I am of those that hold that the reason for
life, or existence, is to do the right thing,
be content, always at peace with your past and
confident in your future. I am of those that
believe that the best day of our lives is today,
this present moment.
The
rational behavior, at the present, is to forgive
the errors of the past and prepare us for those
yet to come, because in some way they guarantee
normality of the brain and the heart, keeping
at a distance useless, worrisome concerns. This
way, each day will be replete with renewed work
challenges and learning opportunities, new ways
of consolidating friendships, a hand-tailored
and favorable time to leave our footprints upon
the earth. And it seems that I am not alone
in my way of thinking and acting. There still
exist many people that determinedly pursue the
joyous search for happiness, in the affirmation
of affective values, in consolidation of part
of the endless riches of love. People that,
living in the world of the machine, and receiving
those electronic impulses, still haven’t
lost those precious qualities that deal with
the health of the body and soul. People who
feel joy at the sight of other’s happiness,
who feel joy when seeing joy, who sincerely
share goodness with their fellows.
In conversation yesterday at the Montes Claros
Culture Center with the father Aderbal Murta
de Almeida, my Rotarian and Academy of Literature
comrade, we were reminiscing about past local
events and happenings pointing out significant
facts that glorified the ideological patrimony
of Montes Claros in both cognitive and emotional
aspects. He cited innumerous significant examples
of the grandeur of goodness and faith, the love
of spontaneous dedication to goodness, the halo
of divine light that flows with the evolutional
ladder of grand personalities, souls that radically
demonstrate the humanity of our culture. In
resuming, he proposed two names that he personally
considered as the most important in the hallowed
gallery of greatness, in loving and in forgiveness,
in knowledge of being and living. He gave the
first name, emphasizing the work of father Marcos,
and when I was about to interrupt him to point
out the second name, he said the name that was
on the tip of my tongue, reminding me clearly
and happily of Nathércio França,
our great and loved Nathércio. I looked
at Nivaldo Maciel, who was there with us and
saw that he, by his gestures of consent, that
if we had been a little slower, he would have
pronounced the same name before we had done.
In fact, considering the capacity of good living,
of existence with true knowledge and majesty,
of the friend and of the brotherhood, of the
practice of fellowship and fraternity, Nathércio
França, is the most illustrious personage
in the history of Montes Claros. No one, truthfully
no one could have failed to admire him, feeling
the height of his love, to share his charisma,
always visible and with the value with which
he treated every moment of his existence. Nathércio
had the unbreakable faith that only great souls
bear. If we had had time enough to bask in the
radiance of his knowledge, his passing so recent
to us in time and space, I believe that our
consideration would be even greater.
Nathércio
França, illustrious personality in several
of the most varied activities of the city; businessman,
pilot, religious leader, active Rotarian…he
was no doubt, an unforgettable moment in the
lives of all who knew him.
