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- Group of people from the army getting a tour of an Israeli university.
It is amazing how much being exposed to a new society with such different customs, can open up our eyes and make us see how blind we were before.
The kinds of childhood and young adult experiences have great implications in the kind of people we turn out to be. That sounds like an obvious point, but when you see it for yourself it really makes you think.
in Brazil there is a general lack of patriotism that really reflects negatively on the society. The Brazilian people are a naturally happy people, even in times of hardship, which is unbelievable and really inspiring at times. However, when it comes to loving their country, no other time seems right as the world cup and the olympic games.
On the other hand, Israel has this amazing sense of society that lacks in Brazil. Israel has never really seen peace, which reflects in a social unity that can be quite contagious if you are open to it. Everyone serves the army, and that experience seems to be the most influential when it comes to building a strong society. Being through what every young people has been here, builds strong characters and special bonds between people, which you can’t find anywhere else.
When I think about people my age back in Brazil and compare them to the same age group here in Israel, the difference is incredible. I am not saying that young adults in Brazil are shallow, not even close to that. We see a lot of things on the street there that we wish we haven’t, but to go through a war because everyone around your country is against your faith, is something else.
Nevertheless, that doesn’t seem to help when it comes to the “Israeli way” of parking cars... lol.
ps: these 3 pics were taken in the same parking lot while I was leaving it, I didn’t even look for ill parked cars :p
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Obrigada pelo comentario :)
Israel shares a lot of this characteristic apparently due to the fact that the population is largely composed of immigrants, and also since the country was born (or reborn) in the middle of adversities and continues to live among adversaries.
You have to wonder what it is in the human spirit that feels so bound to a ”social security” (i.e. a group sense of belonging) based on difficulty and/or hardship. I guess that when one or one’s community is under threat, people must band together to act and, as we all should know, the whole is always more than just the sum of it’s parts.
Times of war and natural disaster bring people together in ways which are impressive but perhaps a little sad: why can’t we be strong communities without a tragedy or external threat to define ourselves by (and through) ? It is a matter of psychology, inevitably. When a country (or for that matter - a person) is threatened from outside it obviously provides some sense of psychological and existential continuity and belonging/wholeness: it is all about survival.
Israel is under constant external threat. It seem that all of Brazil’s threats are of internal varieties (the vast and yawning poverty of the Favellas, the great momentum behind Amazon deforestation, etc.) Israel’s internal threats are less well-defined. (Terrorism must, I imagine, always be a problem.)
Israel’s constant state of war-footing doesn’t really explain those adventurous and unique tactical parking techniques, though.
:P
G.
however the parking skills are going to remain unexplained :P