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Some time ago, my wife helped a Swiss
tourist in Ipanema, who said he had been robbed by pickpockets.
He spoke terrible Portuguese with a heavy accent, and claimed to
be without a passport, money or place to stay.
My wife bought him lunch and gave
him enough money to stay the night in a hotel while he contacted
his embassy, and went off. Some days later, a Rio newspaper printed
a story about this "Swiss tourist", who was in fact nothing
but a creative conman putting on an inexistent accent, and taking
advantage of the good faith of people who love Rio and, eager to
exorcise the negative image which - fairly or not - has become our
city's postcard.
Upon reading this news item, my wife's
only comment was: "well that won't stop me from helping people."
Her comment reminded me of the story
of the wise man who, one afternoon, came to the town of Akbar. No
one took much notice of his presence, and he was unable to interest
the population in his teachings. After a time, he became an object
of laughter and sarcasm among the townsfolk.
One day, as he wandered down Akbar's
main thoroughfare, a group of men and women began to insult him.
Instead of pretending not to be aware of what was going on, the
wise man went over to them and blessed them.
One of the men commented:
- Is it possible that, on top of everything
else, this man here is deaf? We hurl abuse at you, and all you do
is reply with beautiful words!
- Each of us can only offer the other
that which is his - was the wise man's answer.
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