EU MAIOR - entrevista com Rubem Alves

Summary

In this heartfelt narrative, the speaker reflects on the unexpected journey that led him to become a writer. He shares personal stories, including his childhood memories of family moments and his diverse experiences in life, from being a philosophy teacher to a theologian. A key moment in his story is when his daughter, at the age of three, asked a poignant question about death, leading him to write a story about it. The narrative explores themes of personal growth, the meaning of happiness, and the value of hardship in creating beauty, like an oyster making a pearl.

Takeaways

• 😀 The speaker reflects on his journey and the realization that his life didn't go according to plan, yet he ended up where he is today.
• 😀 The speaker's career path has been varied: philosopher, theologian, pastor, and now a writer by accident.
• 😀 A conversation with a friend reveals a deep emotional connection to past family memories, particularly a longing for the simple joys of a childhood evening at home.
• 😀 The speaker’s friend recounts a poignant moment when she wished to give up a year of her life to relive the comfort of a family evening around the wood stove.
• 😀 The notion of 'heaven' is explored, with the idea that everyone's 'heaven' is unique, shaped by their individual desires for the happiness they once experienced.
• 😀 The metaphor of the oyster producing pearls is used to describe personal growth: only through suffering, symbolized by a grain of sand, can a pearl of wisdom or beauty be formed.
• 😀 The speaker shares a personal story of being deeply affected by his young daughter’s question about death, which challenges his emotional resilience.
• 😀 The daughter’s innocent but heartbreaking question about feeling 'nostalgia' after death prompts the speaker to reflect on the fragility of life and the depth of familial love.
• 😀 The painful yet transformative experiences in the speaker's life are compared to the process of an oyster turning suffering into something beautiful.
• 😀 Ultimately, the speaker suggests that personal suffering and emotional moments of pain shape individuals, leading them to create something meaningful and lasting, like the pearl.

Q & A

What was the question asked by the student in the beginning of the script?

The student asked the narrator how he had prepared and planned his life to reach the point where he is now.

How did the narrator respond to the student's question about planning his life?

The narrator responded that he had reached where he is because everything he planned went wrong. He describes himself as a writer by accident and mentions having been various things in the past, including a professor, theologian, and pastor.

What does the narrator mean when he says 'I am a writer by accident'?

He means that writing wasn't a planned path for him; rather, it happened unexpectedly. His life unfolded in ways that weren't planned, leading him to become a writer.

What did the narrator's friend say about the happiness in their life?

The narrator's friend shared a personal story about her longing for a past moment of happiness, specifically a memory from her childhood of spending nights with her family. She explained that everyone's 'heaven' is different because people wish to recover moments of fleeting happiness they once experienced.

How does the narrator's friend view happiness in relation to heaven?

The narrator's friend believes that happiness is unique to each person, and what people desire in heaven is not necessarily something different but rather the recovery of past moments of happiness.

What analogy is used to explain the concept of personal suffering and growth?

The narrator uses the analogy of an oyster making a pearl. He explains that only oysters that suffer, due to a grain of sand irritating them, produce pearls. The pearl is the result of suffering being transformed into something smooth and beautiful.

Why does the narrator refer to himself as the oyster that produced the pearl?

He refers to himself as the oyster because in many of his life experiences, he faced painful moments (grains of sand) that led him to create something meaningful or valuable (pearls), such as stories and wisdom.

What was the painful question asked by the narrator's daughter?

The narrator's daughter, at 3 years old, asked him, 'When you die, will you feel sad?' This question deeply impacted him, as he hadn't anticipated such a profound question from a child.

How did the narrator react to his daughter’s question about death?

The narrator was initially speechless and didn't know how to respond to the question. It was a deeply emotional moment for him, as he hadn't expected such a serious question from a young child.

What did the narrator do after his daughter's question about death?

After his daughter's question, the narrator wrote a story, likely to process and cope with the emotional weight of the question and his own feelings about mortality.