Alice's reflections

Alice, Wéllia's daughter, went to the Sol Nascente Waterfall alone on a Monday afternoon, reflecting. Since it was Monday, the waterfall wasn't crowded.

Alice sat on a rock and admired the cascade. One of the caretakers working there saw Alice and said:

- Excuse me, is there a problem?

Alice said:

- Nothing much. Just thinking about life.

- But why, young lady?

Alice retorted:

- Funny, I walk through the streets of Lagoa da Italianinha, I see so many people sleeping on the streets, starving, and there's never any money to solve that. But the powerful have money to wage war after war. They have no shortage of money for that!"

- Yes, that's true..."

- I even knew my Italian great-grandfather Arthur, who came to Pernambuco when he was very young, and he told me that when he was a child, he heard the news of World War II and was terrified by so much evil." He told me about the Holocaust in Germany, about the atomic bombs in Japan...

- Yes, Alice, unfortunately, most human beings tend to be more concerned with destroying their neighbor than loving their neighbor...

Alice said:

- Here in Brazil, they say it's a Christian country... how can it be a Christian country if there's so much corruption, so much wickedness, so many people trying to cheat each other and dying of envy? It doesn't make sense.

- Alice, how old are you?

- 16!

- Look, you're still going to see a lot. My mother used to say I was going to see things. You, being young, observe these things, but what I'm telling you is that you should never lose your generosity.

Alice said:

- Look, if I had to lose my kindness, I would have lost it a long time ago... I myself am the daughter of parents with questionable character... But I didn't want to be like them.

- You've already earned my respect, girl. But go home. It's not good for you to be alone here.

- Thank you for listening to me.

Alice left, and the caretaker said:

- I wish the world had more people like this girl...