Im an eternal optimist, but yesterday we passed through a moment of true madness the world over. As many were, I fell susceptible to the sadness, and reflect on it to integrate the good with the bad. In Brazil our most famous director was stabbed to death by his son. His wife in critical condition. The son himself not too badly hurt in a botched suicide attempt. Perhaps due to a psychotic break. Madness. PSH died of heroine overdose. It was rapidly described to the movie-going public in colorful detail by the papers, as if a scene in which he was playing a character in a Paul Thomas Anderson film. Both were nicest guys in the world, according to friends who knew them well. Men of heart. We all knew their talents. The world flipping between extremes, they got caught in this one. Remember the warning not to play at cross-eyes, you might get stuck. In Leblon, richest neighborhood of the Zona Sul in Rio, a kid is caught and detained by local vigilantes for mugging someone. He is stripped and tied to a post by his neck with a bycicle lock for an hour until the police arrive. Some one photographs and posts his picture here and a mob forms on Facebook, in the ensuing commentary, hauntings of real lynchings past. One woman says, Im turning out the lights. Im afraid of people. At the market, most expensive vegetable market in the world, I think, we are under seige by hungry children picking up scraps, eyeing our pockets. I feed them when I can but feel vulnerable too. Theres a look in the eye of the victim, like the kid perhaps before he ended up tied to the post, its not of any emotion I recognize but a hunger so deep, of a need that hinges on violence. During the day cries for help; at night the laughter of people at a party, and on their cellphones. My rent has become too high. The polar vortex. Trying to integrate extremes, my doorman and I have developed a friendship that is a daily reminder of goodness within reach. Weve started a club of sorts, in which we exchange small favors, share goals, ask each day: so how was today? Even so, when I suggest I could give him the dogwalkers fee for taking Ulys out this weekend while I was laid out with a back injury. He replied, some work is only paid by God. What he meant, I think, is that some things we do for merit. Anyone who wants to join our club can. Need to be reliable, need to be willing to work for free, need to smile warmly.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 12:47:46 +0000
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