Not the right time

"It was not the right time, I am afraid".

How many times have you heard this expression as a way of explaining some decision or failure?

Probably, many times, and lots of them from yourself. So do I.

For years I have thought about time as one of the main reasons that made some choices unacceptable or even impossible. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Finally I realized that I was using this expression not as an explanation, but as an excuse.

Yes. An excuse created to hide some other reasons that made this decision maybe acceptable but too difficult. Could be fear of doing what I have to do and fail? Or just fear of a change?

But why? Why am I thinking this way?

First of all, because I have understood that I was analysing the wrong topic. Decisions are not about time but about choices. The right choice will be always right. And the wrong one, would simply change but not become right, because we change as well after time, and so do our needs and thoughts.

That's the reason why, when we said "not the right time", we were trying to tell ourselves that the choice was good but we had nothing to do about. It means, we did not want to answer the main question:

Is it the right choice? Is it the right person?

If it is not, don't worry, it is not, it was not and it won't be. Easy. But if it is, do not think about time, because maybe later you could realise that you did destroy the right one, the one that was, but it is not and it won't be. Just because you did not want to accept that it really was.

On the other hand, if it could be the right one, forget about the efforts we will need to make, because happyness is always behind right choices and attempts. Time will be endless if we do not have the answer of this main and simple question.

Please, next time you need to decide, just decide among choices. Time is just time. Today is the perfect day to change your tomorrow.

There is no choice of deciding time, so find always the time to think about the choice.

This way, you could always be proud of what you did, what you do and what you probably will do.

Anyway, we have all heard that trains just pass once, right? (something like "opportunity knocks but once").

Remember, it is the right time!

What about changing our educational system?

Probably this is one of the most difficult topic I have ever written about. But I think it is quite interesting to rethink the way we are teaching our students.

First of all I would like to explain that, in my opinion, education means future. Not past, nor present, but future. I mean, when we are teaching something, what we are really doing is offering someone a new way towards knowledge. It would be stupid to understand this amazing profession only as a way of understanding the world we know, instead of inviting others to change this world we think we live in.

Any important step that our society has made, it has been as a result of someone's interest. Someone who wanted to help in some way, someone who wanted to go further, whatever the risk or effort.Probably I could be considered a dreamer. And probably I am. But anyway, I am just one of these persons that truly believe that things could be always better, that people could be also happier, and that this positive attitude could be able to change everyone else's life. If everyone that surrounds you would be focused on improving your quality of life, no matter the reason; maybe then, we all would enjoy life in a better way.

Obviously I am a dreamer, not a fool. That's the reason why I am not thinking about this ideal situation as a possible reality. However I am pretty sure that this is just my reality, the one that all my relatives and friends have helped me to create. But it has not to be the reality that our children will live. We have the amazing opportunity of changing this for them, the opportunity of creating the tools they could need to create their own wonderful reality. Just as our families tried to improve our lives, it is our turn to keep improving theirs. It is a very simple way of thinking which has an enormous potential.

Unfortunately my english is not as good as I would like it to be. Maybe you are asking yourself why I have decided to write this post about such an amazing topic, in english. The answer is very simple. First of all, it would not be fair to write it in spanish because I got inspired abroad, during my last trips around Europe. On the other hand, I truly believe on writing as a way of expressing myself, hoping that people will just focus on the message I am trying to share, no matter which mistakes I could have, in order to understand it, make it theirs, and use it to improve what I said or did. Again, I don't think about writing as an opportunity to send a closed and perfect message that people need to read. Writing, like teaching, it is just a way of sharing some knowledge or knowhow with others who probably are going to be able to give you the opportunity of learning something else. This is a trip, where every step is part of the journey, as simple and fundamental as the previous one, and hopefully, as the next one.

The reason why I am worried about this matter is because I had the amazing opportunity of being at the educational system as a professor for the first time in my life, and this great experience made me understand how important this process is, and above all, how important it should be. Besides, I could share my thoughts with an old friend whose educational and cultural background was completely different from mine. I have always believed that education should have been changed. I always thought that education was not about knowledge, but about passion. Not about teaching what to learn, but about teaching how to learn, how to find our interests and skills in order to be able to reinforce them.

Sometimes we need to create some general contents to be used as a reference or guide for students. But it is professors' responsibility to adapt them to every student, to understand what they need in order to feel themselves special, and automatically help them to become special. This way of teaching is about passion, so the more passionate our professors are, the more attracted and passionate our students will be. There should be no room for apathy, negativity or embarrassment. We have to do it this way even when some students won't believe in us, or some colleagues won't be able to follow us or simply respect us for what we are trying to do.

During this experience as professor I had, just a few days ago, one of the students told me something I will never forget. After explaining my way of understanding my profession and the way of teaching it, he decided to come and tell me:

Thank you very much. I really enjoyed your conference. I would like to say that I like the way you use architecture to make people's life better, to bring them good architecture, but I want you to know that for us you have used your architecture to bring us hope.

If you read this carefully, you will understand why it became so important for me. I don't know if he was right. Maybe he was just trying to be polite. In fact, to be honest, I do not understand this situation as a personal success or achievement. But after thinking about it, I realized that he could not be more right about what he said, because it was this experience, including his words, what make me feel hopeful about education and future architecture. It was his way of thinking and his braveness about sharing it, what brought me hope.

So, these words are a kind of tribute to these students who made me believe, who remind me how important this matter should be, and how amazing could be architecture in the future if we believe in those who will come later to improve everything we could be able to do. This is not a competition where everyone else should lose in order to let us win. Instead, this competition is about encouraging everyone to be better, and enjoy with them the results of this general victory.

Please, don't share our misery with the students because they have to be the ones who should change it, not the ones who suffer it. Maybe not all of us are able to create great projects that will inspire the future generations, but for sure, we all have the opportunity of helping others to do it.

Thank you very much to everyone that helped me to understand everything in this way. I am very sorry about my english, but hopefully you will be able to get these main ideas I was not able to explain.

My flight is almost finished. It is time to stop writing and keep thinking. Thanks for being there.

Alvaro Fernandez.

¿Escribimos un libro?

Buenos días a todos, en este viernes antesala del fin de semana que nos espera, me gustaría anunciaros mi última iniciativa/locura creativa. Como sabéis, siempre se ha dicho que una de las cosas que todos deberíamos hacer en la vida, es escribir un libro.

Pues bien, tras muchas vueltas y miedos al respecto, he decidido afrontar ese reto, pero no me gustaría hacerlo sólo. Sé que muchos de vosotros pensáis como yo, aunque en algunos casos la ausencia de tiempo o la inseguridad literaria, os impiden adentraros en esta aventura.

Por ello, me gustaría compartir con vosotros esta oportunidad. En lo que considero una idea original y divertida, me gustaría adaptar el concepto del crowdfunding (financiación colectiva) hacia el mundo de la literatura para poner en valor el crowdwriting (escritura colectiva). No sé si existirá ya o no, seguro que sí. Pero lo importante es poder escribir un libro en base a mis carencias literarias, pero contando como inspiración con vuestros comentarios y sugerencias. Al fin y al cabo es un homenaje a vosotros.

¿Qué os parece? ¿Queréis escribir, por fin, un libro?

El capítulo 0 ya lo tenéis en mi blog, con el título de "2012: Odisea de la rutina". Este título no tiene por qué ser el definitivo, sólo fue un nombre con el que presentar el relato a un concurso. De hecho, el nombre debería ser resultado de este debate colectivo que planteo. Se trata de una historia inventada pero deliberadamente ambigua y creo que inspiradora. Lo suficiente como para permitir que entre todos le demos forma a una novela creativa, original y lo más importante, con una pequeña parte de todos!

Lo dicho, si os gusta la idea, animaros a comentar y aportar ideas. Compartidlo con vuestros amigos y enemigos! Mientras más seamos, más sorprendente y compleja será la historia.

Como sabéis, podéis seguir el proceso a través de este blog, facebook o twitter.

Gracias a todos por estar ahí y animarme a contar con vosotros! Vosotros hacéis realmente que este hobby tenga sentido!

Un saludo.