Since my move to the U.S., I’ve been meaning to start writing on this blog again. There is no shortage of topics I’d like to share, but there’s a lack of time, silence, and especially a good internet connection at home. However, talking with my wife last week, I managed to put a few things together in my head and wanted to share them with you here.
Do you like soccer? Well, many Brazilians do, and I’m one of them. I was “fanatic” about soccer during my first 11 years of life. Today I’m more relaxed, and afterwards I became what I am today — I really enjoy soccer, I root for “Brazil” in any competition, U-17, Libertadores, World Cup… and when I watch a match without a Brazilian team and find out there’s a Brazilian player there, I root for that guy.
I know how hard it is to get ahead in Brazil. Taxes, quality education is expensive, and if you find an opportunity, you have to grab onto it. I value athletes, especially those who make a point of “selling” Brazil in a smart way. Senna did that, lifted Brazilians’ morale; Romário did that in ‘94 when he was extremely arrogant and said: I won’t shake hands with Baggio, he’s my friend outside of here, here it’s Brazil x Rest of the World; Most recently Lúcio did that when in 2009, after scoring the winning goal in the Confederations Cup, he cried a lot during the celebration. Anyway, I like the sport and I think it has significant value for many Brazilians.
Next year we have the World Cup in Brazil, an event I always wanted to see happen in my country, and that I probably won’t be in Brazil for when it happens. There will be more than 30 countries facing each other for the title of best soccer team in the world. As always, more than half the planet will stop to watch. Even here in the U.S., which is not a traditional soccer country, whenever they find out I’m Brazilian, they immediately bring up the Cup and the desire to go to Brazil to watch it.
It happens that a big political mess happened recently. Swapping Mano for Felipão was a great mess… besides that, we have a bunch of brats who don’t shed a tear if they win or lose. I get more excited playing FIFA on the PS3 than these guys… it’s kind of hard to have any connection with these guys, who only remind me they’re Brazilian because they’re wearing yellow and blue on the field.
Meanwhile, I follow all the noise on social networks about Homophobia, Family, Values, and Politics in Brazil.
I’m a Christian. I defend the family. I believe the basis of society is in a healthy family, and that the lack of this generates children, young people, and adults with problems. I believe we should “defend” the rights of homosexuals, but that there are MANY people involved in this war just for the status it generates, and there are also many people who just want to stir things up. They’re not there for family, for homophobia, or any other serious cause. They’re there for the desire to throw more fire on the mess. I refuse to believe that “men” with families would go in front of a registry office to do a “gay kissing protest.” Or those other famous Globo actors who started posting pictures of homosexual kisses saying #foraFeliciano.
Speaking of Feliciano, I get to the second point of my post. Feliciano is the devil for many and the angel for so many others. Feliciano uses the “Control” of God’s blessings that he supposedly has to negotiate, extort, and rob thousands of “faithful” throughout Brazil. If you doubt this, watch the 6-minute video of him at Gideões on YouTube, and check it out (don’t forget the vomit bag before watching this video). Feliciano gave dozens of unfortunate statements, further fomenting the fight and hate between gays and non-gays.
However, Feliciano is one of the main pillars in the fight against Sen. Marta Suplicy in Brasília. She has ideas perhaps even more absurd than those of Marcos Feliciano himself. My mother is a Pedagogue, involved with early childhood education since before I was born. She and so many other teachers around Brazil find Marta’s ideas (Feeding sexuality in children under 10 years old, encouraging little friends to “touch each other” in school, distributing sex booklets to pre-teens, among others) absurd. And these teachers, psychologists, and so many others who want to help, have NO ONE to count on in Brasília, except Dr. Feliciano and his accomplices.
Having said this, I remember the Superman cartoons, where to defeat the Villain, he needs Lex Luthor’s help, who is sometimes the villain, sometimes Superman’s friend, but I refuse to accept and call him a hero. I still remember the famous “Dungeons & Dragons” cartoon, where there is the theory that both Dungeon Master and Venger were the same person, just playing with the teenagers — after all, they were NEVER seen together.
What a sad situation we find ourselves in: I don’t want Felipão on the bench of the national team, I find ugly the way he got there. But if I want the Brazilian National Team to win, I have to root for him. It’s the only option.
What a sad situation we find ourselves in: I don’t want to support Feliciano, I’m against what he preaches and against his attitudes. But if I want someone to “fight against Marta and her craziness,” it has to be him.
How sad it is to look for heroes and villains and not be able to distinguish them. Who is Marcos and who is Marta? Who is Venger and who is the Dungeon Master?
May we be wise and have discernment to know whom to choose in the next elections. And may we be more honest with ourselves, so that our children may recognize in us more than “heroes and bandits” at the same time.