Everything comes with a price

‘A long time ago, in Munich, I met a Romanian – Sergiu Celibidache. I was younger, he was alive. That was my first contact with Romania. Meeting a person is the true contact with a country, not the Internet or the rumours.’ Augusto Leite, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Brazil.
Every day we talk about progress, evolution, development. In fact, modernity has a price, which is also suggested by Augusto Leite. Access to information may be the greatest benefit of the XXI century, perhaps matched by the comfort modern times have to offer. When you say luxury, you can think of a lot of things. Sometimes, you do not have a clear image in your mind. But you can search the Internet for an answer.
‘Modern times bring hope for better times’ says the Brazilian diplomat, although he admits that the same times have brought forth a stronger type of selfish individualism: Me and the others. But this way of relating to the world denies access to true knowledge: ‘There are things that you can unravel only by knowing lots of people.’

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The size multiplies the problems
Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and, although on such large territories, people do not know the same words, Brazilians speak the same language from one end to the other. The Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Brazil tells us that the size of a country influences the number of problems which arise. ‘The infrastructure, hospitals for everyone, pensions – these are all big problems. We know well that money cannot be made according to our own desire and that the government cannot invest in all the things we need. We must think about the people, not about growing the cake “.
Many people in Romania do not know how wonderful their country really is. Just like in Brazil, people are warm and welcoming, cheerful and open. ‘There is yelling in traffic, it happens everywhere, there are problems in every country, and, by learning the language and looking around me, I can say that I live a bit of the Romanian life. In addition, analysing the European Commission reports, which estimated a growth of 1.4% in 2013 and 1.6% in 2014, I can say that I see lot of future in Romania.’

Luxury and Power
The more you use a term, the more it loses its sense. Luxury is associated with Rolex, expensive cars, expensive houses. ‘For me, luxury is the possibility to live and to have things that are not accessible to everybody. As a diplomat, I have the luxury to travel and to discover the world, I have had the luxury to work for more than ten years with wonderful people -as the ambassador, my colleagues from the embassy, to meet great people. I have the luxury to move from a country to another, which became my life. And from this point of view, I have lot of luxury in my life, not luxury goods.”

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Augusto Leite believes that, nowadays, power is associated with money. But the question is whether you deserve to be an exponent of power originated from just money and materials. If money would be used for travelling and gaining knowledge, they should provide us with some wisdom and maturity: understanding that people think differently, but they are identical from the Amazon rainforest to the world’s metropolises. ‘We share the same biology -there is even a song with this name that I like very much, and those who have money should use it to find this out. Money can buy the way out from darkness.’ This is what power is, getting out of the darkness.

Finally, the price
‘The price is that we consume more and more. So, we need to produce more, but we have to take raw material from somewhere. Unfortunately, it goes to an end for nature. It is true that we are talking about environmentally friendly solutions, about solar panels, wind energy, and things are changing ever faster. Often we have to sacrifice the present for the future. This is the great storm within us.’
Such a conversation with Augusto Leite, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Brazil, gives you a lot to think about. How many of us are capable of doing this and for hoDSC_0028w long?

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