Monument to the Independence of Brazil

　　    With a population of 12 million, São Paulo is Brazil’s largest city and also a living testament to the country’s independence history. In the city center of São Paulo stands the Monument to the Independence of Brazil.

　　    The independence monument stands dozens of meters tall, towering majestically, with a group sculpture of independence figures carved around its lower section; the base of the monument is shaped like a huge heart, covering an area of several thousand square meters. According to a friend who accompanied us, this monument symbolizes a giant sword plunged directly into the heart of São Paulo. Perhaps this city carries too much of Brazil’s pain of enslavement.

　　    In the lens, a group of cheerful Brazilian children, led by two female teachers, gather on the steps beneath the monument. One teacher speaks in Portuguese, and the children quiet down amid laughter, their innocent eyes drifting past fragments of historical memory. As Lenin said, “To forget the past is to betray it”—how true. Recalling history is to better safeguard the future.

　　    This is a monument commemorating a nation’s independence. It interprets the charm and power of freedom through the most direct, imposing, and masculine symbolic language. In truth, within every nation, and even within each of us, isn’t there also an “independence” monument? It’s just that for many, such a monument has often weathered into a tombstone of “freedom.” The “independence” monument in our hearts should signify or symbolize the upholding of the spirit of freedom, the commitment to an independent character, the spiritual realization of transcending the self, and the eternal moment of harmony between humanity and nature.

　　 Brasília, Brazil