Luciano Duarte

More than once, these Notes have expressed lamentations in the face of injustice. And it is sad to see that, apparently, they will never cease. Modernity has made it much easier to hate. It has made targets more visible, more accessible, and, above all, it has benefited the grouping of hordes, whose actions are both systematic and diffuse, easily destroying a reputation. Hence, we repeatedly see the example of that good man who devoted his entire life to study and, at the end of his life, when the years had given him maturity of speech, had his life destroyed in response to his sincere exposition. May at least the words and example of Jesus serve as consolation.

Curiously, influence and success are often accompanied by controversy, and controversy by envy, hatred, and defamation. This rule applies regardless of the personalities and the nature of what is exposed to the public, which loves and hates, admires and envies. Polemicists know it as well as saints and spiritual leaders. The noble and the scoundrel, the impassioned and the refined, are all familiar with it. Thus, to seek the former without understanding the natural course of things is to subject oneself to a rather unpleasant ordeal from which there seems to be no escape.

Just as what a Carioca would call “personality” may seem like immodesty to a stranger, that same stranger, when in contact with Chinese people, might find their modesty strange, as it sometimes seems exaggerated or irrational. It turns out that, in both cases, such impressions would be false and would say nothing about the individuals, other than that they are in harmony with local customs. Here, we can see how much confusion contact with other peoples can generate, and how little we can know about individuals when we ignore the rules of behavior that prevail in their region.