If you have been reading the international news for the past two or three weeks, you are probably aware of the current political situation in Brazil. A situation that is even more confused to you, than to me, a Brazilian living abroad.
From far away, and mostly through Facebook, I´ve been following up this delicate and worrying scenario my nation is now living. Of all the desolating news I come across, every day, as I log in on my social media channels, what worries me the most is seeing how a political debate is dividing our country in two.
What could have been an opportunity for my people to discuss the future of our nation, has become a battle of political parties and ideologies. A battle of angry words, misinterpretations, intolerance, and personal offenses. Worst of all, an online battle that is not taking us anywhere closer to a brighter future.
What I see is the same nation fighting against each other on a tug of war, that at the end of the day will break in two and both sides will fall on the ground, defeated.
So here is my invitation to a reflection. I chose this picture because I believe this single image speaks more of tolerance and respect than the images showing up on my timeline.
This is an invitation to rethink the way we have been discussing and sharing our opinions and beliefs, whether is on social medias, at work, at home, or at a bar.
This picture is a material memory from a Pesach/Seder Celebration – a Jewish Holiday -, wich celebrates the escape of Jewish slaves from Egipt.
The curious thing about this image is that only a few people in it are actually Jewish. In fact, the majority of these people, including me, are from different countries, cultures, and religions.
Have you ever asked yourself what happens when a Jewish family invites Christians (Orthodox and Romans Catholics), Atheist, Muslins, and Buddhists to have dinner over their place and celebrate Freedom? Well, at least for this group of people, we simply respected our differences, discussed the meaning of this date, we ate, we drank, and at the end, we took this cool picture.
So here is my thought. If from the other side of the ocean, we were able to put together in the same celebration and picture Jews, Palestinians and Egyptians, Pakistanis and Indians, among other countries, I wonder if it is really worth the time exchanging sparks online and dividing a nation that it is paddling together the same boat, a boat that seems to be drowning, no matter which side “wins”.