on this day

On this day, I would like to leave a message to my American friends.

I’m not American by nationality. But I have The United States of America in my heart. I already had that conviction before I left to Connecticut. In addition, and like I said in my Doctoral defence, I was very fortunate to live in the U.S. and fulfilling that “life dream”. That experience gave me an even deeper appreciation for the country, for the people, for the culture.

It is true that the U.S. is not only good things. There are some that could be different, either in politics, society, or at the individual level. But it is the country that I learned to love, and that I will protect in the best way I can.

I have a special admiration for New York City. In that metropolis I feel “at home”. There, I imagine myself living, as a New Yorker. A city that I think as one of the best constructions of mankind. A glorious creation of a free, willing and cosmopolitan society.



And the city will recover, even more extraordinary, more beautiful, more charming. It is necessary that “Ground Zero” be rebuild in a way that, in that place, people will live, fall in love, be joyful, develop their dreams, feel amazed again. Let the routine of the normality of everyday cancel the abnormality of one day.

And also a word of homage to those people on flight United93. For their courage, for their sacrifice. For their determination to put up the fight those terrorists so necessarly deserved.

And especially to all my American friends (and my Portuguese friends that read my OMDA). Please be safe. Please be careful. But, please live your life intensely everyday. It is so precious and it is so fragile. Make the best of it.

Carpe diem.