Maybe you can't buy happiness by filling a void in your life with your credit card and chasing after something newer and shinier all the time. As a matter of fact, I'm sure you can't.
The first time I visited Brazil I realized that people were having a hell of a lot more fun in Rio than they were back home.
Would you be happier walking this path every day?
It was Carnaval so I wrote it off as a fluke of timing and pre-Lent madness.
I figured Rio was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, but I was drawn back to Brazil.
Upon returning I saw that nothing had really changed. It wasn't Carnaval anymore, but the Cariocas were still in good spirits.
How could people who had relatively little (compared to citizens in the U.S. who'd been blessed with so much), act as if they were so much better off?
After many visits to Brazil through the years, I've come to realize that they actually are better off. And it's because of their priorities.
Their very lifestyle induces connection and social interaction - from the juice bars in the morning to the lunchonetes and botequins to that great Brazilian equalizer, the beach, where people from every social strata commingle freely.
Brazilians live 'na praia.' Bored? Head over to the beach and see what's up.
The key to happiness isn't money. It's not a big house. It's not security.
Family, Friendship and Faith
Unlike Ponce de Leon who searched in vain for the fountain of youth, Brazilians seem to have found the key to happiness. And they've found it in family and friendship and faith.
As I look back on the America I grew up in, it was a lot more like Brazil than the America of today.
Our wealth and technology has bought us our freedom, but it's also bought us isolation.
The U.S. may be able to recapture some of the things that once made it great, but my friends and I have been comparing our country to the fall of Rome for years - a decadent nation with its best days behind it.
Viva Brasil!
I'm overjoyed for the people of Brazil. They are beginning to experience a renaissance that will lift many of them out of poverty and into a thriving middle class.
And with the Brazilian culture being what it is, with a strong emphasis on personal connections and an abiding faith, somehow I don't think they're going to head down the same path that we did.
Good for them. It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people.
Brazil Visa
Related posts:
The World's Happiest City? Rio de Janeiro
Caipirinha! - The National Drink of Brazil
The Brazilian Flag
1 comments:
Looking at our past is a great motivation to rise above any critical situations in our present. I admire you having these insights about the people around you and how they've become. And I know you are a better person now than how you used to be. Good luck on everything. Thanks.
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