Theme: Labor Law
The laziness
When I was little, my brother and I were very lazy. We
invented excuses for not doing our homework or helping
with housework. Physical activities didn't appeal to us
either. We didn't want to go to school. We wasted our
time, bored, unwell, doing nothing.
Our parents evidently resented this and waited for the
right moment to encourage us to reform ourselves.
One day, after lunch, when my brother and I were about
to start another long rest, my mother called us to
escort her on a short walk along our street.
We didn't want to go, but she gave us no choice, and,
despite our regrets, we had to walk with her.
When we passed in front of an empty lot, my mother asked
my brother to tell her what he saw there.
My brother, even without understanding my mother's
intention, described the land as an ugly place, full of
garbage, with a bad smell, insects, rusty metals, and
broken glass, with nothing to take advantage of.
We continued walking and my mother asked me to notice if
any other land was like that. We walked a little further
and then headed back home.
When we arrived, I said no. Only the vacant lot was in
poor condition. All the others were occupied by houses,
with gardens, garages, backyards... One of them even had
a vegetable garden and an orchard.
Mom, then, with a serious look, asked us:
- Why do you think so much rubbish has accumulated in
the vacant lot?
- Well, Mom, because it's empty! – we responded almost
together.
- Exactly! - said my mother – it’s easy to see what
happens to a land that is empty, without being worked,
without any purpose. What you may not be realizing is
that the same thing happens in people's lives. Those who
do not have a good purpose, do not work on some useful
tasks, make room for everything that is useless and
harmful, such as addictions, evils, ignorance, and
discomfort, to be installed in their minds and in their
days. On the opposite, the man who is a worker
transforms, over time and with his effort, his life into
a beautiful land, well used and happy.
My mother didn't need to say anything else. My brother
and I looked at each other and understood well what she
wanted to tell us.
After that, we no longer refuse the tasks that we were
supposed to perform.
We were often lazy in our lives, but the memory of that
wasteland and my mother's teachings always encouraged us
to fill our days with good accomplishments.
Adaptation of the text “A Ociosidade”
from the book “E para o resto da vida...” by Wallace
Leal V. Rodrigues.
Translation:
Larissa Martine - larissa_am@hotmail.com
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