Confessions...

One thing that has bothered me quite much lately is the fact that lots of Brazilian people get utterly offended when they hear that foreigners have next to no idea where Brazil is, or which city is our capital, or which language we speak. On the one hand, it’s true that Brazil is a big country and is a big influence in today’s world; therefore, people should know a thing or two about us. But on the other hand, there are HUNDREDS of countries all over the globe! Knowing everything about all these countries is impossible!

I have a question for you:  do you have any idea what language they speak in Congo, in Malaysia, in Kuwait, or in Latvia? Better yet, do you know the name of the capital of Iraq, New Zealand, or Serbia?  I bet you don’t. That is to show you that foreigners are under no obligation to know what language we speak here or what the capital of our country is! Think about it: there are lots of countries in the world; do we have to know everything about those countries? I don’t think so.

Then again, I don’t mean to say that foreigners shouldn’t care about learning about Brazil, but I do think we should stop criticizing Americans, Canadians, Argentineans and everyone else who doesn’t know much about Brazil. Instead of judging them and putting a “dunce hat” on their heads, we should be more kind and teach them a thing or two about our country! Trust me, there is a lot we need to share about us and criticizing people is not the way to sharing our rich and unique Brazilian culture.

ps:

What do you know about Brazil? ( This is exactly the type of video I hate to watch, because not only does it expose the people who were in the video, but it just restates the stereotype that nobody knows anything about Brazil- which is, as I put it before, just a mere sterotype)

Disrepect

When will people understand that I have my own opinion on religions and I will never change it simply because I do not want to change it? Today I was riding the bus home when I saw an old friend of mine. She is prostestant and out of the blue she started asking me questions on my religious life. I myself had been a Christian many years before; therefore, I sort of knew what being Christian is like. When I had answered her that I was no longer a Christian and that I was “really happy this way ” the tantrum was set! It was preaching time and I did not know it.
Sincerely, in 20 years I had NEVER felt that my right as a citizen to choose my own religious paths were so violented. The girl and her many companions started telling me off in front of the whole bus! Things like “ there is only one God and this God is the one I worship” were the least offensive things she said. All I could say was “Thanks for sharing your point of view with me” for I wanted to be extremely polite , but instead of soothing the girl's temper she got even more euphoric and started saying things like “ I am not talking about points of view, I am talking about following the only TRUE path”. When I thought the preaching was over the girls started to attack my own private life! Not only did the girl hint that I was unhappy but she also said that I was living a miserable life! Most people would have told the girl and her companions ( who were mocking me, by the way) to f**k off, I however expressed my thankfulness by only nodding and saying “ I am sorry but I don't quite agree with you”. Finally my bus stop had arrived and I could finally jump off the bus while I still had to listen a “ your life is not fine” instead of a simply “it was nice to see you again”.
What I am trying to say is: why won't people simply reckon that human beings are different from one another ? When will people understand that there are different religions and that they ALSO should be respected? I am sorry ladies and gentlemen who are out there trying to convert people, but you all should know a little something: how to respect people who have different creeds! I am a 20-year-old ESL teacher, who go to college and try every day to be as critical as possible, I am very sorry indeed, but I am not the kind of person who will believe every single word a pastor or priest say on a book that was written many centuries ago. I frankly think that people do have the right to believe in whatever they want ( and even not to believe in whatever they please), but trying to coerce people on the streets and trying to compel them to share the same set of beliefs that you do is just wrong ( let alone to theaten people by saying that they will go to hell). From the bottom of my heart I would like to ask people to think more before they start to follow a religion, mainly if that involves impelling other people to be converted.