New Year’s Worries
By B. Michael Rubin
I’m worried about Brazil. It’s not the political scandals that have ousted seven ministers from Dilma’s Cabinet in her first year in office. Corruption is so widespread among politicians in Brazil that no one seems surprised by the ministers’ departure. Some even see it as a good sign, that Dilma is willing to “clean house” and distance herself from those career politicians from a previous era. Some journalists are also celebrating because publications like Veja magazine and O Globo newspaper in Rio have enough power to expose these scandals. A strong media that is not controlled by the government is essential for a vibrant democracy in a “converging” country.
Luckily, no one is criticizing the departed ministers for the decelerating Brazilian economy. Third quarter GDP (gross domestic product) growth for the country has been reported as flat, which has forced the growth forecast for 2011 to fall to 3.5% or even less. Everyone is blaming the economic slowdown on the US or Europe or China, so the ministers are in the clear. I’m not worried about any of them going to jail, as that happens as often in Brazil as the sun rising in the West.
I am also not worried about the oil spill by Chevron in Brazilian waters. Oil spills from deepwater drilling are unfortunate, but if, as predicted, Brazil becomes one of the world’s top five oil producers (by 2020), then oil spills will become more common here.
Like the vanishing ministers, some see the Chevron incident as positive, a test for Brazilian authorities to prepare for the future. It seems the government has been putting some financial pressure on Chevron, a warning to big oil companies that if they intend to drill in Brazilian waters, they need to pay greater attention to communication, negligence, and human error.
What is worrying me is the way Brazil is entering the 21st century. Here we have already passed the first decade of a new century, but many Brazilians are still “clinging” to their old ways of thinking. Brazilians love conformity.
It goes without saying that all cultures have their own specific customs, and only a fool would ignore or deny them. For example, Brazilians are known for their tardiness or scheduling meetings and parties at the last minute. However, customs are passed along for generations, say in the way people all over the world eat the foods they were raised on, and organize their homes the way their mothers taught them. To question one’s mother makes about as much sense as questioning God. Defying one’s mother has even more immediate and horrible consequences, as God tends to be more forgiving.
Nevertheless, the way we do things sometimes needs to change because the world changes. New technology allows us to alter our habits from our mothers and grandmothers and create new habits, like texting. It’s so much easier to stay “in touch” with our families now that everyone has cellular phones. Of course, simply because a technology is new and popular, doesn’t make it good. Nuclear weapons are a new technology also.
Not all habits are smart, no matter how old they are or how widely they are accepted. Smoking and excessive drinking and soccer violence are long-held Brazilian traditions that take a heavy toll on society. Brazilians were reminded of the toll recently with the sad passing of Sócrates, the soccer star from the 1980s, who died of liver complications caused by alcoholism at age 57.
Thus, I was relieved to see statistics citing the decline of smoking in Brazil, proving that even habits as addictive as smoking can be changed if people change their way of thinking. One hundred years ago, no one knew smoking was harmful. Also, most people didn’t live past 40 or 50 years old, so curbing unhealthy habits wasn’t an issue. Today, however, the average person is living into his/her 70s. The lifespan expectation for a Brazilian has jumped by 11 years since 1980, a remarkable achievement.
People need to change the way they think — to update their outlook on life and alter their daily habits — because society gets updated, tugged and manipulated by forces beyond our control. Life in Brazil is extremely different from the old days. Today, as never before, there is a large middle class. According to one definition of the middle class used in research by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the middle class is now the majority in Brazil, comprising as much as 55 to 60 percent of the whole country.
With the “flowering” of a middle class has come the arrival of middle-class problems, such as traffic jams and obesity. As people work harder to reach a middle-class lifestyle, there’s more stress and less time for exercise. Illnesses directly related to a lack of exercise and a bad diet, like diabetes and heart disease, are on the rise. Luckily, Brazilians still take more time for holidays and vacations than Americans, and they are more physically active and less overweight than Americans.
Another “tradition” that worries me in Brazil is the high number of accidents. In Brazil, as many people die from accidents and violence as do from heart disease, the number one illness. In contrast, in the US, where heart disease is the number one cause of death, it kills four times as many people as accidents and violence. (Remember that gun ownership is much more common in the US than in Brazil, due to favorable gun ownership laws, and there are more cars in the US than in Brazil.) Nevertheless, Brazilians are killing each other with gun violence and in car accidents in record numbers.
What this says to me, sadly, is that not only are Brazilians reckless, but many deaths are unnecessary. The term “accidental” applies to many categories, and certainly some fatalities that occur this way are truly accidental and thus unpredictable and unpreventable. However, many accidents are preventable by a correction of habits, an update in thinking. Driving and drinking are a bad combination. Walking along a highway at night wearing dark clothing is a mistake. If people were more careful, such as young men who think their Fiat Stilo is a Formula One race car, many accidents could be prevented.
Another tradition that worries me in Brazil is gossiping, a habit that has been handed down from mother to daughter since the beginning of time. Of course, not all idle talk is gossip. Conversation is essential for communication and without an exchange of information with our friends, we would never learn about shopping bargains or which brands we can trust. However, gossip that serves no purpose but to criticize and judge others’ private lives has no place in a modern society. We all have problems and none of us are perfect, so what gives us the right to criticize or shun others who do not live the way we expect them to? Demanding that everyone around us have private lives that meet our standards is cruel and potentially destructive. It turns talking into a manipulative tool for conformity – gossip.
My wife, for example, would file for divorce if she ever found out I had allowed anyone to see our home without first making sure everything was organized. This is what’s expected in Brazil. Homes here are “neat as a pin” compared to American homes. My wife believes that if someone were to see our bed unmade, for example, this person would tell her friends and soon the whole city would know she was a terrible wife.
Meanwhile, my wife is already overly busy taking care of our everyday needs like food shopping, laundry, and bringing her mother to the doctor. If we had a maid coming every day, the maid could make our bed, but the maid comes twice a month. I would never dream of criticizing my wife about our home because I know how hard she works at her office, and for me there are far more important concerns in life. Nevertheless, in the 21st century, my wife is still terrified that unwanted gossip about an unmade bed could ruin her standing in the community.
It’s time for people to spend their lives in more productive and healthy ways than gossiping and conforming to customs that have become outdated. After all, Brazilians are famous for breaking rules when it comes to driving the speed limit or parking illegally, so why not break a few more rules by giving up some traditions. There was a time when pizza was only eaten on Saturday night and feijoada only on Saturday afternoon, but times are changing.
Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not suggesting we abolish all Brazilian customs. There are many traditions here that, although far different from the US, are absolutely precious and I hope will never disappear. For example, the tradition of gift giving is divine. Not a week goes by when my wife isn’t buying a gift for someone. No birthday is ever forgotten. There’s not a block in Curitiba that doesn’t have a gift shop. At Christmas, everyone gets a gift – from the maid to the porteiro to the manicurist. And gifts here are wrapped by the stores at no charge, so their presentation with logo-adorned ribbons and stickers in decorated bags has become an art form.
Conformity does have some importance because the traditions of society follow the rules of accepted behavior, and without rules society declines into chaos. But some traditions, some conformity to customs, could use a little “breathing space.” Brazilians are working harder than ever and have earned the right to go shopping on weekends, which was never possible in the past. Maybe now Brazilians have even earned the right to eat their favorite foods, like panettone, all-year long, instead of only at Christmas. I’m certain everyone has earned the right to discourage and ignore the unnecessary and painful gossip of others.
Personally, I feel lucky to be living in the 21st century. I’d rather watch a good movie on my high-definition TV than listen to someone gossiping about whose home is a mess.
Michael Rubin is an American living in Curitiba.
