The Stories of Brazil

Allow me to apologize in advance for the long post that follows. I like to keep my posts as short as possible, but today I have a lot to talk about.

I hope that every post I write will communicate to you a different story about Brazil. Today was Brazil's first game in the World Cup, and I had been looking foward to posting about how much fun it was to watch the game. Brazil, as you probably know, is very passionate about soccer. I couldn't wait to tell the story of my first experience watching the Brazilians cheer passionately about their national team representing their country. Because of a conversation I had yesterday, however, I've decided not to post in detail about my experience watching the game (at least not right now). There is a slightly more important story I wish to communicate to you...

I was talking to one of my co-workers, who happens to speak English very well, and she was telling me about how she doesn't think it's healthy for her country to get so excited about an event like the World Cup. She pointed out that the World Cup is a very entertaining spectacle, but that it does nothing to affect our lives. Let me explain.

She reminded me that Brazil is a country filled with problems, including poverty and a lack of education. Many Brazilians have no way to access information because the public education is Brazil is sub-par, and most of them cannot afford a private education. So many Brazilians are stuck in a cycle of poverty that is very real. In America, everyone has at least some opportunity to get a proper education. I'm not saying that truly equal opportunity exists anywhere in the world, but I'm simply saying that everyone in America has at least some opportunity to succeed. Not all of the world's citizen's are so fortunate.

Back to what I was saying about the World Cup, my co-worker wishes that Brazilians would be as enthusiastic about fixing their country's problems as they are about watching 11 guys trying to kick a ball into a goal. The conversation got me thinking about how often we waste time and energy on things that are not important at all.

That conversation took place yesterday. Today at lunch, I had another conversation with some SBT employees that work with the Brazilian version of Americal Idol. (Below is a picture of me with two of them.) Similar to the conversation I had yesterday, we talked about the problems Brazil faces. They too seemed to be very concerned for the citizens of Brazil that are forced to live in poverty. It's a common attitude I've noticed among the Brazilians of Sao Paulo--they would like for all of Brazil's citizens to have a chance to really live, not just survive. It's a problem that all of the Brazilians recognize, but no one seems to know exactly what they can personally do about it.




If we work together, and if we remember that what mankind ultimately needs is to be reunited with our creator, then I believe God can solve any crisis that our world faces.