Bridges

Building a bridge with the future of a global community

Years ago, at a silent library of my southern country, that persistent dream came and came again. I used to dream about a feasible utopian Earth where peace and freedom become/were true, and my children and the children of my children could live without the fear of war or hunger. Nevertheless, some shadows also came to cloud my dream. The increasing number of Earth’s population, the challenges of food and water supply, the death of many species, the image of a polluted river with a dark sky, and the violence of the death of many of ours came also to my mind. During those days, economic and social conflicts surrounded my student life and hard times obscured the 1970s. I was positioned among walls of loneliness and isolation with surest feelings that no path to my feasible utopia could be found in that situation. A friend encouraged me to apply for a graduate degree in the United States. The idea sounded exciting but at the same time unfeasible. However, in 2003, I was accepted. I packed my dream gently and I came to America. I promised me to be an actor of my dream, a friendly voice for all of us, by looking for the role that I could play in that future. At that moment, I realized that it was not to be easy, but I neither expected that. I was willing to build a bridge that opens a channel of communication between my people and the global community. That mission would start in this country and never before could I imagine how deep that new life would impact in my future.

First, I started by revisiting the place of the books and the written knowledge, the place which several times shielded my soul. In fact, the first step started in the library. When I saw those books, piled in perfect rows from top to bottom, colorful, with attractive covers, tears came out of my eyes. Thousands and thousands books were offered to my joy to open a door for the discovery. Librarians were extraordinarily kind people who share their passion for reading and their ability to search upon their life every topic that I wanted to know as it was the last battle to be contested. They conducted me through the knowledge achieved for other scientists around the world. The word was written in English, a place that Latin played once in the human history. I reached the names of those who were going to share the idea of the utopian Earth. Their words were there waiting for me. At that moment, I began to approach and to be part of the scientific community.

Second, I met faculty, the guardians of the knowledge who began the oral transmission. With a big smile and informal attire, they instructed me about the power of words. They guided me throughout a culture and its code. Professors showed me the silent sound of the signs, they trained me in a new gymnastic of ideas because they knew the rules of the knowledge’s game. They also discussed with me new lines of thoughts and scientific methods for creating a meaningful tree of ideas. By challenging my mind with different patterns to look at problems, they facilitated the search for answers. Overall, professors revealed for me the code and allowed the understanding of two cultures. They generously shared their experiences and helped me to assemble a solid structure by asking the correct questions to identify my goals in a simple and clear manner. They gave me the gift of the script of signs which encouraged me to walk along an exciting path of knowledge.

Although, two challenges already faced me, a third challenge was waiting for me: a country and the American people. Although I was immersed in studies, I wondered how the student’s community was and how were the people from the small town around campus. One day a mail brought me the opportunity. A professor needed help for planting trees in a neighbor town and I offered me as a volunteer. Students and community freely got together to help. Later on time, I learned that volunteering is one of the pillars of this society gained at an early age. People meet to rebuild a village after a natural disaster or to help in a fundraising for a little child who wants to play in the town soccer’s team. That is unique. More than a few times, I could know this solidarity in my own. Many times I failed, my life was a chaos and I considered to quit. But with the consistent perseverance, many faces with no names were there with encouraging voices that brought again the hope and the optimism.
Finally, this is not the end; this is the beginning to me and many others. This is the moment to awake my dream and allow it to flight. I want to announce everybody: the bridge is done and the moment is now with the people who came before and others that will come. This is the trip of my return and your encounter, with the strong belief that my land is yours and my mountains, my oceans and my forests are also yours. The same sky covers our homes and the laugh of my son is flamboyant as the laugh of yours. Our presences bring the opportunity for building our community, the global community. Our happiness and our desires are not so different. We can find together solutions for our common seas, migrant birds, air and forests. Together we will plant the seed for the new global community, with your knowledge and our, by sharing publications, by meeting in international congresses, by bringing to the table common issues for final agreements. Come to position yourself in the new order and celebrate with me the dream of the feasible utopia. My bridge has the power of love. It was build with tears of happiness and human compassion. I am sure, we are going to face more challenges but it is the price for peace and freedom to everybody. A change has to be done. We have a same need of surviving. Nobody will do it alone. We live together in a small planet, a dot among the immensity of the sky . The bridge is the beginning for a future full of promises and one day free women and men from everywhere will cross, with fear, with respect, and with absolute conviction.