{"id":1848,"date":"2020-04-19T20:34:07","date_gmt":"2020-04-19T23:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/memo.geovanesou.com\/?p=1848"},"modified":"2026-01-16T00:01:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T03:01:19","slug":"the-world-is-like-this-saint-joseph-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geovanesou.com\/en\/o-mundo-e-assim-sao-jose-parte-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The World Is Like This, Saint Joseph (Part Two)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Precisely one week, exact day and time, after my mother left this world<\/a> There I was, completely shaken, but as prepared as possible to take the exam that would signify my "first steps" towards the best opportunity of my adult life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow the itinerary of our 800 km journey along the Via Dutra highway:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>\n <\/path>\n<\/svg><\/span>The Boarding: The Bus Stop and the Beginning of the Valley<\/a> <\/span><\/div>
\n <\/path>\n<\/svg><\/span>Now, on this road, you are halfway there.<\/span><\/div>
<\/a>\n <\/path>\n<\/svg><\/span>Full stop<\/strong>: Pitangas Choradas and the Cry of the Muzzled Intellect<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I don't blame those who, at the edge of the open grave, embraced me saying they would contribute financially: some even asked for my bank account number, but I understand both the emotional outburst and the fact that we are a poor family where each one is going through an economic situation as or more miserable than mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I put my life into perspective: in a home devoid of a father figure, one of the reasons I joined the Brazilian Air Force at age 16 was to honor my mother, for whom I was legally responsible for my entire life.
The cruel blow came when, at the time of his death, I was ostracized by a law that, created just over a year ago, prohibited the payment of "funeral assistance" to that specific category of dependent!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would have had every reason not to have risked the trip, since I had spent that week\u2014originally intended for reviewing my studies\u2014begging for alms to cover funeral expenses and, more than that, to provide food for my children: out of so many relatives, only two provided any assistance, and in the end, those who really helped me (at least in that first and darkest month) were my friends, namely, the brothers who joined me in the military career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such desolation ended up becoming the desperate impulse to try to change this wretched reality: I used my credit card to buy gas and went to take the exam for Urban Planning and Aesthetics Inspector in the city of S\u00e3o Jos\u00e9 dos Campos, the place that became my dream because \u2014 unlike the chaotic and degraded Rio de Janeiro \u2014 it allowed me a glimpse of life, security, urbanity, progress and order\u2026 without having to leave Brazil!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MY JOURNEY<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The failure, in March 2018<\/strong><\/a>, The experience of competing for an administrative assistant position at the Court of Justice of S\u00e3o Paulo left me hardened by the level of competition for jobs in such a developed city: since then I haven't been able to stop imagining what life would be like in a place so vastly different from this violent and oppressive chaos where I was born and spent most of my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, speaking about this kind of thing so openly can't be thoughtless behavior, and even now, admitting it, I hesitated a bit before reaching this conclusion. I tried to find positive things to cling to, but even the best package of attractions\u2014mostly related to the summer weather, which I can't stand!\u2014doesn't enchant me in the slightest\u2026 unlike the reality I easily found upon returning to S\u00e3o Jos\u00e9 dos Campos in January 2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I apologize for adding so many audiovisual records interspersed within what should be just text, but (for those who are able to understand) the dates of the recordings and the emotions shown in them prove how spontaneous and gradual the growth of my sincere fascination with that place was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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