Everything and nothing, although they live so far away, are contrary concepts, from time to time they kiss. They meet and kiss because they are compatible, they are similar, they are in a sense identical since they do not exist. Everything does not inhabit this world, the fully perfect does not exist. Here in this dimension, good and evil share the same space. On the other hand, nothing also does not exist. There is no such an absolutely empty space where there is nothing, there is always something, an atom, a micron, a virus, a sigh, a hope. Suddenly “everything” and “nothing” met, made history, and decided to go together.
Within human arrogance, some consider themselves “everything”. Powerful nations, protectionism, races, elites, etc. And “everything” can suddenly be threatened by “nothing”, so small, you can’t even see it, but it is also powerful.
At the beginning of its history, Brazil was first an exploitation colony and then Monarchy. It went through 4 economic cycles, the first stemming from the relationship between Portuguese and Indians, the Brazilwood, introduced by the Indians to the Portuguese, was successful in Europe, followed by sugar, gold, and diamonds, and finally, coffee. It is worth remembering that during the 18th century, a large part of the world’s production of gold and diamonds came from our lands. The delicious coffee made us the last nation to abolish slavery, due to the total dependence of this culture on slave labor. Slavery fell, so did the Monarchy. The Republic arrived, but Brazil has changed little, here there was no investment in education.
Moving forward, we have industrialization, nationalization, labor laws, GDP growth, Bossa Nova, construction of Brasília, many achievements, and many bills to pay. We had military men in power, major infrastructure works, lack of public policies, fiscal mismatch, inflation exploded. So many attempts at adjustment, a plan worked! Currency indexing, Plano Real. We have very little investment in education.
The turn of the century came, and in the early 2000s we had a real turn in the economy, unemployment fell, inequality decreased, purchasing power grew, reserves increased, there was a trade surplus, monetary policy was balanced.
In 2011 we expanded access to universities, but public spending was very high. In 2014 the Government loses confidence and in 2015 a huge corruption crisis breaks out in the country, the economy is stagnant.
In 2019 we have a new election with the promise of change management. Words like disruptive innovation come into fashion, transparency creates strength. The requirement of the General Data Protection Law arises, the economy shows signs of increased confidence, the GDP projection grows timidly, a small belief that there was not a second lost decade hanging in the air until COVID-19 arrived.
At first, it didn’t seem like anything. Is it not a rumor? Does it get here? China is so distant, but what is really distant in times of globalization? Distance seems to us to be a more psychological condition than actually physical.
The virus causes uncertainty, shakes investments, starts to bother. Until he arrived, and he comes with more questions than answers. It arrives provoking a duel between giants, China and the USA. It seems that the East will demand due respect, after all, they are the oldest civilizations in the world. No more baseless accusations, no more threatening a treaty like the old Treaty of Tordesillas, it looks like the world is going to be divided again.
And where are we staying? Someone said, we are big, but we are not giants. We miss investments in education, we need more technology.
We have geography in our favor, we are relatively far from the duel, we have a good neighborhood, we are unquestionably cordial. We have wealth, and the potential for diplomacy is the greatest of them. Let us use our weapons, synergy, and appreciation of relationships that will be the best.
We can leave strengthened! We can look back and learn from the past, we will be smart if we learn from our mistakes, we will be even more if we learn from the mistakes of others. We have opportunities.
We need to value our potential, we are one of the largest agricultural exporters in the world, but it would be useless to produce so much and not have anyone to sell to. Easy, fluid, and constructive communication is the key to maintaining good external relations.
We have internal conflicts, we need to resolve them peacefully, we will not give up the conquered democracy. We are called upon to move forward with everything we have, even if it seems like nothing to some.
I believe that among the duel of the giants there will not be only one winner, unlike all the duels, in this one, both will win. I also believe that one day “nothing” met “everything” in the creation of the world, because out of nothing, God created all things. We are now facing the creation of a new world, whether better or worse, will depend, in part, on us!
Cristi’s article
Cristiana Aguiar’s article published in JB on 05/04/2020.
