Eduardo Stefani

In our world there has always existed an imperial figure, each one in his epoch, exercising the power using the tools they had in hand. Today it is no different, because we also have our contemporary empire, acting with all avaiable resources and exercising his influence in many ways.

The big question that remains unclear is the approach with other countries, some of them still rich and powerful, but without a global influence. Certainly the approach must be different from that of the past, which the use of the sword and territorial expansion, where the flag was stuck in each ocupied piece of land and the people subjugated or exterminated from his own history.

We must observe that the available tools today are different. A country is able to expand its field and influence over other cultures without one single shot being fired, or using an analogy with the past, without using the sword. Today the markets are globalized and information flows quickly, the conversations inside a meeting room can influence the entire world in a few minutes. A speech can lead a country to despair or remove it from the abyss.

It is to show the embarrassment we are living today, because despite all available resources we have a dominat power who fires shots for its voice to be heard. It does not have the elegance to convince its partner using dialogue, financial fascination and cultural influence.

When we observe the recent past, we conclude the world has been under the actual imperial figure, depending on economic and culture. In his wealth, everybody goes fine, however if something is going bad over there, fasten your seat belts here. The conclusion is that the world has been pre disposed to give in to its pressure.

Today we see an irritation with this approach. Unless the classic rebels, actually his allies subordinate themselves when they observe that have no escape, but all of them, almost without exception, are making plans to reduce their dependence. Its arrogant and agressive approch is not compatible with all the subtile resources available today to exercise its power, so in place of expanding its influence and using the admiration of its allies and colonies, we see a generalized embarrassment.

Taking a look at recent history, we also observe a need to have an enemy to keep his people apprehensive and to get easy money for military investments. In the past, an enemy really existed, with a fixed territory and a clear policy about how the would should be governed. Today, on the contrary, there is no enemy, but we do not know if it really exist, because it can be an illusion from the aggressiveness committed against all, because the target is not the entire world, but an imperial figure.

If we want peace, we cannot embrace the first cause against an enemy who we do not know, put the world against something unclear, without defined borders and normally caused by the violence and exploitation in places where its came from.

Perhaps the ideal imperial figure is one that recognizes himself as an empire and does not behave as a nation still evolving. He who already owns the domain does not have to shout to preserve his hole, just use the tools and work in a quiet way with others. Unfortunately we have the opposite , because it sounds like a nation liberated a few years from his colonizers and screaming for freedom how it discovered the meaning of this word recently. Sometimes I think if they forgot they have a lot of military bases around the world and a culture which influences all of them.

The moment now is to root to avoid radical actions. If not, do not drag the world on as an accomplice. We do not want to pay the price for a particular fight, because each one has his own difficulties and internal problems. In our coutry, to grow is more important than the black gold from the east.

[], Eduardo Stefani – 10/03/2005

During a beautiful party on a carioca winter night, between waiters serving champagne and the pleasant tinkles of glasses, I am alone for a few minutes so I decide to walk to the terrace. On the way, I pass some ladies with bright necklaces showing pictures to each other, about their travels around the world. On the other side, gentlemen looking concentrated on a small and nice portable computer, then they probably work with technology.

When I get to the terrace, I stand their with my glass, between sips, feeling the fresh air over my face. Effortlessly, I observe a constelation on the horizon, bright, with many disorganized lights and small color variations.

The difference is that there is life in that constelation, inteligent life, of people who are born, live and die. Sometimes die, even without waiting for it, in a quick and painless way. They do not know the cause, only live, with a small expectation and do not fear death, but fear life, which to them, is bitter and full of danger.

The beings who live in that constelation have experiencies which are hard to explain. There are curious and awkward situations, like reading looks. These people read the eyes of others and see silent prejudice, the pupil which dilates tells the entire truth which is systematically denied or forgotten.

The interesting thing is that parties are also happening in that constelation, however over there, there is the risk of being interrupted at any moment, by persons who represent the law or by persons who disrespect the law.

In the past there was a fear of an alien invasion, however today, there is some apprehension of beings from the constelation invading our world, through a pure revolt or some awareness about the situation they are living.

Everything is a celebration of ignorance, on one side by he who does not have the apropriate education and on the other side, by he who has everything, but contaminated by excessive radicalism, culminating in reactionary and impatient behavior. Sometimes I think they do not know that it is necessary to balance the forces in our world. We can not live alone and we are always influencing or being influenced.

After ten minutes have passed, I sense a sweet fragance enveloping the entire space. I am not a good connoisseur, but I think it is really embracing. I feel a light hand on my arm. When I turn, I see a pretty lady who calls me to the special moment of the party. With her nice eyes, I pay attention to see if she is looking with any prejudice. A few seconds later, I feel guilty, for how can a lady as beautiful as her behave like this. Between the flashing lights and the eyes of civilized beings, I enjoy the celebration, but I can not take the image of the constelation away.

[], Eduardo Stefani – 11/06/2005

In some reflexions about public behavior in a society, I made an analogy with rats behind the curtains of a theatre. They live in a community and they need to stay alive, however, the food is in the centre of the stage and not behind the curtains. It will need the courage of somebody to venture himself, to leave the confort, to run to the stage and find the food, with the risk of being caught and killed.

When he triumphs, everybody benefits and survives, with total dependence on he who put his life at risk to get the resouce so necessary for the common good. The brave will be a natural leader, respected and admired by all.

The problem with the above situation is that an imbalance can be generated at the moment when everybody knows, that there is no need for effort, as the situation will be solved by somebody else. It may take a little more, or less time, but the food will be available safely. Meanwhile, each one takes care of their own interests.

This analogy ilustrates the situation in which we live, because we are always living situations where a decision must be made and there is not the necessary mobilization for a rapid conclusion, because it is much more confortable to stay behind the curtains waiting for the solution, instead of putting ones head at risk and trying to solve the problem with the available resources.

A noble mission will be to find the democratic sense in this process, because we assume that the collectivity must decide and not wait for a generous soul to solve everything. The risk begins at this point, because when we wait for a single action from a person, we cannot guarantee that the prestige and the power obtained by the success will not enchant his mind and then result in single radical acts, accepted by everybody who is behind the curtains.

The decline of a society may begin when individual interests are placed above the collective, regardless of his participation or decision for the common good, because the individual focuses only on his personal territory and the rest somebody else will solve.

This behavior can be found in most everyday situations, including a leak from a faucet in a common area or the vote for the continuity or suspention of a process which affects everybody. All should participate and not just a small minority, worn out by the responsabilities, both collective and individual.

This discussion is beautiful, but in practice is terrible. Because of some national disappointments, the perception that politics is something dirty and dishonourable is common, thus with no guilty conscience, the omission is widespread. Sometimes we go through the same hole, but we do not have courage to take the phone and tell the responsable company the problem. The argument can be that it wont make any difference, but if everybody took the phone in a collective act, would the problem be solved ?

Quantity makes the difference in this case. Mobilization can move moutains. It will need a national conflict for everybody to leave the courtains to join a cause for the common good ?

The rats omission and sedentary behavior behind the curtains cause an imbalance. This lack of interest which we feel over time impacts negatively on the collective common good. When a rat stands up, the power takes his spirit and new problems appear until another one decides to adopt an iron hand and govern in his own way, then he knows the rest are numb and hungry.

[], Eduardo Stefani – 22/06/2005

Life is like a wink! We do not know where we came from or where we are going. In each epoch and culture, can be summed up in certain way. Take the vikings for instance, Valhala was the sacred place for them to walk to. Pride for them was to die holding a sword on a battle field. There was a great veneration for Odin and a supernatural fear regarding the dangers of the poisonous seas.

The Mays on the other hand, were much more advanced! They venerated many gods related to nature and unlike the barbarians, they acumulated a deep knowledge about architecture and mathematics, including the decimal and the value of zero.

Then lets analyse two civilization, the distinct way they lived. Each one with its own cultural values and convictions about life and religion.

Our mission now is to understand in short what life is nowdays and about what we are going to leave for the future generation to study about us. The challenge is to understand what we are doing on this globe, traveling thousands of kilometers per hour in space, on a colision course with something that we do not yet know and with everything moving under our feet. We live in the middle of intense activities on this rich planet which sometimes rebels and punishes us like a mother, shaking the gound and putting us in our place. There is a fear that our stay here will be only one more experience and in the end, one more lost civilization in the history books. However, if we have luck and capacity, we can break the cycle of comings and goings, their by keeping a civilization who meets now with a high intelectual level, however there are many moral and spirituals problem to be solved.

With a little analysis, we can see that we are one of numerous civilizations who have walked this planet. There are some huge clues, for instance that there were some civilizations with advanced technological levels, including nuclear weapons knowledge. For those who have doubts, there are Hindu writings named Mahabharata, which describes nuclear attackes in details, proving that we are not alone when we talk about weapons and possible they caused an annihilation, a risk we are also living with.

Sometimes I speculate if everything that is around us is like a tourist souvenir, closed, full of water, with a limited area and a controlled world. Also there is a possibility of everything being an exact reprodution of the allegory of the cave, by the illustrious Plato. The amazing thing is the suspicion that everything we have seen since we were born are shadows or maybe a limited space inside a souvernir, resting on a cupboard.

I think there is somebody watching us in the same way we watch a tourist souvenir, or we have something beyond shadows in order to feel the flavour and smell of life. But we might have some problems with our senses, limited by the environment, so maybe better to keep it in the realm of ideas.

Day to day life takes out all the flavour of the adventure which is to be here on this globe. Everybody knows to reach here is a challenge, possible only for a few people. Since our conception, we have lived in the middle of a lot of dificulties and we are here, carrying on our shoulders the weight of gravity. We have lived a lot of experiences and tribulations and even though we number in the billions, we are as fragile as ants, with a risk of being rubished with a celestial broom at any moment.

Another question, however more transcendental is if everything will be buried with us or if we will have the condition to use these experiences in other oportunities, in other words, in other existences, not necessarily on this Earth. Something like a big diary which will be consulted for us, each one with your own individuality.

The difference between human beings and other animals, is the capacity to question our destiny, as well as living the fact and looking from the inside. To take a look from outside is easier, but to be inside gives us a contaminated vision. The stars look at us in a way and we, here, look at ourselves in another way. Unfortunately we cannot talk to the stars, even if we could, we would talk to our past.

Everything we have lived gives us a brief taste. When it begins, it is near the end. For us here on this globe, everything costs a lot to go through, however, thinking in another way, it is a brief moment in time the measure of which we do not yet know.

This hole presentation has the objective to call apon us to reflect about everything that is around us and to do the best possible. To try to escape those day to day concerns which inprison us all, turning life into something a survivor course. Lets confess: Everybody has the feeling that it is not enough. Let us make good use of this brief flavor in time.

[], Eduardo Stefani – 24/06/2005

The brazilian people talk a lot about corruption, honesty, seriousness, moratily and all possible philosophic and subjective concepts. Normally with a depressed look, if we were away from the problem. Since my childhood, I have heard the same thing during lunch conversations and in family meetings.

We always use the third person, as if every dificulty was somewhere else. We presume that we are the good men and Brazil is something surreal, which we are not a part of. It is dificult to admit that our biggest enemies are ourselves.

In order to find a way to escape from our responsabilities, we always put the fault on the country. There are a lot of articles quoting de country like a hateful entity, lacking seriousness with no way out. The pessimistic, however beeing citizens of a country with continental dimensions, wish to live under a imperial flag, as a way to escape from responsabilities.

The question I ask now is about the people who live in this rich land, about the society which was formed here. My question is: Where is the brazilian citizen ?

We talk, cry and complain a lot, but we do nothing to change anything. From my perspective, we, the brazilian citizens, the inhabitants who live here, are not are prepared to have a country of our dream, for the simple fact that there is no courrage to face the problems, to take the risks and to admit weaknesses.

As the first act to end inequality here, but not economic which we talk about so much, but judicial inequaliy, which is much more serious. If a citizen with a university degree commits a crime, they go to a different place, the first signal of a judicial inequality.

When a poor man commits a infraction, he is humiliated and incarcerated, without chance of explanation. When a rich man commits something, despite the infraction, we always have some embarassment, a lack of courage to admit that a noble or aristocrat commited an infraction and he must like everybody else, be punished and when necessary, handcuffed.

The biggest scandal I saw recently, were the protests against our Federal Police, for having fulfilled its role and investigated evidences of tax evasion and frauds of importing in the biggest luxury store in Brazil, including the jailing of some executives from a beer company.

We have something like the elite protecting the elite, such as, when I belong to high caste and I see somebody similar in trouble, despite being involved in some crime, very soon a friendship and a personal attachment begin.

It is the proof we are not prepared. We talk a lot, but when we have a police search in a luxury neighborhood, we get amazed, because it can happen in any place with anybody. The fear takes over and we retreat a step and we are in the same situation for some centuries.

This text has the objective to involve a reflection, as an attempt to take the blame from the country and to do something for the society to assume some responsability, each one, inhabitants this blessed land, sunny and rich, in everything.

The people deserve grandeur must face problems with courage. Everybody has been through it, but now our time is coming. I hope it be soon, because it is dificult to have stomach to support the same complaining from those that do nothing to change.

[], Eduardo Stefani – 15/07/2005