Nuts!

Well, let me tell you something and keep that in mind: the world went nuts! Why? Let´s consider a few things:

There was a time in which we all would feel sorry for beggars who crow on the floor seeking for things we just throw away. Sad views that I always thought it couldn´t get worse. But it did!

In Pakistan somebody dressed like a beggar just blew himself straight to hell taking as many as he could with him. Perhaps, from this day on they will simply say: give me some money or I´ll blow you!

Meanwhile in Brazil, the police which is the kind of institution most of the people should be proud of are actually doing some pretty nasty things. They steal, blackmail, beat and kill people just like the worse criminals. Maybe they should just cut the crap and say: here is the police, get on the ground, gimme that wallet and hush yo mouth.

But that´s not all. There was a time when parents would dream about having their children in the universities but perhaps not in USA where all the fun of going to the Uni became pretty much like a trip to Iraq: you never know if you´re going to get back alive!

Now, what about the japs? Decent and hard working people who recently started learning throughout courses widespread in the nation how to say something the vast majority of us forgot long ago which is: I love you.

Well, good luck to you all! Here in the west we used to say and mean that but now they became empty words. Perhaps you japs are luckier than we were!

So, in the end, what is left after all? Well, there are the Norwegians. You see, they came with some rather fancy idea about a doomsday seed storage in Svalbard to store all sorts of seeds in case a catastrophic event takes place like atomic war, asteroid strike etc.

Considering what´s going on in the world listed here, I find that a great idea with one remark: why not send some humans to this doomsday stuff they have up there? It would be nice to know that mankind is also preserved. But no! Remember we forgot long ago how to say “I love you”? So, it doesn´t surprise me we forgot to put humans on the doomsday storage. The thought just occurred to me.

Maybe we should send the japs to Svalbard with some good manuals about how to say “I love you” and lock them up inside that darn thing. Who knows, maybe someday after we have killed each other until the last of our kind, some good green guys come down here, open the arc and hear the japs saying altogether: WE LOVE YOU!

You could say I have some rather strange ideas and I will most likely agree with you but remember; these are strange times! If you didn´t get my point, then you must be a beggar in Pakistan, a cop in Brazil, a crazy student in USA…

Frederico Felix

Pakistan, Politics... PROBLEMS!

For quite some time, I’ve been watching the big Nat Geo world map I have hanging on my wall each time I pass thru on my way to my bedroom or out of it. With no exception, I keep my eyes in a rather peculiar place better known as Pakistan. I guess we should all think a little bit about it.

Since Benazir Bhutto’s death not so long ago, I kept wondering about the size of challenges the country is facing, the possible outcomes, the consequences of government acts and last but not least, their nuclear weapons.

Engulfed in violence and all sorts of radicalism, Pakistan doesn’t see a very bright future ahead of itself considering the latest developments and one doesn’t need much effort to understand why.

The country is perhaps US most important ally on the so called war on terror and at the same time, is home of training camps for terrorists and possible hiding place for some key Al Qaeda figures. Their long dreamed nuclear weapons were developed to possibly protect them from the bigger brother (India) but it seems right now, what was remedy became the illness as not only officials in Pakistan but the entire world fears these weapons might fall into wrong hands and cause a really big problem.

For those reasons mentioned above and many more, I believe President Musharraf has the hardest job in the face of earth and I really wouldn’t like to be on his shoes. Having the Americans pushing on one side for a more free and democratic Pakistan and the fear of religious radicals trying to establish some kind of Islamic Republic on the other side, sounds more like a nightmare to me.

But that’s not all. History shows us that no people accept living under dictatorship for a very long time and Benazir, who would certainly hit the ground running in the elections, serve as proof to a well known fact: the Pakistani people just had enough!

So, in the end, President Musharraf who’s clearly running out of options in dealing with countless problems is going to run out of time. For the moment, he’s doing the classic dictator’s move by oppressing the people and running everything with iron fists to keep things going. But there is great danger in doing that as people might turn their eyes to the first to promise liberation, some kind of opportunity religious extremists are just waiting for as it happened in Iran not so long ago. Then, hell breaks loose!

The Americans want a free and democratic Pakistan or at least they say it. How so? Are they prepared to see a country with nuclear weapons electing madras leaders to be those who are to decide whether the military will fire some nukes? That would make Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections look like a relief, not a problem.

Soon, President Musharraf will go down. How soon nobody can really say but we all know how bumpy the way down is and to know that a vacuum can possibly be formed within Pakistani’s political system scares the living days out of me.

Frederico Felix

The truth comes from the children and the drunk

Cultural differences! Wherever you go, it is possible to hear people talking about it. During my stay in Norway I had the opportunity to observe what these differences can do to us and in what kind of situation they put us in. It can be quite exciting.

As some of my friends know, I served as a Norwegian – Portuguese translator for the Skodje City Hall in Norway. My main task was to make little Stephanie, a Brazilian seven years old girl understood by her classmates, teachers and vice versa at the municipal school. I didn´t know I was in for some big challenge.

Norwegians often say “the truth comes from the children and the drunk”. I found that out the hard way. One day, after better integrated with the children, Stephanie was invited to play with the girls in some kind room full of dolls. She promptly accepted and there we went. The girls rapidly organized themselves in a circle where each one was holding a doll. The following ended up putting me in a rather uncomfortable position.

As the play went by, each girl started to say things about their dolls, like: oh, my doll is sick today or my doll went to school today. Things I really don´t remember in details anymore but it was nothing out of ordinary for children’s play. When Stephanie’s turn finally came, she looked at the doll and at me, did that again and fired: oh boy, this one got a big fat ass!

The rest of the girls stared at me waiting for the translation and for a brief moment, I was petrified. Part of me wanted to really laugh out loud as I was delighted to figure out our kind seems to be naturally born with some rather nasty sense of humor (Darcy Ribeiro would have loved that). The other part knew the local culture isn’t really very fond of such things, especially before children.

So, what was left for me to say? Even though you get the job as a translator knowing you obviously have to be loyal to the facts which were, in that case, what people say, I knew I couldn’t do it so I decided to say something pretty ordinary in order not to cause a possible mess having some children horrified or surprised by a different approach on a simple doll. I obviously later on informed the staff I had to be “imprecise” in my job to avoid trouble. They understood it just fine.

In the end, what fascinates me about this issue is not what I find so different in another culture but simply the different meanings it gives me of my own. And believe me, it is priceless.

Frederico Felix