Viva Brasil

同志社国際中学校３年

篠原理沙“Seguinte!”
Thirteen years ago I was at the post office in Brazil with my father, who washolding hands with me.

When the receptionist called for the next customer, thecustomers who were waiting in line in front of us smiled at us and stepped aside to let
us go ahead.

This was the reason my father always took me to crowded places; ― suchas the post office and supermarkets ― he could make the waiting time shorter.
Because my father had been transferred to Brazil due to his job, I lived in SaoPaulo for four years, since I was an infant.

The residents there were very kind-hearted,

especially to young children, and we would always hear them say “que linda” ― meaningadorable ―, to them on a daily basis.

In Brazil, where large crowds at public places areinevitable, customers had to wait in line for a considerably long time, but people withinfants or young children were invariably given precedence.
In general, most Japanese people tend to imagine Sao Paulo as a treacherous city,which is true to some point.

Disparity in wealth is dramatic, there are favelas on theoutskirts of the Brazilian city, which even the police are afraid to enter, and the crimes
are unstoppable.

英語windshield of his car at the traffic lights when he was driving.

中学生－

My father also had a dangerous experience in which a man broke theare very far from the “dangerous” image that Japanese people have today.

However, the residents,

with the exception of some, are generally very courteous and considerate.

Those people

My father had always told me that although many Brazilians are poor, they areaffluent in the heart; that they make the best out of their lives that they can just manage
to have, that they put others before themselves, that they take every opportunity to enjoy
life with other people, and most importantly, that they have more humane emotions thananyone who lives in Japan. My mother once told me that when I was an infant riding on
a plane for a temporary return to Japan, I was crying through the entire flight.

I thoughtthat that must have been absolutely obnoxious for everyone, but what she said next
surprised me.

She had said that the people sitting around us ― who were mostly

Brazilians ― had gotten up and started to play with me and amuse me by making silly
faces, trying to make me smile.

I don’t know if it was to actually make me happy or to

make me quit crying ― for everyone’s sake ―, but the fact that nobody snapped at me
or my mother, or even frowned at us shows how much patience and kindness they havefor other people.
On the other hand, Japanese people may have a comparatively prosperous life, butare we really affluent in our hearts?

Will we really be able to enjoy life for what it is?

ride trains to school, which is usually crowded in the mornings.

I

Not long ago, I was in

the same vehicle with a group of small children, who looked to be five or six years old.
They were excited about something and were talking to each other with voices that werelouder than necesarry.

Then suddenly, a man interrupted the chattering by clicking his

tongue and yelling at the children.

The children were being loud at a public place, which

they should not have been doing, but yelling at a bunch of small children who werelearning to control themselves seemed highly immature of the man.
other people who would have done the same thing in his place.

I know that there are
I also hear about

disastrous crimes that Japanese people have committed, on TV, almost every day.

Could

it be that some of the affluency in our lives are stolen from the affluency in our hearts?
What does it mean that people with poorer lives have more affluency in the heart thanthose who don’t?
There are times when I think that Japan is lacking the friendly atmosphere thatforeign countries have.

However, I wish for Japan to become a country that will beadmired by others, not just because there are great sightseeing places, but because of therespectable atmosphere that Japanese citizens create, and I want to become one of thosepeople who can create that atmosphere that we are missing.

Most foreigners are kindenough to say that Japanese people are wonderful people, even though they must have atleast once encountered someone who was not.

I want to make it so that every person

they encounter is in fact a wonderful person.

I am a fifteen year old girl, who is too

young to change all of Japan.

But starting with people like me who care, we can startchanging Japan, and leave a truly admirable country for the next generation.

英語中学生－