Can you love and hate your country at the same time?
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Can you love and hate your country at the same time?

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I'm from Colombia. I can say that Colombia has beautiful landscapes, a wonderful culture and food. Many of my friends who are not from Colombia told me that when they visit Colombia they can see how friendly Colombians are, they fall in love with the people, food, music, community and language. I feel the same, I'm so proud to be a Colombian and I really enjoy sharing my culture with other people while I learn about their cultures and countries.

I have to say that Colombia has many problems too. We have a high level of poverty and unemployment. The minimum salary in Colombia is around 249.37 USD. Many people have to live with less. Unbelievable right?. Also many people have informal jobs so they have an uncertain future, they won't have a pension. Some people said that you have to work hard and it's your responsibility if you're poor but I think that's not true. I'm not a socialist or anything like that. I understand that some people want to be rich and they work very hard for that, that's ok if it's their desire. But all people should have the basic needs covered. People need to have the opportunity to recieve a good education, healthy food, health care, a house, love, etc. We have resources to build a better system in Colombia, to provide those opportunities to more people. From my point of view we can start improving our educational system, we need more young people taking action through politics and decisions in the congress. We have to work hard against corruption, social problems, inequality, poverty, illiteracy, etc.

I believe in young people who are trying to give Colombia a better future. We have to support those leaders who have the potential, the passion and the ideas. I don't hate my country but sometimes the situation is overwhelming.

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