12 July 2014

Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil...

is a fighter. She rebelled against the military dictatorship in Brazil. In the 1970s she was arrested and jailed for three years where she was tortured.

But, her spirit did not die. Here are her words - words of strength and courage and solace...

'Only you, yourself, can defeat yourself. You cannot allow torture to defeat you.'

And here is the key:
'You cannot allow yourself to be contaminated by what torturers think of you. There’s just one way for torture not to contaminate you; you cannot allow it to develop anger or hatred towards those who perpetrated torture against you. You cannot allow that to go into your being.'

(I do believe, that, by extension, this key is what will help us deal with any painful and difficult situation we may find ourselves in.)