Americans love control. Our society is founded on it. Like this massive machine promising individual rights of life and liberty, our nation chugs away, packaging citizens in bubble wrap to protect us from the outside world. While we steadily tread about our daily lives, insulated by our air bags, our cellophane, our 99.9% germ free living, the rest of the universe rotates in chaos. Don’t step on the grass, no parking, watch your step, blow dryer in a bath tub, yes it will kill you! The veneer is thin, but the denial deep, strengthened by our avoidance of the truth. We think more signs, more laws, more layers will keep us safe. As if the beast could caged, the garden fenced in. As if we had control over our own mortality.
I went to a beach side park a few days ago. I stood watching over a concrete stadium, as twilight dusted over the city. The central area of the park, a circular concrete area surrounded by large steps was filled with people. Kids ran about on foot, shuffled by on little toy scooters, moving haphazardly as their parents watched from afar. Skateboarders set up little ramps and launched into the air. Remote control cars buzzed around, keeping the younger kids wide eyed and smiling. Taking it all in, I stood amazed realizing I had never seen anything like it before. There were no “thou shall not” signs, no security forces playing daddy, no safety prepackaged lawyer endorsed nonsense. People ran, skated, jumped in every which way. No lanes, no rules, a happy swirling mass of chaos, and microcosm of the Brazilian soul.
I laugh thinking of this now. People say that God is Brazilian. These people seem more akin to his nature – genuine, sensory, unapologetically messy – and less inclined to paint over the veneer of illusory control. There is an authenticity about this country that I find quite powerful—that the world is indeed a dangerous and chaotic place, and that it is here to be lived, felt, enjoyed. We have the habit as human beings to appreciate only that which can be taken away. When you are bubble wrapped and insulated from the true mortality of this world, you forget how close the end can be. One flicker of the flame and the candle goes out. Better to burn brightly, I say, then to forget that you are even burning at all. This life is to be lived, and not ever feared and covered in plastic.
4 comments:
Ahh, my friend.... no qualmes about what is said here, I agree, the world is a bit more simple outside the U.S. I know this though I have hardly been, when I spill hot coffee on my own lap though... someone will have to pay damn it!!!!! oh wait... maybe that is just my own dumb fault... huh...
No wait. It was my fault. I happy to have burned your precious kibbles and bits, frankly.
You are a smart monkey. All observin' the world and having poignant thoughts upon it. It sounds good, but I fear my own bubble-wrap withdrawal symptoms.
It's amazing the way you interpreted things in this text. And it's even more amazing reading what you write as "a brazilian inhabitant". During almost one and a half year I had the same experience as you but in reverse: from the chaos to the organization. And I was impressed about the way everything worked out there "well, maybe this is the way the world is supposed to be; laws, organization, guidelines". I felt much safer living there.
Now you have an "upside down" impression living here: "Well, maybe it's much more enjoyable living in Brazil. Freedom".
And that's the beauty of having different cultures and "ways of living". We don't want to be all bored and robotics. I admire your courage and enthusiasm. You've gotten a friend. :-)
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