OpEd

Each year, the U.S. Congress allocates over $400 million for food assistance to support more than 250,000 residents of Puerto Rico who are able-bodied adults without dependents, and are between the ages of 18 and 54. Notably, this financial assistance does not come with a work obligation. Congress does not apply this approach to any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or even to Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Beneficiaries of nutritional assistance in these jurisdictions are under the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), which includes a work requirement. It's time to bring Puerto Rico into the same program.

This year we have seen a resurgence of the National Superior Basketball (BSN, its acronym in spanish), with courts filled to capacity, high technology and shows before and at halftime like in the NBA. This coincides with the private investment of businessmen from Puerto Rico and the United States; a healthy and competent administration; and contracts to high quality reinforcements players, former NBA players. The result has been greater competitiveness and sports quality, as well as an increase in the number of fans on the courts and in television and radio audiences.

I am part of the 1.3% who have experienced acculturation and grief. The feeling of missing family, desiring typical food of the country, mastering another language, adapting to a new climate and work environment, has a significant impact on the physical and emotional health of the migrant. In the United States I found wonderful opportunities, but I have never lost the desire to return to my homeland.

Individualism is a defining characteristic of modernity. Previously, in traditional societies, the identity and position of the individual were dictated by a single way of living; but a new moral practice emerged within Western civilization creating the main root of modernity. This root is individualism - the ability of the individual to pursue his desires, his ends, and his moral identity.