In my recent trip to Brazil I visited the Rio Favelas. This was a very insightful trip. It was interesting and fun to ride a motor bike up to the top, clinging fearfully to a man I didn’t know (lol). It was fabulous to see the views of all these manmade homes and this community that has taken on a life of its own. Yet the people still dance, laugh and have what I truly believe is the most entrepreneurial spirit ever. Everything there is gotten by one mean or another.
When I was there, I bought artwork from an artist in the community, pastries from a store owner, and bracelets from the women lining one of the pathways through the community.
Their life is tough. I know we always talk about how easy we have it and sometimes we say this without any real connection to another human being. For me, I remember, and these women selling the bracelets were my connection. One of the women had one child on her hip and 2 others – one at the side of the table and one standing next to her. This is her work to help support her family; to make and sell bracelets to tourists coming into their community to see how “we” live in the Favelas. Yeah..her life is not easy by any means.
Sometimes we think we have nothing to offer. We have our own bills to pay and our own lives to forge or take a break from, but I, like many others sometimes focus so much on the things I want from life or someone else, and not the things I have to offer to someone else. So today, I’m taking ME out of the picture. Today I am living for my ladies in the Favelas who work damn hard to make life happen for themselves and their families. Though I am not there with them, I am thinking about them and every action I do today is for them. Every action I do today is for them. From how I speak to my manager to what I eat, it’s about them.
Today I am living for my people in the Favelas! Who other than yourself are you living for today?
JDub
Lyrical Sphere 