel so much love or hate. Karen credits her colleague Stephanie Ceraso, an instructor in the English Department of the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania for the idea of this project.

The letters turned out to be so delightful and vivid that we want to share four of them with you! We hope that you will enjoy these imaginative and detailed letters as much as we have!

The four writers whose letters are featured in this post are pictured below.

Angélica Aguirre of Ecuador, Emmanuel Priva of Haiti, George Kawas of Honduras, and Rosa Cevallos of Ecuador

Angélica Aguirre of Ecuador

Angélica Aguirre of Ecuador is a professor of English at the Pontifcia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador (PUCE), or the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador. She specializes in introducing beginning-level students to the English language. Here is her letter to something she loves.

My Beloved Chocolate,

How are you today? It has been a long time we have not been together. I would like to know why you have left me alone. Can you tell me what has happened? You have always promised to be with me everyday, but you are not here anymore. Why?

I have not liked your silence, and I have missed your presence. Have you forgotten our moments when I used to call you my Little Dark, my Little White? I wish you were here in any form: chips, tablet, bar, decorated or just plain.

I would like to close my eyes and imagine the pleasure to be with you, the delight to smell your fragrance and the satisfaction to taste your flavor. I have talked with everybody about you and all of them have known you pretty well so far. I supposed it was a nice relationship only between you and me, but I was wrong.   I have asked everybody if they have known something about you and all have answered me affirmatively. Besides, they have not only known you, but also, they have bought you, bitten you, tasted you.

As you see, you have been very famous: babies, children, teenagers, young adults, middle age adults and seniors love you. Furthermore, they have met you in different situations and conditions. In important events, you have been the principal guest: Christmas, birthdays, weddings and anniversaries. You know that you have always been welcomed in any condition: in a cup of warm chocolate, in vanilla and chocolate ice cream, chocolate mousse, chocolate cake, fruit in chocolate dip.

My Sweet Chocolate, I want to be sincere with you.  It was a pleasure to meet you. I will never forget you.  You will always be in my mind. I would have never abandoned you if I had not had diabetes.

Love,

Angélica


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Rosa Cevallos of Ecuador

Rosa Cevallos of Ecuador is the Chief Financial Officer of the Pontifcia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador (PUCE), or the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador. She has written a letter to something she hates!

Dear International Phonetic Alphabet,

I want to present you my respects. I believe that I need to explain to you why I do not call you by your nickname IPA, as you asked me the day we met. I do not have that familiarity with you; besides my letter will not be as nice as I wanted.

As you know, we met each other since only a couple of weeks ago, and, although it is a short time, I regret to confess that I cannot stand you.

I have really tried to understand that you are very useful and many people love you, because, obviously, your intentions are the best. What you intend is to build bridges to improve understanding and communication in foreign languages; you are looking for a good understanding of one of the most important parts of a culture: their language. I know all that, even though I cannot change my feelings towards you.

Please do not misunderstand me. You are not bad, but the circumstances of our first date have not been the best. The abrupt discovery of you changed my schemes, and the change was not pleasant. I had no idea that I would meet you that day, so I was not properly prepared. It was so surprising to see you there, with all those signs that are incomprehensible for me; some of them I can not even pronounce today. And, worst of all, is that I am obliged to use them, and I do not like doing things for obligation.

I believe that if, before the day we met, I had read some interesting article or essay about your life, I would understand you better, and our relationship could be more durable, but now I am not sure.

However, I think we should get a second chance; would you like to drink a coffee next week? So, we could talk and know each other better. I sincerely hope that you answer me positively.

Best regards,

Rosa

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Emmanuel Priva of Haiti

Emmanuel Priva of Haiti is a seminarian preparing for priesthood in the Catholic Church. His religious order is the Society of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, or the Josephites. This summer, Emmanuel is living and assisting at Saint David Catholic Church in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Here is Emmanuel's letter to something he loves.

Dear Workout,

I am very fascinated by writing you this small letter. I am so grateful because you have done and you are still doing a great job for me. You have been so helpful for me in the last few years; I have realized I am really unable to live without you. I never imagined that you should occupy this great place in my daily life.

My Dear Workout, I want to thank you because you are helping me to keep at a better level my hyperglycemia. Thanks to you, I don’t have any problems to sleep at night; I don’t get upset with anybody, I am not feeling tired at all, I have a strong appetite, I don’t feel any serious pain in my whole body, I am not feeling depressed, and I am feeling very equilibrated. This means you are doing a tremendous job in my life, my Beloved

Workout. Even though you are very demanding and rigorous with me, which means you want me to be with you every day for at least 3 hours, I still love you.

I will be very mad if something prevents me from being with you daily, which means a severe pain in my body. I hope you will continue to be very helpful for me, my Dearly Beloved Workout. Without you, my friend, nothing is really possible.

A few days ago, I saw my physician for a general check up, and he told me to continue to spend time visiting you. My physician saw a lot of improvements in my health, which means my heart is doing so well and my whole body is working well. My blood pressure and blood sugar are both under control. Because of you, my friend, I hope to have a long life.

Thanks so much and don’t forget you are always in my daily prayer.

God bless you and your own family.

With love, appreciation, and peace,

Emmanuel

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George Kawas of Honduras

George Kawas of Honduras is a civil lawyer. He plans to obtain his LL.M. degree from the College of Law at Loyola University New Orleans. Here is George's essay to something he loves.

 
Dear Poker,

I want to say that I love you. I admire how you can get inside people’s mind and control their deepest thoughts in an unconscious level. It is incredible the intensity and suspense you provoke between men, when we play this psychological game against each other. I have played you without knowing if I would be the winner, but you have always held my hand, leading me the on right way. Life would not be the same without you.

It is unbelievable how you can play mind tricks with people, making us believe that we have a winning hand, and realizing at the end your deception. But let’s not return to the past; you already promised not to do that again, and I promised to forgive you. Even though I have lost money playing you, I still love you and I know you love me back.

Thanks to you, I have developed the ability of reading my adversaries’ body language; if they twitch an eye, scratch a leg, or breathe heavily, I can perceive their bluff.

Additionally, you have helped me develop the ability of hiding emotional behaviors, by controlling my body’s spontaneous reflexes, and avoiding my rival’s opportunity to figurate out the cards I hold.

Since the beginning, you have been giving me courage to keep playing and raising bets. I am grateful for those moments of satisfaction you have given me, with the support of your son, Full House; your two daughters, Strait and Strait Flush; and especially your older son, his majesty Royal Flush. I could not live without any of them.

Thanks to you, I have learned to make blind decisions in my life. Just like in poker, if I do not risk anything, I would never know if I was right or wrong; if I achieved glory or ruin. If you ever leave, I will miss you, like the flower misses the sun.           

For all these reasons, I thank you and I will see you soon.

Always yours,

George

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Thank you, Angélica, Rosa, Emmanuel, and George, for sharing your delightful, imaginative, and detailed letters with us, and to LIEP instructor Karen Greenstone, who initiated this project!

We end this post with two photos showing members of the Advanced Writing class sharing their letters in small reading groups.

Reading Group 1: Angélica Aguirre of Ecuador, George Kawas of Honduras, Gorn Witchurungsee of Thailand

Reading Group 2: Stéphane Baechler of France, Felix Garmendia of Venezuela, Rosa Cevallos of Ecuador, Emmanuel Priva of Haiti

Exemplary Analysis Essay II: The Uses and Users of Facebook

Sorapon "Gorn" Witchurungsee of Thailand

This post features a second exemplary analysis essay written by a student in the Advanced Writing class of the Loyola Intensive English Program. Sorapon Witchurungsee of Thailand, known to his friends as Gorn, has chosen to analyze the various uses and users of Facebook.

Gorn is a lawyer in Thailand. He is preparing to enter the Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas this fall to begin his studies for the LL.M. degree. After completing his studies in the United States, Gorn plans to return to Thailand and to work there in the legal field.

Below is Gorn's essay.

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Facebook Friends

By Sorapon Witchurungsee

Using Facebook surprises me because some of my friends behave differently on Facebook from in person.  For example, one of my friends talks too much on Facebook—considering how often she posts a day—but in person she seldom talks with others at all.

From my experience with Facebook, I categorize my friends into 5 categories.

1. People who like showing off
2. People who analyze situations and share information
3. People who love describing their emotion
4. People who do business
5. People who want to keep contact with their friends

People who like showing off

I am not sure why people share their pictures on Facebook; I do not even know why I share my own pictures.  However, I assume that one reason is to show scenes of their lives with their family so that their parents can know how well they are doing.

People in this group always love taking photos—of themselves, their friends, tourist attractions, or whatever they think may become the best shots.  As soon as they have gotten the beautiful shots, they will upload them on Facebook—if they take photos with a camera rather than a cell phone, they will upload them later.

The consequence of showing pictures on Facebook is that friends will make comments and/or give a like on pictures. Showing photos is one of the best ways to keep in touch with friends because some pictures can be a good discussion topic, such as old high school pictures, or new pictures of an old hang-out.

People who analyze situations and share information

Some of my friends on Facebook belong to this category. They always analyze political or social issues and share the analyses on Facebook. Some are experts, such as the law school professors who illustrate issues and/or give opinions to their students and other people.  Some are amateurs who love to show their visions of problems.  Besides giving their own analyses, they like sharing the analyses of others whom they agree with. 

Sharing specific points of view may cause conflict with Facebook friends who hold opposing views.  However, people in this category also like to share helpful information, mottos, or encouraging statements to motivate their friends on Facebook.  In addition, they strive to make the world a better place by sharing pictures or statements for helping poor people.  For example, my friend Aoe shared a request for anyone with the rare AB-type blood to help someone in need, her own professor.  No matter what the result is, sharing this kind of information can make the world more beautiful. 

People who love describing their emotion

In the past few years, expressing emotions was limited to a few people: friends, parents, sisters, brothers, or anyone immediately involved.  However, now with technology like Facebook, people can express their emotion to a larger group than they did in the past.

Happiness, sadness, frustration, and excitement are examples of emotions people express through Facebook every single day.  It is good to share a happy moment or release an annoyance via Facebook because friends are supposed to stay together in every single moment whether happy or sad.  People can get encouragement and various solutions via Facebook whenever they face a problem.

However, even though you can make people happy by sharing a positive moment, or can find true friends standing up for you when you face a negative moment, the most important thing that you must be aware of is that sharing emotion too often makes you a complainer.

People who do business 

Marketing, increasing consumption to gain a massive amount of profit, is the key of success in business.  The more people know your products, the more successful you are; therefore, advertisement is crucial.

Technology changes people’s behaviors, that is, people play more on Facebook and spend less time on watching television and listening to the radio.  Therefore, my friends interested in setting up business choose Facebook to advertise their products for two main reasons: free and easy.  Not only my friends who begin to do business, but also the huge companies in the world—such as Apple, Microsoft, Toyota—use Facebook as one of their advertising strategies.

These users do their business by posting their commodities on their Facebook status.  Then, the advertisement will show on their friends’ feed.  Besides, sometimes they tag the picture of the advertisement to their friends so that the picture can appear on the feed of their friends’ friends.  Another way to advertise on Facebook is to create a Facebook page devoted to the product and convince people to be a member by giving a like.  This measure, in my opinion, is more polite than tagging an advertisement to other users because this measure depends on the willingness of the users, whether they want to give a like or not.

The people in this category sometimes irritate other users who are not interested in buying a commodity and want to use Facebook for other purposes.  Therefore, users in this classification should use Facebook with discretion, balancing between running their business and respecting other users.

People who want to keep contact with their friends

This group of my friends rarely has any movement in their Facebook, such as posting messages, sharing pictures and/or information, giving a comment or a like.  Most actions on their Facebook happen with specific purposes: keeping contact with their friends and tracing what is going on with their friends, such as who is about to get married, what their friends’ new jobs are, and when the reunion party will be.

For example, I belonged to this category of Facebook users when I became a monk for two weeks in November, 2012. (In Buddhist tradition, young men should be a monk to show their gratefulness toward their parents.)  Before entering the monastery, I used Facebook to announce my event to my friends as well as to ask them to forgive my former bad actions, for Buddhists believe that before becoming a monk, one should receive forgiveness from whomever one has wronged, whether through action, speech, or thought.  Many of my friends—both close and not close—got this news through Facebook.  They also congratulated and forgave me through this channel.  Without Facebook, it would have been hard to contact many of my friends under the limited time.

Posting messages, sharing pictures and/or information, or giving a comment or a like not only can keep friends in touch with each other but also can bring friends closer.  The reason is those kinds of actions can cause long intimate conversations between friends.

Conclusion

Even if these categories are distinct, a person can belong to more than one category.  From time to time, people can change from one category to another category.  Moreover, a new category may emerge.  Whatever category you belong to, using Facebook has both upsides and downsides; therefore, people should use Facebook with courtesy.

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Thank you, Gorn Witchurungsee, for this excellent analysis of Facebook uses and users!

Our next post will take you with us on our most recent LIEP field trip to the Louisiana Global Wildlife Center in Folsom, Louisiana!

Exemplary Analysis Essay I: Apple's Advertising Strategies for the iPhone 5

In our previous post, we showed you how the Advanced Writing class of the Loyola Intensive English Program began our summer session by creating advertisements of their own in preparation for writing an essay analyzing an actual online, television, or magazine advertisement. In this post and in our next one, we would like to share with you two exemplary essays written by students in the class. We begin here with the essay of Felix Garmendia of Venezuela, who chose to analyze the advertising strategies used by Apple in a video promoting the iPhone 5.

Felix Garmendia of Venezuela

Felix Garmendia is a corporate lawyer in Venezuela and is preparing to enter the College of Law of Loyola University New Orleans for his LL.M. degree. In addition, Felix is an accomplished artist. His artwork is on display at Garmendia Art Gallery in New Orleans. Felix's series of white horse paintings and flower paintings are especially remarkable.

Below is Felix Garmendia's essay. You may want to view the iPhone 5 advertising video itself in conjunction with reading Felix's essay.

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ADVERTISING STRATEGY FOR THE IPHONE 5

By Felix Garmendia

Selling a product can be hard if the right TV commercial strategy is not used.  It will be possible to see an example of how a successful company like Apple uses advertising strategies to promote one of their cell phones known as the iPhone 5.

In the last TV commercial made by Apple, some of the executive directors of the different departments describe the quality improvements they made to the iPhone 5. In the commercial they talk about the iPhone 5 while they show different scenes related to the subject that they are talking about.

APPEAL TO THE HUMAN QUEST FOR AN EASY LIFE

The useful applications of the iPhone 5 is one of the most competitive characteristics of this new model of cell-phone. In the TV commercial, the executive talks about how useful the iPhone 5 applications are and how they were designed to provide solutions to daily life problems. Currently, people live in a very busy world. Everyone has to do many things at the same time. Teenagers have to attend school to do their homework and sometimes to practice sports or social activities. They need to socialize with many groups of people. On the other hand, the adults also have to do several activities: to work, to study in the university, to exercise, to pay bills, to take care of the children´s education, and to spend time with the family and friends. Each age group has a busy life and many different activities. They have something in common; they feel the necessity to be connected socially.

With this strategy, Apple offers to make people´s life easier using the iPhone 5 applications.

Fast Access to the Internet. In the first scene the Senior Vice President of Apple talks about the functionality of this new model of iPhone. He talks about the fast Internet access, while a person opens several web pages at the same time using an iPhone 5. In the modern world people have many available options to make daily life easier using the Internet. It is possible to pay the utilities of the house or the business, to pay the tuition of the children´s college or the university, to buy something that we need, to check the emails, or to read the news while we are waiting in the doctor´s room or in the subway. With this strategy, Apple wants to gain customers of different ages and occupations.

Useful Applications. In this scene the Software Senior Vice President talks about the characteristics of some applications designed for the cell phone.

• High resolution camera. In the TV commercial while the Senior Vice President is talking, a man is taking a picture of some friends playing basketball. Then, he posts it in Facebook, which is one of the most visited websites around the world. Every day we see an increase in the use of cell phone cameras. The tech companies are becoming more competitive to provide more attractive options to their cell phone cameras. The cell phone companies are designing great functional cameras with high resolution. Social media like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram have become an important part of the life of a large number of people around the world. In the TV commercial, the people who use these applications every day find that the iPhone 5 is the best cell phone option.

• Video chat using the iPhone 5. In the TV commercial, there is a scene where a mom, with her newborn, is having a video chat with the husband who is working out of town. In many countries, especially in the United States, it is common to see people in long distance relationship who have to live apart from their family for several reasons. For instance, some people have to work for long periods of time in a different city. The young people usually go to study in other cities when they leave the high school. In the same way, the business people or the universities use this function to have video chats with their clients or students. Today we see how technology is a great way to reduce the distance among people who live far away. This TV commercial effectively shows how useful this application is in daily life.

• Music display functions. In this scene a man is running in a beautiful park while he is listening to music. The iPhone 5 media player is shown during the commercial. In the past, there was a series of portable music displayers designed by different companies including Apple. Many people live stressful lives and they relax by listening to music. With the scene of this TV commercial, people can imagine listening to their favorite songs anywhere using the iPhone 5.

• GPS. In this scene, a girl is driving and she is following her GPS to find an address. The GPS is very helpful for some people and has become indispensable for others. People use this application to go wherever they want. With this strategy, the executive will gain more customers interested in buying the iPhone 5.

CONNECTION WITH EMOTIONS

One important way to get people interested in a product is to connect with them emotionally. The TV commercial tries to connect the human emotions in different ways.

Customs. At the beginning of the TV commercial, the Senior Vice President tries to connect with all the people who are using the old version of the iPhone named iPhone 4. He explains that the iPhone 5 is better than the older versions, but the design and applications are similar. With this strategy, he is trying to convince the people that Apple has improved the product. The iPhone 4 has been very successful. Millions of people have been using the iPhone 4. All of these people feel comfortable using the iPhone 4, and it is a challenge to the iPhone´s executives to improve their cell phone without changing too much their main applications and design. This strategy is directed to the customers who are using the old version of iPhone. If they see the TV commercial, they will think that this new version of iPhone is better than the version they have, and they can change one for the other easily without suffering a dramatic process of adaptation between one version and the other. They maintain the fidelity to the product.

Family Affection. In the scene of the TV commercial with the mother and her newborn, the executives are trying to connect with human emotions. People imagine reducing the distance among family members who live far away, or in some cases the children live in a different house apart from their mother or father. So, the emotional support is very important for the humans. In this TV commercial Apple tries to touch the sensibility of the customers. People who are experiencing a similar situation will be identified with the iPhone 5.

Friendship / Sharing. The scene where a man takes a picture of his friends playing basketball and then uploads to Facebook is a clear representation of how the cell phone can be used to share information instantly. In our globalized world the social media has become an important way to keep the relationships active. Nowadays, it is common to know people who have traveled around the world, and they usually have many friends from different countries. However, they maintain contact in real time using the iPhone 5. In the TV commercial this strategy works very well because it is aimed to many people of different ages, and nationalities who consider friendship something important to their life.

OFFER OF A RELIABLE CELL PHONE

The use of some experts to explain the quality of the product is another strategy used by Apple to offer credibility to the product.

Experts. The main stars of the TV commercial are Apple's high executives. During the different scenes, the executives explain the main features of the iPhone 5. Each executive is an expert in the area he is talking about. For instance, the Design Senior Vice President, Jony Ive, provides details about the design improvements of the iPhone 5. Then, the Senior Vice President, Bob Mansfield, talks about all the new functions that the iPhone 5 provides. Finally, the Software Senior Vice President, Scott Forstall, explains details of each application of the iPhone 5. This strategy is very effective because it provides details and information of what the cell phone can do. In the same way the TV commercial offers credibility to the product when the people can hear these characteristics of the cell phone directly from its designers.

The creation process. This is another important point in the TV commercial. Apple shows some parts of the making process of the cell phone. With this strategy Apple provides technical information about the different pieces and materials of the iPhone 5.  People can see that the product is made with high technology machines and high quality materials. This offers reliability in buying a quality cell phone.

The TV commercial for the iPhone 5 is a successful example of how advertising strategies work. Each detail is taken into account to communicate the right message to customers in the most effective way. The TV commercial shows several characteristics of the iPhone 5, with Apple´s executives focusing on people´s needs. Apple offers multifunctional, high quality cell phones that provide solutions to daily life problems. It is likely that many people who watch this TV commercial will want to buy the iPhone 5.

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Thank you, Felix Garmendia, for sharing your excellent analysis of advertising strategies with us!

Our next post will feature the essay of Sorapon Witchurungsee of Thailand, known to his friends as Gorn. Gorn chose to analyze the various uses and users of Facebook.

The Death Penalty - Con

During the Fall 2012 semester, our Pilot Program students in the Loyola Intensive English Program focused on the death penalty through reading, film viewing, discussing, and writing. This work culminated in an essay assignment that asked the Pilot students to argue persuasively for their own point of view, for or against the death penalty.

Jessica Osteicoechea of Venezuela

Our previous post features an essay in favor of the death penalty by Xiang "James" Zhang of China. This post features an essay by Jessica Osteicoechea of Venezuela opposing the death penalty.

Jessica completed her Pilot studies this fall and will go on in Spring 2013 to study for her LL.M. degree in the College of Law at Loyola University New Orleans. Jessica believes that the death penalty violates human dignity and is no longer necessary in today's sociey. Jessica's essay is a bit long, but it is well worth reading. She takes the time to articulate her opinion carefully and to illustrate it vividly. Here is Jessica's essay.

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Building an Opinion about the Death Penalty

By Jessica Osteicoechea

Whether we support the death penalty or not should not be based on a whim. To have an unblemished opinion about it we need to analyze, know, and identify the death penalty’s implications. Then, our hearts and minds will give us the pattern to build a congruent opinion based on our morals a  nd values. To support the death penalty is not a matter of faith. Everyone who feels capital punishment should be applied is free to hold that opinion. However, before taking sides and expressing our feelings in this regard we first must analyze the following considerations.

The first aspect I want to analyze with you is the legal weight of the death penalty. It is definitely a legal punishment because the law allows its application. Therefore, it is perfectly legal to apply it. However, we should not confuse legality with justice. The law is not always just, yet it is still law. Therefore, when building your own opinion do not settle for the fact that it is legal because the justice system is an entity full of errors. For instance, the Arizona law allowing a police officer t  o detain someone and ask for his papers if that person resembles a foreigner may be considered unjust because many people looking different are being disrespected in their rights. However, this is a law and regardless of its injustice must be applied. Another example of an unjust law is the tax regulations imposing a higher tax burden on a select group of people. In fact, everyone has the same rights and obligations. However, the law makes a distinction between people based on their income and creates a disadvantageous situation for some others, which is perfectly legal, but at the same time it is unjust.

It is important to recall that the law is made to be applied in countless situations, all different, all unique. Hence, the law should be as wide as possible. This will allow many situations to be decided based on just one rule. However, this is also going to gather all the situations as a single one where it will not matter its specifics or particular circumstances. For instance, a contract will always be law between the parties even if that contract is clearly disadvantageous for one of the parties. Perhaps someone who did not know how to read signed a contract because he was in a desperate situation. Well, it is unjust that this person is going to be harmed by the contract, but it is legal to enact it.  The law is there to be equally applied to everyone, regardless of particular issues or situations. It is an advantage in some cases but a disadvantage in others. Nonetheless, this is the way the law is supposed to work.

Essentially, law is supposed to move forward, to change along with society, to always improve and make our world a better and fairer place. However, some people still believe in the old saying "an eye for an eye" as the best way to deliver justice. I am convinced that the times when these types of penalties were needed are over. We cannot keep building our society based on revenge, violation of human rights, and death. On the contrary, it is time to create, to build, to make better people by giving all the same opportunity to grow in an atmosphere of respect for life. This is a perfect time to remember that one’s own example is the best teaching; the faster we understand that, the sooner we will be reaping the benefits of a better society.

During old times, people did not have any other possibility to defend their lives or belongings than killing thieves or murderers. This happened because they did not have a government system to stop criminals and protect society; we do have that in our time. Before, people did n ot have the resources we have now: police officers, militaries, prisons, and well-organized cities. Of course, in the past it was necessary to kill a murderer or a thief because of w hat else they might do. People used to live in groups, in open space houses or even in tents. Then, how were they supposed to protect themselves without killing the criminal. They did not have a place to incarcerate people because jails and prisons did not exist. Thus, they did what they best could, but we do have a chance to do better than they. We do not need to resort to old practices to safeguard society. We now have some other ways to apply justice.

Now you might be questioning, what to do with criminals who do not want to follow society's limits and rules or what to do to control criminals without capital punishment. Indeed, the legal system is there to protect society, but no one said that the application of the death penalty is the only way to achieve that aim. A country has access to so many resources to punish their criminals without breaching the human limits in doing so. Committing a crime doesn’t mean that a person has waived his human essence. Therefore, criminals are still human beings, and just as humans, they should be treated. For instance, a criminal can be incarcerated for the rest of his life; the incarceration can be also deprived of the possibility of parole. Moreover, prisons are very secure nowadays. Then, it is extremely difficult for an inmate to escape.

Life in prison is a severe punishment where society is being protected, but without profaning the most important inalienable right, the life. To respect human rights should not be a matter of discretion. Every state wanting to be part of the globalized world and interact without conflict with other countries should respect the absolute value of the human rights, especially the right to live. It is a shame that some countries play with the most sacred values as if they were negotiable.

A second thought I would like to bring up is that the expectation given to the execution is unconscionable because killing the criminal will not help the victim's family to ease its pain. It cannot be expected that the grief of losing a loved one would decrease or disappear with the execution.  The reality is that to lose someone is always painful and only time can bring some consolation. Time will be the one giving people some comfort, not the death of others. It is disrespectful to believe that the execution will heal the pain of someone's loss.  The victim's life is irreplaceable and his or her memory cannot be erased by just ending his or her executioner’s life.  Perhaps, the execution of a murderer might disguise the pain of the victim’s family while the adrenaline of getting revenge is still around, but once the adrenaline is gone, the pain will be unbearable as always.

Along with this I bring up a third thought, the risk we are taking by allowing the government to apply the death penalty is too high. In fact, the system has many flaws that make it vulnerable. Hence, considering that it is impossible to go back and fix the errors because of the nature of the death penalty, the legal system should be more accurate. At least it owes that to society. Nevertheless, legal workers make mistakes that might result in having the wrong person with a death sentence. Certainly, it does not happen very often, but it happens. And it is just this small possibility that should make us stop and decide whether we consider that saving a single innocent life is urgent or not. Truly, by eliminating the death penalty, we would be eliminating the possibility of having situations where someone who is not responsible for a crime has to face the execution, and by the time we know it will be too late.

A fourth thought I want to state is that poverty and geography determine who will get a death sentence more than the nature of the crime does. The main reason for this is the system’s failure to provide the defendants with capable lawyers, which causes some of the defendants to receive a harsher sentence than what they really deserved. In contrast this does not happen with the wealthy. They can afford an excellent defense that will allow them to get a lower sentence, even if they are responsible for a serious crime. It seems that money is buying justice, which should not be tolerated.

Additionally, in regard to the idea of the geography’s influence, we must say that some states in the United States are very likely to give the death penalty while others will never impose it, even when it is contemplated in its laws. States in the south of the country have a history of slavery and segregation that caused all this idea of getting rid of unwanted people. A large concentration of inmates in death row are black; a situation that does not help the system to be fairer. Clearly, the differences on how the death penalty is applied in this country make the entire situation even more unjust because the nature of the crime is not the element determining whether a criminal deserves or not the death penalty.

Lastly, as a final thought I would like to illustrate that there is no real proof that could demonstrate that the crimes are being deterred by the existence of the death penalty. On the contrary, some studies bring out that in states where the death penalty is legal the crimes continue to rise while in others where it is not the crimes tend to decrease. For instance, if we look at the European countries, we would conclude that what makes their system more effective is the way in which they educate their society. They do not need to resort to the death penalty because their population understands that life and rights must be respected above all. Therefore, the levels of crimes are low and respect for human rights is high. These are the types of examples that our countries should approach because as long as we have the will to consider it, the work, although hard, will have already been started.

At this point when we have discussed some of the most important considerations about the death penalty, you have a better idea of whether you would support or not the death penalty. Is it really necessary to execute criminals when other punishments are less harmful and cruel? I feel it is not.  The times we are living in need better and fairer solutions. It is unacceptable to consent to the application of the death penalty when the human rights are an insignia in modern societies. Therefore, human rights should always be respected, not because it is legal to do it, but definitely because it is only just to respect the human essence in everyone.

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Our thanks to Jessica Osteicoechea for this excellent essay opposing the death penalty.