Goodbye Brazil

As my time in Brazil comes to a close, I feel a strong need to write a post entitled "Goodbye Brazil," thus continuing my long and venerable tradition of summarizing deeply meaningful experiences in ill-fated attempts at being witty and/or quirky.

What's difficult is that I've realized that Brazil is a part of me. My experiences here have shaped who I am so fundamentally that I can't really think about them objectively. It's like if someone asked you, "what was the most important thing you learned during your childhood?" The only real response is "all of the above."

But I think if I had to summarize it, I would do so like this:

I think that the reason I love Brazil is that it is a reflection of humanity (that includes me). We humans are complicated, we're constantly evolving, we're bundles of contradictions; we're violent, loving, prejudiced, backward; we desire what isn't good for us, take for granted the most priceless gifts; we are torn between the new and the familiar, between modernity and tradition; we are beautiful, exquisite beyond words; capable of immense destruction and perversity as well as the most noble ideals; we are creative creatures, constantly mixing and matching in endless variety, compelled simply by our nature to give birth to new forms of expression; we are social beings, who crave community like the air we breathe; we want the best of all worlds, to have our cake and eat it too, to fulfill our potential in every area all at the same time and preferably right now.

That is me, that is Brazil and its people, that is humanity.

I could go on, but I think that is essentially it: to see Brazil is to see yourself, stark naked and without pretensions, in all your glory and all your shame, whether you like it or not. The secret is not to like everything you see, nor to make the reflection conform to your expectations, but simply to experience the sublime pleasure of being human.

I think everything else pretty much falls under that.