Saturday, December 1, 2012

Living With Simplicity (Vivendo com simplicidade)


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Almost two weeks ago, on the Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when most of the stores in the US have huge sales, I watched on the internet people fighting among themselves to buy some electronic equipment. The stores were crowded, there were huge lines, and from the safety of my home I once more wondered: How could these people behave like that? What happened to things like politeness, gentleness, and patience? For me, this was a portrait of humankind at its worst.
Now that Christmas is coming, I ask myself what I should get to my friends and family. The truth is that I will probably end up buying something superfluous because they already have what they need. Actually, we all have much more than we need. The times when we lived only with little are over. Nowadays, we surround ourselves with a lot and always want more. We became a nation of needy people.
When I was growing up in Brazil, for Christmas my sisters and I would get just one present from our parents. A doll, a small piano for the doll, or a tea set for the doll… We got other things from our relatives, but just one special present from our parents. We treasured that present a lot and were happy with it. Now, the children make a list of things they want and are disappointed if they don’t get everything that is in the list.
We are encouraged to wish for more and more. Young people getting married spend a lot of money on their wedding and spend years paying for it. Couples having their first baby somehow believe that the baby needs to have all sorts of equipment even before he is born. When our phone rings, we open our pocketbook to reach for our cellular and have to have the latest model to show our friends. If before we were satisfied with a PC, now even a laptop is not enough.  We need to have an iPad and all sorts of electronic devices. It seems that we don’t believe anymore that we are enough being just who we are. We need to surround ourselves with stuff to prove that we are worth something.
In a world where every single day is like Christmas, because we are always getting something, is it still possible to turn away from all the consumerism and go back to live a life with simplicity? Maybe we can start by taking a hard look at what we have and asking ourselves, every time we go out to buy something, if we really need that new item. Is it going to replace something that is old or just add to our collection of stuff? Maybe we could donate one item for each one that we buy to keep things in balance. And maybe we could get the money that we would spend on something useless and donate to someone in need.
Around the same time that the crowds hit the stores on Black Friday, another story became a huge hit on the internet. It was the story of a police officer in New York who spotted a homeless man with blisters on his bare feet. He asked his shoe size and soon returned with a pair of warm winter boots he had bought with his own money. Later, after his story circulated on the internet, the police officer said he had kept the receipt for the boots in his jacket ever since that night to remind himself that “sometimes people have it worse.” Now, that is the true spirit of Christmas.

VIVENDO COM SIMPLICIDADE

Há quase duas semanas, na Sexta-feira Negra, o dia depois do dia de Ação de Graças, quando a maioria das lojas nos EUA têm liquidações fantásticas, acompanhei pela internete as pessoas quase se batendo pelo direito de comprar alguns equipamentos eletrônicos. As lojas estavam cheias, com filas enormes, e sentada na segurança de minha casa eu mais uma vez me perguntei: Como essas pessoas podem se comportar dessa maneira? O que aconteceu com coisas tipo educação, gentileza e paciência? Para mim, as imagens mostravam a humanidade no que ela tem de pior.

Agora que o Natal está chegando, eu me pergunto o que deveria comprar para os meus amigos e minha família. A verdade é que provavelmente acabarei comprando algo supérfluo, porque eles já têm o que precisam. Na verdade, todos nós temos muito mais do que precisamos. Os tempos em que vivíamos com pouco se foram. Hoje em dia, nós acumulamos muito e sempre queremos mais. Nós nos tornamos uma nação de pessoas carentes.

Quando eu era criança e morava no Brasil, no Natal eu e minhas irmãs ganhávamos apenas um presente de nossos pais. Uma boneca, um pequeno piano para a boneca, um jogo de chá para a boneca ... Ganhávamos outras coisas dos nossoa tios e tias, mas apenas um presente especial de nossos pais. Nós guardávamos aquele presente como se fosse um tesouro e ficávamos muito felizes com ele. Agora, as crianças fazem uma lista de coisas que desejam e ficam decepcionadas se não ganham tudo o que está na lista.

Somos encorajados a desejar mais e mais. Quando os jovens se casam,  gastam muito dinheiro na festa de casamento e passam anos pagando por isso. Casais que estão esperando o primeiro filho acham que o bebê precisa ter todo o tipo de equipamento antes mesmo de ele nascer. Quando nosso telefone toca, abrimos nossa bolsa para pegar o celular que tem de ser do último modelo para impressionar aos nossos amigos. Se antes estávamos satisfeitos com um PC, agora nem um laptop é suficiente. Temos necessidade de um iPad e todos os tipos de aparelhos eletrônicos. Parece que não acreditamos mais que somos suficientes sendo apenas nós mesmos. Precisamos nos cercar de coisas para provar que temos algum valor.

Em um mundo onde cada dia é como se fosse Natal, já que estamos sempre ganhando ou comprando algo, ainda é possível esquecer o consumismo e voltar a viver com simplicidade? Talvez possamos começar por olhar seriamente o que temos e nos perguntar, toda vez que sairmos para comprar alguma coisa, se realmente precisamos daquilo. Será que aquilo irá substituir algo que ficou velho ou será apenas uma adição à nossa coleção de coisas? Talvez pudéssemos doar um item para cada um que comprássemos e assim manter um equilíbrio. E talvez pudéssemos pegar o dinheiro que iríamos gastar em algo inútil e doar para alguém que está passando necessidade.

Enquanto a multidão invadia as lojas na Sexta-Feira Negra, outra história se tornou um enorme sucesso na internete. Era a história de um policial de Nova York que viu um homem sem-teto com bolhas em seus pés descalços. Ele perguntou o tamanho de sapato do cara e logo voltou com um par de botas de inverno que tinha comprado com seu próprio dinheiro. Mais tarde, após a sua história circular na internete, o policial disse que desde aquela noite guardava o recibo das botas na sua jaqueta para se lembrar que "às vezes as pessoas estavam numa pior do que ele." Com certeza, esse é o verdadeiro espírito do Natal .

3 comments:

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  2. A vida ésimples. Deus é o simples! Na verdade a simplicidade é a aceitação da vida, que nada mais é que a solução.

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    Replies
    1. Concordo plenamente. N'os 'e que gostamos de complicar as coisas...

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