The Beggar and the Well-dressed Woman

At a red light the only thing to do is look around and observe the people rushing around at 6:30, rather early to be on the way to work, but that´s what you need to do if you want to beat the traffic and get a good parking spot at work.

As I look to the left, I see a homeless man get up from under the shelter that belongs to a bank. Apparently, he had spent the night there to protect himself from the rain and cold. He wore a torn t-shirt and shorts and you could see the dirt that had poured down his legs from the previous night rain. On his feet he wore flip-flops. He didn´t look cold although I thought he would be because the temperature was low. Perhaps his body had already adapted to the condition he was living in. To me he looked rather content.

He got up, walked over to the street corner. He was carrying a plastic bag. Though I couldn´t see the content in the bag, I figured it was trash because he stopped at the bin connected to the light post and dropped the bag in.

After having done this, he noticed that the pedestrian light was still green, so he crossed the street with a proud grin on his face. I so happened to catch my smile broaden up too. How proud I felt of that stranger.

While he was crossing, a woman wearing high heels and dressed in a fancy businesswoman type of outfit almost crashed into him. With one hand she was blowing her nose and with the other she was holding on to her cell phone. Cordially the man saw that her eyes were attached to the phone and didn´t see that he was walking in the opposite direction. To avoid the collision, he cordially stepped aside as she dashed by him.

To my bewilderment, when she reached the sidewalk, instead of discarding the tissue paper into to the garbage pail that was right next to her, she simply threw it on the ground. I couldn´t believe my eyes. All she had to do was stretch her arm and toss the tissue into the trash can. She didn´t even need to stop to do that.

The light turned green and off I went. Deep down inside I wanted to step out of the car, pick up the tissue, run after the lady and say “ Excuse me Miss, you dropped something.”

(Written: September 5, 2019 )

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Marching in Pro of Education

Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today. -  Malcolm X

           

Times are changing and I would love to say that it is for better. The more the days go by in my country, the more I feel like going to Narnia.

            For those of you who do not know, The Chronicles of Narnia written by C.S. Lewis is a series of stories set in the fictional realm of Narnia, a fantasy world of magic, mythical beasts, and talking animals. It narrates the adventures of various children who play central roles in the unfolding history of the Narnian world. Each story starts off by entering an old wardrobe. It is beautiful, magical and filled with adventures. Sure there is also some danger, otherwise it would not be exciting to be there.

            Out here we are in a realm between Brave New World by A. Huxley, Divergent by V. Roth, The Hunger Games by S. Collins, Fahrenheit 451 by R. Bradbury, 1984 by G. Orwell, Handmaid´s Tale by M. Atwood, just to mention a few. Perhaps, the last one is pushing it a bit too far, but I wouldn´t be surprised if it did happen.

            It seems to me that the people who are ruling this country read the summary of these books and thought that they would give a try. They are cutting back on education, culture and the arts. Not forgetting science and research.

             It would be a good idea for them to read these books and form some kind of book club so they can talk about them and truly understand what they are criticizing. Summaries do not allow spoilers and details. Summaries do not give away the ending nor do they talk about the negative aspects of these stories. Summaries are written in a way so as to attract the reader.

            Guess that by banishing education, culture, the arts, research and science it just makes it easier to rule the people who will lack this knowledge.

            However, when you try to take this away from a young generation that is thirsty of knowledge, they awaken to the times and are willing to fight to keep what is rightfully theirs. They go to the streets to conquer passively what belongs to them.

            Whoever is against education, culture, the arts, research and science is against humanity.

Written: May 27, 2019

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Just a Thought .....About Aunts, Nieces and Nephews

Some women are not born to have children of their own. The list of reasons why can be immense. However, there is a position that is fun too; that of being an aunt.

Being an aunt or uncle (in this piece I will be using the word aunt for that is my experience) is similar to being a parent but without the tough stuff like cleaning up after them or bringing them up. Being an aunt is simply the best. You can play with the kids, take them to the movies, the zoo, the park and they will always think you are super cool. When they cry or are cranky, you get to give them back to their parents and let them deal with it.

To the children it seems like the aunt understands them better than their parents. They tend to confide more in the aunt. Aunts sometimes know more about what is going on in the child´s life. Since the aunt only has a few hours with the child and not 24/7 it makes it easier to give them undivided attention, in which case most parents don´t get to do.

I am blessed with two nieces (Stephanie 28, Ana Clara 2) and two nephews (Victor 23 , João Arthur 8). Stephanie and Victor are siblings, and João Arthur is Ana Clara´s brother. They are pretty much four unique human beings who teach me how to be a better person.

Foto: Meire Marion (2019)

PS. Now they are older and Stephanie is married to Victor whom I also consider to be a nephew.

Written December 12, 2018