The People

     Les Robinson reports:
     I was touched by Tor Guimaraes' account of some poor people who are above the prevailing corrupt ways of the more affluent. This reminds me of an experience I had on first arriving in Rio in 1948. My typewriter had been damaged in transit from Houston so I called to arrange for its repair. The fellow who came to my hotel room to check on it soon had it in working order and told me there would be no charge. I immediately assumed he was looking for a little personal compensation from a grateful client but was astonished at his absolute refusal to accept anything by my gratitude. He was clearly of the lower class, possibly a resident of a favela, who one would have thought should have cherished the notion of getting extra money. As I puzzled over this, I concluded that he must have been immensely flattered that I had engaged him in a friendly conversation, treating him as a human being. He was presumably not used to that kind of non-condescending treatment; on top of that, he was a generous guy, all the more so considering his presumed need for money.

Ronald Hilton - 12/3/99