I wanted to write a short article just to shine a spotlight on what Ronaldinho did to lift up Brazilian spirits last week. As the majority of people saw on the news, their was a horrific plane crash last week involving Chapecoense, a professional soccer team in Brazil. They were on their way to the league championship when their plane crashed. The crash killed 71 of the 77 passengers. The crash quickly grabbed the world news' attention, being broadcast on every major news network worldwide. The victims were members of a soccer team that had become a cinderella story for much of South America. To say the Chapecoense crash has been a heartbreaking experience for Brazil would be a gross understatement.
In the wake of all of this, former world superstar Ronaldinho decided to do something about it. Recently I have done a school assignment that required me to extensively study Brazilian culture and Brazilian soccer. One thing about Brazilians is that they love their heroes: they are incredibly hero-centric. Their stars have massive influence on what the people think and do. Ronaldinho retired earlier in 2015, but within a few days after the crash Ronaldinho did something that would help not only the team that just lost 95% of all it's players, but what Ronaldinho did would prove to give Brazilians (and everyone else) something positive to look to in this very dark time.
Ronaldinho announced that he is going to help the hurting franchise and community recover from the searing loss they have just sustained. Apparently there is a good chance he will come out of retirement and play for Chapecoense. What an amazing thing that would be! Ronaldinho is a two-time player of the year, World Cup champion, winner of basically every major tournament and award a soccer player can win in his lifetime, and he decided that lifting his people up was more important that his life in retirement. Not only is he considering playing for them, he is also considering playing for free! To decide to go through training, long road trips, and a grueling schedule to help a crushed fan base and lift Brazilian spirits is something that I thought was amazing that he would consider playing just out of concern for his fellow Brazilians.
Props to Ronaldinho. I hope we all can humble ourselves and make sacrifices for those around us. The world becomes a much better place when people like Ronaldinho are in it. Vamos! Forca Brasil!
