I decided to write about the article Brazil’s Giddy Convergence (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/opinion/05iht-edcohen05.html?_r=1&ref=brazil ) because it is about something my family and I have been experiencing in the last 5 years or more. My father is an American citizen and came to live in Brazil when he was only seven years old. I asked him to read the article and he was very impressed with how true he felt the article was. He said it was as if he has written it.
In the recent years we have been visiting the USA on a regular basis. My aunt lives in New York and my godfather lives in Miami, so whenever we can, we visit them. It is a common notion that the Brazilian government has given its population more means for consumption, however they are not providing what is most in need: citizenship. The lower and middle class Brazilians still suffer with poor public services (schools, hospitals, transportation) and the more educated portion of the population has clear understanding that this sudden increase in spending capacity is only a way to trick the people to believe their lives are better.
This carries the population into a false identity, believing that from night to day they have been accepted to an exclusive club of developed countries. When I go to the USA I see a country where the population respects simple rules, such as not throwing garbage on the sidewalk or crossing the street when the pedestrian light is green. I think the big problem in Brazil is that nobody understands their rights and their duties. This is why citizenship is not strong in Brazil. You cannot make someone a good citizen just by giving them money. The country must build new hospitals, new schools, better roads and subways. The country must invest in better education, better health, better transportation. Only then can the Brazilian population be proud of being Brazilian.
I wish Brazil and Brazilians would work more towards being good citizens. Everybody likes a clean, safe city, where you can count on the public services for at least the minimum of what you need. Brazil has always been a country of happy people, where many different cultures blend into one. The music, the dances, the art and food and habits… they are always inviting and open, almost naïve. All of the beautiful things of Brazil are being ruined by violence and lack of civility. I think that countries which have good citizenship practices normally have low violence rates. I don’t have the exact information but I invite the readers of this blog to participate sending information showing if I am right or wrong.
Ana Cecilia Krause, Marcela Mascaro, Gustavo Agoston
I commend you for writing this, it is an excellent point of view and very well stated.
ResponderExcluirI'm American and I think that it's not so much the laws that govern civility, it's how those laws are enforced by the respective governments, including America. In America, our states are like their own little countries so our laws change from state to state, so does the enforcement. So in one state, citizens may not see much violence or crime, while another state may see much viloence and crime. Every country has both good and bad sides, the citizens are the ones who know the worse of what their country holds.
Maybe,one of the major causes of violence, or what may breed a certain state of mind of anger and disrespect toward laws, are the tendencies of countries to ignore the poorer population's needs. Countries tend to stick a great number of the poorer populations into one corner where they are ignored and forgotten. The violence we see from that may be a fight to breathe, to live, by any means necessary.
In order to get visitors to their countries, there must be a facade shown, so that visitors can be secure enough to spend money, but if you love and respect people and their country enough to go to that country then you will be aware of all that it holds. Ugliness hides behind many beautiful exteriors, many countries don't even report some crimes because they want to be seen as 'perfect'. All countries need to care more about it's citizens, but I can't deny the beauty of Brazil because certain segments are ugly. America is the same.
Candy Williams
Thank you for your comments. I agree with your opinion but I just would like to say that the ugly side of Brazil is worse than any ugliness in USA. In the USA poor people still have a minimum of opportunity. In Brazil poor people live in misery conditions without having basic rights as housing, sanitation, food and clean water.
ResponderExcluirAna Cecilia Krause
yeah I am a part of a network that works to get the simple things to people in your country as well as a few others in the same situation, like parts of Africa, for instance. Well, simple for me, because we have it, but for some, running water, sanitation, etc, is a luxury because the governments aren't making it a priority for all people to have. Thanks Candy Williams
ResponderExcluir