Oral Presentation

Not always is easy talking about your self or trying to see the way other people looks at you. Sometimes the way other people sees you, your people or your country could be very shocking and sometimes it could be pretty pleasant. Talking about the perception of other about you can be challenging if that opinion is not the one you were hoping for. On the presentation about the perception of outsiders over Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans was really easy because the opinion about us on the rest of the world is close to how I see myself, but people don't know even half of what really goes inside the island and there is where perception comes in play.

Being Puerto Rican is about being happy, being loud, hard working, and proud. The perception of outsiders over us can be sometimes a little far from reality, generally Puerto Ricans are associated with music, party, rum, and dancing. It is true we have one of the best rums in the world, is true that we are the party people dancing and playing music, but there is more to that. Our culture is a rich mixture of every men that passed through here, spanish, african, and Taino. As a country we are seen as a privileged place with beautiful beaches, beautiful mountains, great weather all year round and a very versatile landscape. The perception only goes over what tourist sees and television present, but inside the island there is more beauty to see than a magnificent beach. Inside our beautiful island there is rich beautiful culture, people sticking together on the country to make a better living out of it but we also have violent people killing each other in the streets. This last one is the one that worries me the most, the perception of our island is changing because of a minority that decided to solve problems with violence instead of using words. These people are the one making the news on a daily basis and those news are reaching outside of our coast. Perception can be changed easily all you need is one wrongful act to change a million good acts.

When you present somebody else perception about things you need to be careful and have an iron skin because not always we are aware of our reality and how the world sees us. In Puerto Rico we are lucky that the perception the world has on us is almost intact. It might be because we are a tiny island or it might be because we are doing more right than wrong. No matter which one it is we still need to work hard to keep a good perception under the world after all is what identify us.