Living the Moment in Brazil

My niece, Luiza, is getting ready for her first semester in university here in Brazil. I imagine she's filled with nervous excitement. Beginning with her first day, her future will be laid out before her.

In Brazil, because of the entrance exam system known as the vestibular, every student must declare his/her program of study before beginning college. When her classes begin, Luiza's entire academic program and career will be set in motion.

In the US, of course, it's different. There's a great deal more academic freedom and many more degrees to major in. Even Luiza is different in the US as she isn't really my niece, she's my wife's niece. However, here she's considered to be my niece. Language mirrors reality and in this case has the ability to alter the definition of family.

When I asked my “niece” when her first day of school would be, she confessed she didn't know. I jumped to the conclusion that she was a typically disorganized teenager. My wife came to Luiza's rescue, explaining that the university had not yet posted its calendar.

I was surprised a large university didn't know its own schedule. My wife commented that the school calendars this year in Brazil – universities, high schools, grammar schools – are a mess because of the World Cup. The schools are changing their 2014 calendars because they want to have the usual winter break between semesters in July coincide with the World Cup, June 12 – July 13, so everyone will be free to watch the games.

What's fascinating about Luiza's schedule, besides organizing an entire country around a sporting event, is how Brazilians can be so unconcerned with the future. For example, FIFA has been critical of Brazil's inability to have 12 stadiums ready for the World Cup, missing the December 31 deadline. Yet, rather than be worried that the stadium in Curitiba will not be completed until April at the earliest, even without the originally planned roof, a more common reaction here is, “Why does FIFA need a deadline six months before the first game? As long as the stadiums are ready the night before, isn't that sufficient?”

Are Brazilians right? Does it makes more sense to be focused on the present rather than worrying about tomorrow? Perhaps some cultures are so obsessed with productivity that getting a project done on time is more important than relaxing with one's family and completing the project a little late.

North Americans and Northern Europeans and Japanese cannot understand why Brazilians arrive late to business meetings. Maybe it's Brazilians who actually appreciate the value of time more than others. In Latin America, time cannot be saved or lost or wasted.

In Curitiba it's common to drive to work on Monday morning and find your usual route has been altered. Last week that road was a two-way street, but over the weekend it became one way. Americans are not prepared for unexpected changes.

Living in the present like a Brazilian encourages flexibility. Since we cannot predict the future with any accuracy, why attempt to? Why not allow for change in daily life as it is the natural course of the universe. Brazilians are more resilient and adaptable because the future is not fixed in their plans.

This is not to say that the Brazilian lifestyle is flawless. One Brazilian family I know intended to travel to Disney World. After they secured the vacation time from their jobs, they didn't leave enough time in advance to secure passports and tourist visas and missed their travel dates. While this would be a crisis for an American family, here it's forgotten and life goes on.

Another Brazilian family was expecting to take a trip to the beach but they forgot to have a mechanic check their car. On the day they were leaving, the car wouldn't start. So they took a tourist train through the mountains and had a different adventure, rather than returning to the same beach they'd been to many times. No one was disappointed.

In this way, Brazilians are like children, affable and supple, the way a child can be crying one minute and laughing another. A Brazilian can tell the same story to the same person several times, and both the storyteller and the listener will enjoy it each time. Brazilians take delight in the simplest of pleasures; they appreciate what they are fortunate enough to have. They are not as spoiled as Americans and have lower expectations.

Alan Watts

Brazilians live for today and avoid worrying about the future. It's the same approach used in Eastern religious philosophy. As the Zen Buddhism expert Alan Watts wrote:

The future is still not here, and cannot become a part of experienced reality until it is present. Since what we know of the future is made up of purely abstract and logical elements – inferences, guesses, deductions – it cannot be eaten, felt, smelled, seen, heard, or otherwise enjoyed. To pursue it is to pursue a constantly retreating phantom, and the faster you chase it, the faster it runs ahead.

If my wife's niece doesn't know when her university classes begin, she is probably happier; there's less reason to be anxious. When her friends are sending her text messages about classes starting tomorrow, she will know it's time.

This essay was originally published in slightly different form and under a different title on Brazzil.com.