Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 30oC, hot, Sunny and a little overcast.
Friday was a day of hard work and discipline. The hard workout required discipline, and giving at least 8 classes on a Friday also required a certain amount of strength and stamina.
Rio de Janeiro is passing through another heatwave at the moment; it is literally 30 all the time. Even at midnight or at 1 o’clock in the morning, it is hot. I have got two air conditioners, one in my bedroom and the other in the living room.
When Yasmin is not with me, I keep the air conditioner in my bedroom turned on and the door closed, as it is my bedroom, my study, my office and, of course, my playroom. However, if Yasmin is with me, I turn the air conditioner in the living room on to try and keep the whole flat cool, including her bedroom.
Classes are until 4 pm on a Friday! All the classes were good and productive. Yasmin arrived shortly after the last class with a face that was dragging on the floor. I asked her what the problem was, and she told me that she was upset with her mother and that her mother was criticising her too much.
Her mother is not a bad person; however, she can be highly critical of other people and has this innate characteristic of always trying to be right, a know-it-all that almost borders on being obsessive.
Living in Brazil, I see this all the time here, where the person must be right; to be right is more important than anything else. Even if they are wrong, they are still right. It is more important to incriminate somebody else, preserve your integrity, and be right than to resolve the problem at hand.
Nowadays, we see a lot of twisting and distorting the truth to facilitate the life of that person or people. People don’t want to hear, see, or even understand the truth. People want to see and hear what is convenient for them and their beliefs or ideology. Life is not as easy as that.
We cannot just ignore, forget, or hide what is wrong because it is more convenient to do so. Or is it RIGHT or WRONG? Sometimes, there could be some grey patches in the middle, but we must reach a limit of what is right or wrong or even what is basically obvious, with good common sense and acceptable.
We see this every day in Brazilian politics; the guy is corrupt, he has been caught red-handed, the authorities have all the evidence that proves the accusations and yet the son of a bitch still denies everything. I don’t know if it is the same in other countries, but here in Brazil, it is endemic.
Returning to Yasmin, I talked to her and told her that maybe her mother will change one day, but until then, she has to understand that her mother is like that, and if she knows that her mother is like that, for her to accept it so that she doesn’t get upset in the future like she is now. Why voluntarily put herself in so much stress?
If you are aware of someone or something’s characteristics or behaviours, then it should not come as a surprise to you.
Therefore, there is no need to endure any suffering. By acknowledging the reality of the situation and not anticipating a different outcome, you are saving yourself from unnecessary suffering, which is something that nobody wants.
Yasmin seemed to understand what I was trying to say, and she seemed better after that. Later, I played chess, and she beat me again.
In bed by 9:30 p.m.
Thanks again.
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Richard
