Carolina Maria de Jesus and Sandro Rosa do Nascimento - Essay Example

lnWere Carolina Maria de Jesus and Sandro do Nascimento Exceptional People Compared to the Thousands who Live in Favelas Throughout Brazil? Poverty can not be ignored in the society. The word may have been overly used by many such that it is too commonly used especially in the third word yet it is a word that does not exempt even the most developed countries. Poverty exists in every sense of the word, but majority ignores its, unless something is written or someone has made a scene out of it that the community is reminded of the fact that there are still people who live in extreme poverty, who would make all their efforts to survive. It is at the same time oftentimes ignored that the reason why there is crime is because people are struggling to survive, and majority of these people are those who belong to the group whom we call the poor. Nobody gives as much attention to this social problem unless people like Carolina Maria de Jesus and Sandro Rosa do Nascimento stands out from the group of the poor and make an unexpected scene in the society. On the other hand, the gap between those who live in comfort as well as those who are deprived of it should be resolved. In Carolina Maria de Jesus’ ‘Child of the Dark’, she had implied that the rich and the poor co-exist. Both groups in the society need each other for the most basic reason that the rich may not be able to see and appreciate what they have unless they see those who do not have it. Life in the favela was something that Carolina might consider as a nightmare. On the other hand, this is where she had learned to dream for her children. Living in poverty, moreover, had taught Carolina to become stronger and face the world with more courage. She had fought the frustrations and the challenges of her family’s hand-to-mouth existence by herself. And it is only through writing her daily journal where she had found refuge out of all the disappointments she had had. All of the frustrations and the failures she has gone through, from her childhood until she became a mother, as well as the short-lived success she had had as a writer, were eased with the daily journals she wrote. The book generally shows a woman’s independence and patience in facing all the challenges that life in poverty had brought her and her family. Her independence was shown within the book when she had decided to take full responsibility of her own life as well as feeding her family by herself. Although she had been through failed relationships, Carolina took courage of raising her family without seeking any help from the fathers of her children. She had learned to become independent in raising them alone. Although in the present society a woman’s independence is no longer a brand new issue, yet it still is the most important characteristic that a woman, especially in the modern time, should acquire. Considerably, Carolina’s life was like no other human being living in extreme poverty. In the favela, she raised her children by herself. Everyday, she struggles with a life in which she has to make sure she and her children have food to fill in their empty stomachs. The days of hardship seem not to end. Though life has been rough for her, she had her own share of various emotions – joy, love, and heartaches. There was, however, a big difference in how she lived her life. Unlike the others who lived in favelas, Carolina made sure she does not let herself and her children become lifetime victims of poverty. Her hopes that someday they would be able to escape the crowded and noisy favela led her to dream. Unable to tell even herself how, she hopes that someday she would have her book published that would draw them out of the favela, away from the people who do nothing but make other people’s life become more miserable. It is not on courage where Carolina had learned to survive. It is through unending patience where she had found the true reason to continue living for herself and for her children. Courage loses every time you use it as an armor against disappointments and frustrations – because eventually, they wear out. But patience could only pile up, it could give you as much reason to live even with too much poverty and suffering. Patience brings hope that is necessary for someone to live a fruitful life even in times when others thought there is none. In contrast to Carolina’s life, Sandro’s had an unhappy end. Growing up by himself in the favela and living on the street to get a little money to feed his empty stomach turned him into a person that the society hates. A sole witness of his mother’s death at a young age, Sandro would never be able to get rid of that memory. He can only deny it as much as he wants but the memory lingers forever. However, instead of hunting down the people who had killed his mother, he took a different path. Although the road he took was not any more different than other criminals robbing people of their belongings, killing people has never become an option for Sandro to survive the life that is full of difficulties, a life in extreme poverty. Being on the street, dealing with and being friends with tha bad guys did not make him choose to take away the lives of others just to earn a living. There had been many circumstances and opportunities for him to kill those people he had held as hostages in Bus 174, yet he opted not to. He could have hurt just one of them to make sure the police gives him what he had demanded, but he did not. Instead, he just asked them to make up the situation that seemed to be worse than it really is. He never wanted to kill. What he just wanted was to escape and probably be heard. He wanted to let the people become aware of the struggles that people like him lives with. Sandro had been one of those people who does not only live in poverty, but those who have been deprived of justice, of a fair treatment that even a robber like him deserves. He had been abused by many who had power over people like him – on the street and even in prison. He had wanted to change his life but he was not given a chance. He dreamt of living a simple life where he does not have to rob people of the things they have worked hard for. Sandro, like any ordinary human being, wanted to live a peaceful life. He had wanted to get a decent job, although not as comfortable, but one that would be able to feed him. Yet he had been aware that no company or no person would hire him; he who does not even know how to read. Life had not been fair to Sandro even from the start. It was even worse to up to his last breath. He was captured alive but he was not given a chance to change a life he had been more than willing to. Yes, he was a sore on the society. He lived on the streets, robbed people, addicted to cocaine, and he had been worse. Sandro, however, never take people’s lives in his hands. He had never wanted to kill, until that day when they never gave him a chance but to shoot, not Geisa, but the police who had mobbed him. Sandro tried his bestto live his life in the favela peaceful. He had never harmed anybody. As a young boy without a mother to look after him, he made sure he makes a family on the street. He makes friends with the people he meet – on the street and even in prison. Eventually, these friends became his family. He had shared with them his innocence, his childhood, and his life. Even if life had gone from worse to worst, he remained calm. He had been in prison many times, abused and scarred. Until he had finally lost it and took over Bus 174. Carolina and Sandro were only two people whom we meet everyday. They are the same people we see on the street. To some of us, they are even those who we see in front of the mirror every morning. They reflect our personalities, our societies. The only difference that these two posses that are exceptional from us, from the people who live in the favelas of life, is that they have been courageous to take control of their lives. They were able to face reality and learned how to deal with it, not with violence but with telling the world how each and everyone of us should. References: de Jesus, Carolina Maria. “Child of the Dark.” New York, Penguin. 2003. Padilha, J. & Lacerda, F dirs. “Bus 174.” Cinemax Reel Life. 2002. Read More