Eight Millennium Goals

When we talk about the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), proposed by the United Nations (UN) to be achieved by the year 2015, as agreed by the 191 member countries that signed the document in 2000, we see that it is an important chapter of a new planetary mentality that emerges, electing the Human Being as the main axle of the world’s scenario. Founded by the late journalist, radio announcer and poet Alziro Zarur (1914-1979), the Legion of Good Will (LGW) is happy to be part of this change in culture, especially because, since its official appearance in Brazil, emblematically on January 1, 1950, World Day of Fraternity Among Nations, it has combated hunger and extreme poverty and all forms of human miseries through understanding and Fraternity amongst the nations, platforms of construction of this ideal time that we all long for.



Thanks to the vast experience acquired over almost six decades, the LGW believes that to have a better future, we can no longer consider the continuity of Life on this globe without a transformation of consciousness that would make change possible to build a renewed and solid social structure, as proposed by the eight Millennium Development Goals, timely launched by the UN.



José de Paiva Netto, President of the Legion of Good Will, journalist, radio announcer, writer and composer, Zarur’s successor, in his writings and speeches published in several books and in communication vehicles, has vehemently defended a paradigm shift that offers means so that these necessary global transformations may take place. Throughout the various decades directing one of the greatest contemporary solidary movements, he launches bases for the consolidation of a Solidary Altruistic Ecumenical Society in which, in fact, “all Human Beings may be born free and equal in dignity and rights”, in accordance to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

To construct Peace

In his book Reflexões da Alma [Reflections of the Soul] launched in 2003 and that already exceeds the mark of 200.000 copies sold, Paiva Netto highlighted a remarkable extract from the Preamble of the Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), approved on November 16, 1945, for considering that another path for Humanity would be that of destruction:



“Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that defenses of Peace must be constructed”.



And the leader of the LGW still adds, meditating on the extraordinary Preamble:



It is necessary to point out the proposals of real understanding; another path for the peoples will be that of bitter remedy.

Reflecting over the grievous situation that afflicts so many nations, in 1991, he addressed the attentive audience, in the city of São Paulo/SP, Brazil, in the following way:

There is still a lot to be done

I look at the world and think that someone cannot be considered free when famished; or passes in front of a school, but cannot study there because his/her parents cannot afford to buy their school supplies; when on TV, even today, blacks only get secondary roles and there are few with important roles in the plot; when women get lower salaries than men do; when drugs force their entry into family homes; when the rich, in order to go out into the streets, need to bullet-proof their cars and, even so, do not feel safe; when the poor live in the coziness of their homes under the risk of being struck by a bullet; when the sick do not receive the due attention; when respect to freedom of expression is under constant threat. In fact, when any nation potentially strong, however, with a significant portion of their population still living in misery, has not reached its true spiritual autonomy, because everything begins in the Soul of the Creatures: both right and wrong. Hence the urgent necessity to teach, educate and spiritualize with the ecumenism of the heart. It is a challenge in an ocean agitated by the indifference of some towards the situation of individuals or of their nations. Nevertheless, it constitutes one of the most advanced decisions that Humanity is capable of facing and makes the reality auspicious. Fraternal Love is the most powerful instrument for the liberation of the Human Being.

By the way, Cicero (106-43 B.C.), the great Roman tribune, wrote:

“Amongst all the societies, there is none nobler and more stable than that in which the people are united by love”. This is why — esteemed and respected listeners and readers who honor me with your attention — isolationism, when it is characterized by the illusion of spiritual, social and political pride, shall always surrender, one day, to the contagious feeling of Spiritual and Human Solidarity. Alziro Zarur used to teach:

“God created the Human Being in such a way that he may only be happy by doing the Good”.



(...) For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, Humanity, due to the extraordinary tools that it has acquired with such difficulty over the millennia, has never seen times of such prosperous transformations like these. But precaution is a vital issue in order not to lose, as has at other times occurred, such an opportunity: re-educate ecumenically spiritualizing the popular masses and defend them from the rapacious eagles that through corruption embezzle the necessary means to improve the grievous condition in which they live.

Ecumenism that overlaps “culture shock”

With regards to his broad ranging vision of ecumenism, which overlaps the so-called “culture shock” — that may lead populations to formidable wars, possibly diverse and worse than what until recently had been imagined —, Paiva Netto explains in the magazine Solidary Society (7th edition), taken by the LGW representatives to the UN, in several editions, starting in the year 2000:

Ecumenism — Education open to Peace

(...) When we speak of ecumenism, we want to say Universalism, Fraternity without frontiers, international Solidarity, seen that we understand Humanity as a family. And there is not a single family in which all the children have the same behavior. Each one is an independent cosmos, which does not mean to say that these “celestial bodies” have to collide into each other. It would be chaos. (...) Let us refer then to the Ecumenism of the Hearts: that which convinces us not to waste any time with hatred and sterile disputes, but rather to reach out one’s hand to the fallen, for it is compassionate with sorrow; takes off a shirt to dress the unclothed; contributes to the healing balm of those who are ill*1; protects the orphans and the widows; knows that Education with Ecumenical Spirituality will become increasingly fundamental for the progress of the nations, because ecumenism is Education open to Peace; to strengthen a nation (not for a nation to rule over others); therefore, the shelter of a country, whichever it may be, and the survival of the Globe that protects us as children, even if not always well behaved ones.

All we need to do is remember the lamentable phenomenon of global warming, each day increasingly being denounced by the greatest thinking minds of the world. (...) Those in the vanguard — among which, ecological activists, politicians and top scientists — have already undertaken practical solutions to restrain the pollution that has been poisoning us since the maternal womb.

Global Warming*2

Regarding this, I open a parenthesis to comment a little more about this priority subject, like the events pointed out by the third report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an organ of the United Nations responsible for producing scientific information. According to issue number 218 of the BOA VONTADE magazine, in the report of the veteran journalist Mario de Moraes, the information of the third document of the IPCC, published on May 4 in Bangkok, Thailand, projects that:

“The costs to limit the greenhouse gas emissions mean a loss of 0.2% to 0.6% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2030”.



These forecasts match those that were defended in 2006 by a study requested by the British government, the Stern Review, directed by Nicholas Stern, former World Bank Chief Economist, which quoted a figure of around 1% of the world GDP. One of the most keen arguments of this work as to the urgency of the actions to restrict these present levels of emission is that, if these measures are not put into practice soon, the reduction of global consumption will be around 5% of the world GDP, reaching, in a worst case scenario, to the alarming rate of 20%.

The former British Prime Minister himself, Tony Blair, manifested about the evidence presented, affirming that it is “overwhelming and disastrous”. And he completed:

“Investment now will pay us back many times in the future, not just environmentally but economically as well”.

On this theme it is worth remembering the proposal launched in Paris by the former President of France, Jacques Chirac, who defends the creation of a permanent environmental agency, with a status similar to that of the World Health Organization (WHO), so that it becomes a “strong and recognized voice”, says the text.

I have furthermore followed the effort of the former Vice President of the United States, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (2007), Al Gore, in his decisive actions against global warming. In one of his visits to Brazil, he gave me an autographed copy of his work An Inconvenient Truth, from which I make an important transcription. I refer to a report made by him as to the melting of a gigantic platform of ice in the Antarctic, an x-ray of what has been occurring on our planet:

“The Larsen-B ice shelf, as photographed below, was about 150 miles long and 30 miles wide. (…) Scientists thought this ice shelf would be stable for at least another century — even with global warming. But starting on January 31, 2002, within 35 days, it completely broke up. Indeed, most of it disappeared over the course of two of those days. Scientists were absolutely astonished. (…) Once the sea-based ice shelf was gone, the land-based ice behind it, which was being held back, began to shift and fall into the sea. (…)”.

Brazil in the leadership of clean fuel

There are many actions under way against global warming, like the biofuel also developed by the Brazilian State to reduce the emission of gases that pollute the atmosphere. The North American President, George W. Bush, verifying the leadership of Brazil in regard to production of clean fuel made from sugar cane, visited the Country for meetings with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and with the Brazilian business class, with the express purpose of discussing this issue. In recent dialogue with the North American leader, this time held in Washington D.C., on March 31, 2007, President Lula drew attention to the disturbing planetary situation:

“Either we take care of Planet Earth as we take care of our child, or we are all going to regret it”.



In Brazil, several studies on the theme are being conducted. One of them, biodiesel, obtained from oil plants, like those of castor oil, soybeans, sunflower and African oil palm, strongly joins itself to initiatives that have shown great potential, such as flex-fuel vehicles powered by gasoline and alcohol. They already represent a significant percentage of the automobiles in circulation in the Country. Also regarding the issue, Agência Brasil states:

“The idea is old. Projects have been developed since the ‘70s by the Federal University of Ceará. In 2002, the National Biodiesel Program was reassumed, with several Brazilian universities and institutes presenting feasible technologies for its use”.



The IPCC itself suggests, according to what the EFE Agency published, that:

“The governments place emphasis on ethanol for the expansion of energy consumption by 2020, in order to reduce CO2 emissions. Initially, the intention is to stabilize the concentration of gas in the atmosphere so that the increase in temperature does not go up more than 2°C by 2030”.



The text furthermore defends that ethanol produced from sugar cane “would have a more favorable environmental impact”.

The United Nations concluded that



“Biofuels like ethanol can help reduce global warming and create jobs for the rural poor, but the benefits may be offset by serious environmental problems and increased food prices for the hungry”.



However, as I wrote in the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, on August 24, 1986, there is always a solution when men strive to find one. And this has allowed Humanity to survive its worst periods of madness.

And about climate changes, Paiva Netto concluded:

It is vital that all these initiatives keep us very alert, diligent, decided as to the steps to follow on a global, regional and personal spheres, so that the next World Summit on Climate Change, summoned by Mr. Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, and foreseen to be held in September* of this year, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, parallel to the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly, become the perfect moment to understand and act in favor of our global house: the Earth.

There is a lot to be learnt with one another

Now, as never before, it has become so indispensable to unite the efforts of environmentalists and their detractors, as well as workers, businessmen, media people, unions, politicians, the militaries, lawyers, scientists, religious people, skeptics, atheists, philosophers, sociologists, anthropologists, artists, sportsmen and women, professors, doctors, students, housewives, family heads, barbers, taxi drivers, street sweepers and all the other segments of society, in this fight against hunger and for the conservation of life in the Planet. The subject became dramatic, and its perspectives tragic. For the same reasons, it urges the strengthening of an ecumenism that overcomes barriers, appeases hatred, promotes an exchange of experiences that instigate global creativity, corroborating the value of social and humanitarian cooperation of partnerships, as for example in popular cooperatives in which the women are largely engaged, highlighting the fact that they are totally against wastage. There is a lot to be learnt with one another. A diverse route, as has been proved, is that of violence, brutality, wars, that has invaded the homes around the world. Summing up: every time we replace arrogance or prejudice, there shall always be something fair and good to absorb from all these components of this ample “Noah’s Ark”, which is the globalized world of today.

The French writer and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) was fortunate for having concluded inspiredly:

“There is not an inch in my path that does not cross the path of another”.

While there still is time

From this we commend the harmony of all for the benefit of all, while there still is time, because we share a single dwelling, Planet Earth, and the transgressions of its inhabitants have been demanding imperative measures: either we integrate or we disintegrate (…), reason why we must work strategically in partnerships that promote effective prosperity for the common masses. Therefore, in an era of profound transitions such as this in which we live, one can only understand the so greatly divulged “culture shock” as smoothing rough spots, because so much blood has already been shed in this world, and blood invokes blood, as in Salomon’s concept:

“Abyssus abyssum invocat (Abyss calls upon abyss)”.

Make compatible through the qualities

In an improvised speech that I made in the city of Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Brazil, on June 20, 1987, in the suggestive auditorium of the Total Ecumenism, of the Legion of Good Will’s (LGW) previous headquarters, I pointed out that a better motherland is not built and nor is a happier Nation established by making a collection of its faults, however by catalyzing all its skills. It is real suicide to want to make mankind compatible with what is condemnable in it. Conciliation has to be made from above: by means of its virtues and eternal qualities. A country progresses in the direct reason of the talent and the perseverance of its children (...). The same occurs on a planetary scope.

Ecumenism does not mean depersonalization

In my book Reflections and Thoughts — The Dialectic of Good Will (1987) and, previously, in the Jornal da LBV [LGW Journal], in January 1984, I emphasized: (...) when we speak of the union of all for the good of all, some may be afraid, thinking they shall have to capitulate their points of view on an irksome plain of a depersonalized alliance, the deplorable human automatism. This is not the case at all. In Democracy, everyone has the duty (far more than the right) to — honestly (basic requirement) and with a spirit of tolerance — enunciate their ideas, their manner of seeing things. However, nobody has the right to hate on the pretext of thinking differently, nor of living intimidated for the same reason.

Gandhi (1869-1948) said:



“Differences of opinion should never mean hostility”.



And it was for this reason that Mahatma became, for certain, the main personality of the independence of his People. The duty to express one’s point of view in a civilized manner does not mean that — for the validity of Democracy — you have to be transformed at any cost into the winner. He who cannot live with this does not know what a Democracy is, which, by the way, is the regime of responsibility.

Moreover, in the message “Question of Death or Life”, that I directed to the participants of one of the thematic congresses of the World Forum Spirit and Science, that occurred from 20 to 25 October, 2003, in the ParlaMundi of the LGW, in Brasília/DF, Brazil, considering that, according to Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), “the greatest figure of rhetoric is that of repetition”, I reinforced my thought to mark it with greater intensity:

To state one’s opinion in a civilized manner

Since here is the Legion of Good Will’s Worldwide Parliament of Ecumenical Fraternity, the LGW’s ParlaMundi, everybody has, in his/her activities, the duty of expressing his/her opinions, even with the natural heat caused in defense of one’s theses, however without a spirit of discord, hence in a civilized manner.

Poor of the society that does not discuss ideas. Only those who desire the criminal dominion of the human mind detest them. History tells us the horror that this episode on Earth has been. (...)

Planetary condominium

Globalization, therefore, cannot be the synonym of a standardized culture by a single model. Let us promote a global awareness, although fraternal and solidary, but in which the local singularities are respected. The path to this is called Ecumenism of the Heart. After all, we constitute a single Humanity, that resides in a single condominium: planet Earth. Where is the difficulty in understanding this, when the inverse would be death?

The Turkish statesman Atatürk, Mustafa Kemal (1881-1938), responsible for the founding of the Turkish Republic and for the modernization of his country, declared:

“Mankind is a single body and each nation is a part of that body. We must never say: What does it matter to me if some part of the world is aliasing? If there is such an illness, we must concern ourselves with it as though we were having that illness. (…) Peace at home is Peace in the country. Peace in the country is Peace in the world”.

Individual improvement

(…) My friends and brothers, it is necessary, before anything else, to trust the capacity of the Creatures, see them with Good Will, if we want to form correct, happy, efficient, productive citizens, in both national and planetary terms, by providing them effective opportunities. We should point out their virtues and correct, with efficient education, whatever needs attention. I have for long been alerting to the fact that Solidarity has expanded itself from the luminous field of ethics and presents itself as a strategy, so that the Human Beings may achieve their own survival. To the globalization of misery, we counterpose the globalization of Fraternity, that spiritualizes the Economy and solidarily disciplines it, as a strong instrument of reaction to the pseudo-fatalism of poverty. (…) A sudden miracle is not requested — although nothing is impossible —, but the strengthening of an ideal that establishes itself, phase by phase, until it completes its extraordinary service.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), the noteworthy Chairperson of the Commission of Human Rights at the UN, to well define this kind of resistance, assured:

“The construction of a pacific world is not achieved by editing a treaty. Time is required to elaborate the relations between Human Beings; but, if we aspire to Peace, this must be done”.



John XXIII (1881-1963), one of the most venerated popes in History, preached that:

“In love are solved all the social problems and political divergences, both on a European scale as well as on a world scale. In it lies the corner-stone. (…) Peace is a house; it is the house of everyone, and the rainbow that connects Earth to Heaven”.



The so greatly claimed structural change must count, therefore, besides the power of Reason, with the best of the Creature’s Sentiment; otherwise, it shall continue expressing the symbolic desire in which so often it has almost become. It is urgent, therefore, to join mind and heart: may the eye seek the heights, but it is proper for the feet to stay firmly on the ground.

Madam Curie (1867-1934), Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 and in Chemistry in 1911, who, by means of uncountable efforts and sacrifices led Science to so many conquests, from the highest point of her perseverance concluded:

“You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all Humanity”.

Philosophy and the hoe handle

There are different forms of fighting, proceeds Paiva Netto. However, the most ennobling form is this: modify, clarifying and stimulating the Human Creature, since it constitutes the base of any worldwide reinvigoration. It is, therefore, an urgent subject. Hence, let us begin yesterday. The good challenges do well to everyone; they are God’s prizes to our intelligence. The wise Albert Einstein (1875-1955), who does not require any further introductions, emphasized that:

“Difficulties and obstacles are valuable sources of health and strength for any society”.



In a letter that I sent to the youth of the Legion of Good Will in September 1987, I invited them to the comprehension that it is imperious that mental force be joined to that of the hands; philosophy, to the hoe handle (…). It is not enough to conceive, it has to be carried out. The new times demand greater promptness, since now the problem mercilessly reaches billions of people, whose patience is not inexhaustible. Even if it struck a single living Being, it would already be a scandal.

Human Development Report

Much to the point, the words of Dr. Michele Fedoroff, Deputy of the NGO Section/DESA (Department of Economic and Social Affairs), of the UN, in her speech, in the city of Brasília/DF, Brazil, during the 1st Forum of the Solidary Society Network Innovation Fair, promoted by the LGW, in March 2007:

“Poverty is a complex social and economic phenomenon, whose global scale affects over a billion people who still manage to live in some way with less than a US$ 1 dollar per day, and over 800 million inhabitants who have very little to eat and satisfy their necessary natal energies in their daily lives. The manifestations of poverty affect all the areas of people’s lives, resulting in illiteracy, diseases, lack of access to drinking water and adequate housing and a lack of work opportunities and political participation. Between 1990 and 2001, around 120 million people escaped from living in extreme poverty, which, in itself, is already a significant conquest (...)”.

The UN and thinking ahead

Meditating on Dr. Fedoroff’s speech, who on that occasion on behalf of Ms. Hanifa Mezoui, Chief of the NGO Section/DESA, represented the United Nations, I remembered that, at a dramatic moment of the Brazilian History in 1930, the President of the State of Minas Gerais*3, Antônio Carlos Ribeiro de Andrada (1870-1945), descendent of the Patriarch of the Independence of Brazil, José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva (1763-1838), exclaimed:

“Let us make the revolution before the People do it!”



Well, that is the natural providence of all intelligent women and men, since governing means thinking ahead. (…) And it is evident that it is a concern of the United Nations, with the eight Millennium Development Goals: to act beforehand.

Ethics in its most exalted sense and corresponding action

The LGW’s president resumes the subject in another tract of his, on the page “Spiritual knowledge generates abundance”, from the literary essay O Capital de Deus [The Capital of God], in which he states:



In these times of globalization of ill-distributed benefits, mainly for the innumerable multitudes “without access” (as the journalist and legionnaire of Good Will, Francisco de Assis Periotto, calls them), every nation has the duty, more than the right, of being creative, of becoming economically stable, expanding its industry, its commerce and its services; of modernizing the instruction and the Education of its population (illuminating everything with a touch of Spirituality which infers ethics in its most exalted sense and corresponding action), its network of communication and transportation; of seeking harmonious integration with the other nations; of achieving international prestige. It is obvious, but for this very reason, it must be proclaimed. Besides this, the barbarity which we witness around us gains force — every day less disguised — and as incredible as it may seem, the majority possibly do not duly measure it, for there is a thorough effort to keep the masses entertained, just as in the era of the Roman Caesars. Nevertheless, they shall gradually start seeing the pernicious effects. This is fatal. It is merely a matter of time (...).

No leader should accomplish anything alone. In this era of accelerated metamorphosis, sooner or later, he/she shall need the support of society. (…) The least that is expected is that he/she governs for its people, for its company; respect its community; love its organization; and so on. Furthermore, in the middle of the 21st century, the law cannot be an isolated decision of whoever it may be.

Upon taking any measures, it has to be done in a prudent, consensual, correct manner, since the consequences of individual measures may be uncorrectable. Known in the Eastern world of his time as an extraordinary philosopher and scientist, Omar Khayyam (1048-1122), who in 1074, upon the request of the Sultan Malik-Shah (1055-1092), made astronomical studies for the reform of the Islamic calendar, defined:

“Four things do not return: the arrow, once in flight, the word once said, the water that passed through the mill, and the opportunity lost”.

The current need to plant the collard and the oak

The Human Being with an encompassing vision knows how to examine the Souls, not in his own benefit, which is a crime, however, in favor of the collectivity. Here is the churchman that herds his flock with zeal, however, without setting it against the others; the politician of broad vision; the statesman who, at times, even his contemporaries do not understand, but that the future blesses.

On March 29, 1985, I wrote in “The New Republic and Jesus”, an article published in the former newspaper Jornal da Manhã, of São Paulo/SP, Brazil:

(…) Rui Barbosa (1849-1923), the remarkable internationally renowned Brazilian jurist, invites us to meditate on these concepts of such sagacious reach:

“While God still gives us a remainder of courage, we shall not lose hope in the fate of Goodness. Injustice may grow angry because it is precarious. Truth does not grow impatient, because it is eternal. When we practice a good action, we do not know if it is for today, or when it is for. The fact is that the fruits may come late, but they are certain. Some plant the seed of the collards for tomorrow’s dish; others, the seed of the oak for a future shelter. Those dig for themselves. These others cultivate for their country, for the happiness of their descendents, for the benefit of the human genus”.



In the complicated current times, dear Rui, both of these services need to be done in parallel: plant the seed of the oak, whose welcoming shadow will be projected over the later generations, and plant the food for now, however, for the empty stomachs, because even today, despite the efforts of so many dedicated and honest souls, the warning of the fearless abolitionist José do Patrocínio (1853-1905) still echoes:

“As long as a Brazilian citizen is hungry, we are a nation that laughs, when it should cry (…)”.

And the late founder of the LGW, Alziro Zarur, completed: “… cry in shame!”. Here too, since it is opportune, is the warning of the unforgettable Helen Keller (1880-1968), North American writer and social activist:

“Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other’s welfare, social justice can never be attained”.

Identification in Goodness, from north to south, from east to west

(…) While the governments do not find “definite solutions” for misery, may each Creature, whether reunited or not into communities, do its part for his fellow creature, putting in action the powerful associative spirit of Charity*4, preached and lived by Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, Buddha, Onisaburo and other luminaries of History, not only religious ones, like:

Charles Chaplin (1889-1977), actor and director of the English cinema — “Let us fight for a new world… a good world that can assure the chance of work for all, that may provide youth with a future and security for the aged”.



Anne Frank (1929-1945), young Jewish writer — “Everyone has inside themselves a fragment of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how extraordinary you can be! How much you can love! What you can do! And what is your potential! (…) How wonderful it is not needing to wait for a single moment to make the world better”.



La Fontaine (1621-1695), the French fabulist — “Love, love, for all the rest is nothing”.



Anália Franco (1853-1919), Brazilian educator — “Let us educate and give shelter to the poor children that need our help, tearing them away from the paths of vices, making them useful and worthy citizens for the enhancement of our Nation”.



Saadi (1213-1292), Persian poet — “Charity is a silent prayer”.



Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), Greek philosopher — “Happiness consists in doing the Good”.

Princess Diana (1961-1997) — “Everyone of us needs to show how much we care for each other and, in the process, care for ourselves”.



Winston Churchill (1874-1965), English politician and writer, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 — “All the great things are simple. And many may be expressed in small words: liberty; justice; honor; duty; pity; hope”.



August Comte (1798-1857), French philosopher and sociologist — “Living for others is not only the law of duty but also of happiness”.



Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), English icon of nursing, always ended her letters with a phrase that demonstrates her extreme concern for her fellow creatures — “If I may be useful in any way, here I am”.



Therefore, “may all men remember that they are brothers”, as exhorted Voltaire (1694-1778). In his Treatise on Tolerance, François-Marie Arouet (the real name of the polemic French thinker) wrote:

“Nature says to all men: (...) I have given you arms to cultivate the earth and a small amount of reason to guide you; I have placed in your heart a germ of compassion so that you can help one another to tolerate life. Do not suffocate this germ, do not corrupt it, you shall comprehend that it is divine (...)”.



Yes, dear Voltaire, and that it may so be from north to south, from east to west, since the historic time for Humanity to understand that the survival of the Planet depends on our true civilized behavior, is diminishing right before our eyes. And these are not the words of a visionary mystic, no matter how respectable he may be, but the simple statement of reality. Never like now has it been so necessary the message of comfort and hope.

Charity is the synonym of Love

The always remembered Alziro Zarur poetized a flagrant truth with this statement:

“The vibration of hatred destroys the human body, which was made to vibrate in the Law of Love”.



Finally, Charity, synonym of Love, is the center of gravity of spiritual, human, social, religious, philosophical, political awareness to such a point that, if the Being does not comprehend it, he/she must make an effort to understand it. For this ignorance, very often sophisticated, shows itself arrogant with regards to the lato sensu meaning of Charity and of its efficiency in individual’s, nations’ and peoples’ daily lives. This lack of knowledge has caused the stumbling of many ideologies that tried, with results far less than expected, to correct the situation of abject misery, which massacres immense populations. And when I refer to misery, I do not mean only social poverty, but also spiritual, moral, mental, as well as intellectual, that when observed away from human suffering may lead someone, despite his/her great erudition, to build a chimera, because of the lack of that common knowledge endowed to the most simple souls, reached in the struggle of constant labor, in order to have minimum living conditions so that the family, for example, can be supported in the daily battle. Theory, in practice, is not always the same thing, since at every moment one is faced with sudden facts. The knowledge that comes from the millennia shall reveal that, to the academic patrimony must be added the supreme instruction born from the learning of the suffering of the multitudes. The simple men have a lot to teach their elite.

In addition, when I refer to Charity in Education, I do not see this in a merely contemplative manner, but with an active spirit of one whose achievements are established in figures, as long as equally illuminated by the ideal of compassion. Statistics alone, without an elevated sentiment in its analysis and use, do not impede cunning corruption and reciprocal activities. To undertake Charity is to re-educate the Creatures. Human Beings must respect Human Beings! And this is not achieved merely with plans and decrees.

Here fits the essential words of the South African Statesman Nelson Mandela:

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”.



The maturation of the Soul fraternally brings together creatures, concomitantly, the terrestrial cultures. Due to the complexity of our present day dramas, even if the time comes when all the social problems are solved, Charity, which, in Sanskrit, precisely means “the Love that shifts itself”, will be as necessary as it is today. Without it nobody lives, since it is the food of the Spirit, the greatest gain for the equilibrium of the mind. Also because all citizens, in addition to the good term for the issues that are of the competence of the State, seek solutions for their human, moral and spiritual dilemmas.(...)

This reflection was made by Helena Petrovna Blavatski (1831-1891), Russian activist, writer and theosophist:

“Each person is affected by the combined influences of the rest, since each one, in his turn, affects all the others”.

Encyclopedic unlove

In the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, on April 10, 1988, I wrote: Without Love we shall never know Peace. It is “the divine bread of the souls, the sublime food of the hearts”, in the words of Laura, Lísias’*5 mother. And if anyone should argue that it is a waste of time to speak of Love now, with so much violence in the world, I oppose with the conviction that it is precisely the correct time for this. To exalt it when everybody would normally be living it, would be redundant...

Speaking of Love, the BOA VONTADE magazine published: “Encyclopedias — An English newspaper observed that in the first edition of a well-known encyclopedia, published in 1768, the word atom was explained in four lines, while to the word Love five whole pages were dedicated. In the last edition of the same encyclopedia, the definition of atom occupies five pages, and the word Love is not even mentioned”. (…)

One of the misfortunes of some public men is to remain ignorant of these grand subjects. They say it is a dream... They may wake up in a nightmare...

Charity and Politics

Paiva Netto, listed among the great pioneers as to the broad-ranging meaning of the word Charity, continues demonstrating this in his literary essay The Capital of God:

Charity, in its deepest expression, should be one of the main statutes of Politics, because it is not restricted to the simple and praiseworthy act of giving a piece of bread. It is the sentiment that — illuminating the ruler’s Soul, from the parliament member to the magistrate — shall conduct the Nation to the regime in which Solidarity is the base of the Economy, understood in its broadest sense. This demands a restructuring of the Culture, through Spirituality, amongst the people and as an academic discipline. However, in the intellectual field, that it may be done without any type of prejudice that reduces, on specific occasions, the perspective of the great analytical thinkers, due to the fact that some of them submit themselves to some ideological and scientific dogmatisms, which is inconceivable coming from supine lucubrating minds. Even because Science is prodigal in conquests for the common good. But also in its bosom there were many who suffered incomprehension, due to the castrating conventionalism of even some peers who hastily prejudged them. Their victims were: Socrates, Bias, Baruch Spinoza, Dante Alighieri, Galileo Galilei, Semmelweis, Harvey, Samuel Hahnemann, Maria Montessori, Luiza Mahin*6, Dr. Barry J. Marshall, Dr. J. Robin Warren and other universally respected renowned figures.

Summing up, Charity, synonym of Love, is a special Science, the vanguard of a world in which the Human Being shall be treated as he deserves to be: in a human and therefore civilized manner. Thus, we would be in this way building an Empire of Good Will on this planet, the excellent state for the Capital of God*7, which circulates throughout and that shall no longer accept criminal speculation of itself. (...)

This reflection of the Brazilian educator and writer Cinira Riedel de Figueiredo (1893-1987) comes to meet what we approached before:

“On each man and woman depends the improvement of everything that is born, grows, lives and is transformed on Earth, because, in fact, nothing dies. There is an ongoing transmutation, and we must be the guides for this transformation to occur in constant ascension, increasingly becoming more beautiful and more perfect to better represent the life that encourages it”.

Rupture with the past. For the better?

Proceeding, after presenting what Paiva Netto reiterated in 1985, we return to his word, when he presents:



Thanks to the solidary maturity of the consciences, ending the hunger of the body and the Spirit has become a concern, not only national, but rather planetary. What can impede the objectives that shall benefit any country to be reached without further delay on a global scale? Amongst other obstacles, stand out the exacerbation of narcissism, individualism, allied to the desire to dominate whatever can exist in human minds that are insensitive to the pain of others — that prodigiously gives fruit in an epoch of unrestrained corruption and impunity — and to the lack of perseverance and efficient tactics amongst many of those that oppose themselves to this state of things.

The combat of violence in the world begins in the fight against indifference towards your neighbors’ fate. To allow that feeling of compassion to be sacrificed between individuals is the same as promoting the collective suicide of the nations. We live in times of transformation, of rupture with the past. Is it for the better? It depends on our feeling of humanity now.

It was not without reason that the French writer and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) defined it like this:

“Mankind is constituted of his multiple choices and is entirely responsible for them” (...).

Economy of the Spiritual and Human Solidarity

From my literary essay Sociologia do Universo [Sociology of the Universe], consonant with our belief in the value of altruism, I point out that it is not because we believe in it, even in the area of business, that we should be considered fools. We are fully aware of the hindrances, even in the economic and social areas, that any community or nation constantly needs to face and overcome. Upon proposing, decades ago, the Economy of the Spiritual and Human Solidarity, as a Strategy of Survival, we are part of a rigorous group of cheerers that desires to see once and for all corrected the many faults damaging workers, companies, society and beliefs by those capable of doing so, who only require the prestige of those that shall be benefited by their initiatives, that is, the populations.

The more violence threatens the development of a Country, the more it cannot do without the spirit of Charity. The Persians, who followed the doctrine of Zarathustra (628-551 B.C.), taught:

“He who is indifferent to the well-being of others does not deserve to be called a man”.

The thought of one of the most expressive Spanish philosophers, José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955), fits in with this ancient Persian precept when he affirms:

“State and life project, action program or human conduct are inseparable terms. The different State classes are born from the way in which the entrepreneurial group establishes collaboration with the others”.

Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997), who in the second part of the 20th century started undertaking a series of deep reforms in China, pointed out a lesson of what must not be done to reach agreement:

“There are people who criticize others to gain fame, stepping on other people’s shoulders to ascend to key positions”.



Paiva Netto, continuing his explanation of how he comprehends the Charitable sentiment, as a propelling force, not only in the religious, but also in a social, political and scientific extent, clarifies:



Because of this, the Charity that we suggest goes beyond what inspired the solidary economy studied by the eminent sociologist Émile Durkheim (1858-1917). The Economy of the Spiritual and Human Solidarity that we praise is holistic, since it invites us to catch a glimpse of our true origin, which is spiritual. Only in this way shall there be the humanization and spiritualization of the State and of the Human Creature itself, that is, under a shining bath of Ecumenical Charity, which makes no distinction of people, since it considers that — above color, belief, disbelief, political view, gender, age — we stand before Terrestrial Beings that beg for help and comprehension (...).

In the same purpose declared the heroic Nelson Mandela:

“Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished”.

The family of Nations

Also in the literary essay The Capital of God, the leader of the LGW once again approaches the much diffused “culture shock”, pointed out by some. He says:



With increasing intensity for the 21st century, the issue is never to disregard the multiple opportunities of development for the common good that modern technology offers us.

And advises:

It is still proper to act in such a way that, pari passu, the advances of technological knowledge contemplate expansive mechanisms of Compassion and Solidarity, in the effective combat of the moral and spiritual misery that obstructs the success of all society. This is to think ecumenically to find the real solution for the increase of purchasing power and, what is fundamental, for the democratic access to good education, for example, the lack of which, at the present moment, imprisons in indigence entire populations in the four corners of the Earth, making it difficult for them to free themselves from the diverse forms of hunger. This is true disrespect to human dignity.

“Hunger is a bad adviser”

In case this maturity of mentality does not occur quickly, Paiva Netto, whose words are justified by his work, leads us all to reflect that a danger can truly approach those who do not take these precepts into consideration, for



(…) Whoever is hungry wants to eat; whoever has thirst tries to quench it; whoever is naked needs to be dressed; whoever is ill awaits for the urgent cure; the desperate longs for comfort. Not tomorrow, right now! And before the starving masses in extreme delirium start wrenching by force what they do not have from the hands of those who do. After more than two millennia, the Latin poet Virgil (70-19 B.C.) is still current:

“Hunger is a bad adviser” (...).



Before such circumstance definitively becomes a flag waved by afflicted communities, whereby, as the President of the LGW affirms, “Nations also vomit”, he brings us reflections of other great names of History:



Redoubled consideration is necessary with regards to what the Scotsman Adam Smith (1723-1790) registered so many years ago. The Father of Economics said:

“Poverty dishonors no one, but it is very irksome”.



However, there is an aggravating factor in all of this, my dear Adam, as shown in this warning from Gandhi, the liberator of India:

“The greatest crime is hunger”.

Mahatma’s conclusion is correct, seeing that hunger and its consequent infirmities, among them dwarfism, blindness, mental weakness (that makes absorbing knowledge difficult) and others — which befall millions throughout the Planet every year —, constitute a genocide, which we must denounce with intense clamor, worthy of the Roman General Scipio Emiliano (184-129 B.C.), when he burnt Carthage to ashes and decimated its inhabitants in 146 B.C. (...) There is no good regime as long as Mankind is evil. Reason for which it is inevitable to reflect with serenity and bloodlessly about this quote of the wise Chinese Confucius (551-479 B.C.):

“Pay Kindness with Kindness, but evil with Justice”.



I refer to the bloodlessly, in addition to serene, reflection about this thought of Confucius, so that no one should criminally confuse Justice with vengeance.

Fear is a bad advisor

We can notice, reading between the lines of what we are witnessing throughout the world, the message written in bright paints: just like hunger, fear is a bad advisor. It is evident that one cannot confuse fear with prudence, because the latter illuminates and propels the Good Will of beings willing to transform this state of things, as the English philosopher and historian Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) proposes:

“In Education and other fields of existence, what Humanity most needs is the substitution of fear with hope”.



The purest truth, illustrious Russell, because hope never dies, never! Thus we work, unceasingly, for a solidary Education, without ever forgetting the indispensable Ecumenical Spirituality, which infers the Ecumenical Citizen Pedagogy, the Pedagogy of Affection*8, directed especially to the children and the youth, as a compass showing the ideal way to reach the so much dreamed of planetary harmony, whose difficulty in being accomplished strengthens the decision of those who do not capitulate in the face of hardships found along the way. To educate the deviations of the Soul, only with spiritualized Love and the illumination of Justice.

The second Secretary-General of the UN and Nobel Peace Prize, Dag Hammarskjöld*9 (1905-1961), disclosed:

“Unless there is a spiritual renaissance, the world will know no Peace”.



And Dr. Hammarskjöld’s declaration — observes Paiva Netto — deserves our most expressive applause.

As to the power of Good Will, the Law of Spiritual, Human, Social and Political Solidarity, a magic thread that joins the parts anachronistically separated from the society organism, it comes to my mind this manifestation of the already previously quoted Charles Chaplin, the genius Carlitos, when he states:

“The world shall not achieve Peace through the threat of bombs that are being manufactured, based on the disintegration of the atom. The world shall only have Peace when the natural sentiment of Good Will is aroused in Mankind”.

Democracy: the regime of responsibility

Also in The Capital of God, the author of Reflexões da Alma [Reflections of the Soul]*10 analyzes:

The advent of globalization revealed more, to the eyes of the world, the idea of Democracy. Nevertheless, this globalization presents it in an inconclusive form. As long as everything is submitted to greed, where does the true emancipation of the Human Being lie? Victor Hugo (1802-1885) advocated:

“Freedom is, in philosophy, the reason; in art, inspiration; in politics, the right”.

I think, in this case, in accordance with this great man of Besançon. And I repeat: authentic Democracy is the regime of responsibility, the sincere respect to reason, inspiration and to Peoples’ rights. (...)

Liberty, Virtue, Justice

Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755), the author of The Spirit of the Laws, wrote:

“The peculiar principle of democratic government is virtue”.



Due to this, Liberty, Virtue and Justice have to join hands to combat corruption and impunity, fatal to the survival of a democratic regime. Alziro Zarur proclaimed that “the first great reform to be made is that of the Human Being”. Truly, because the Creature urgently needs to become more human and spiritual, in order to carry out the restructuring of planetary living, with Solidarity as the efficient strategy, not merely as a most beautiful inert idealism, but as a structural, organizational action never before conceived.

The Soul is the generator of all progress

It is worth registering here the article Independência (Independence) by Paiva Netto, published by the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo on September 7, 1986, Brazilian Independence Day, also elaborated by the author in other noteworthy communication vehicles:

(...) The Human Being, with his/her Eternal Spirit, is the center of the Economy, the generator of all progress. Without him/her, there is neither work nor capital.

The wealth of a country is in the heart of its People. However, entire nations still suffer in misery. It is convenient to remember that empty stomachs and frustrated Spirits are not, in general, willing to listen.

Possibly, because of this, the Russian thinker Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), author of Crime and Punishment, warned:

“Feed them, and only after that demand them to be virtuous!”



The Brazilian writer and politician José Américo (1887-1980), also declared in a bitter moment that:

“Scandal is to die of hunger in Canaan”.



And Saint Ambrosius (340-397), Saint Augustine’s (354-430) mentor, asserted:

“If you own great wealth and your brother is hungry, you are a thief. If the needy die, you are a murderer”.

In times when, due to advances in technology, production expectations are surpassed, hunger is really a scandal! Not only that of the body, but also that of knowledge, that is, Education, without which no Nation is strong. Anachronistically, never has the world known so much abundance on one hand and so much misery on the other. The Economy lacks Solidarity.

Until the last of its sons have the minimal conditions for a dignified life, no country will be an independent nation, but merely the slave of its self imposed limitations. The internal obstacles cause more damage to the People’s progress than external ones (…).

Still regarding the lack of Solidarity in the Economy, consequently also in Politics, in another lecture, Paiva Netto recalled a quote from Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), in which the controversial French physicist and mathematician affirms:



“The pleasure of great men consists in being able to make others happier”.



In this sense, the leader of the LGW completed:

After all, Human Beings are not currency. Their importance cannot be measured by a cipher on their foreheads.

Cooperating with the UN

When asked about the cooperation that the LGW has been offering the United Nations since 1994, Paiva Netto answered:

Let us continue confident, yet always attentive and diligent, in the measures that are being taken on a national and worldwide scope, like the vast UN initiatives. And for these precious opportunities we are present with our sincere collaboration of institutions born from the core of society that, increasingly, become aware of their citizen rights, in the measures that shall create a better Brazil and a happier Humanity. Not in a distant future, however as soon as possible!

Women in the repair of nations

On the occasion of the 51st Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, held from February 26 to March 9 of 2007, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, United States, in the document delivered to the event, translated by the UN into its six official languages, Paiva Netto highlighted extracts of his page “A Mulher no conSerto*11 das nações [Women in the ‘repair’ of nations]”, in which he pays fair homage to them, pointing out the “essential role of Women for the survival of the nations”.

Right at the beginning, he comments:

Before anything else, I have to clarify to you the reason for the word “conserto” written with an “s” in the title of this article. It is not an error or distraction in the use of the word in Portuguese. It really is conSerto (repair), since, in the way in which the world is about to fry with global warming, it is better for men and women to fraternize, unite their forces and carry out urgent repairs to what threatens to break, because otherwise, we may end up cooked nuclearly or climatically in a phenomenal pot: the planet that we inhabit. (...)

Bread and roses

The fight for the emancipation of Women — proceeds Paiva Netto — is ancient. Even in the classical times of Greece, this libertarian spirit sought, under a certain aspect, its path in the efforts and difficulties of Lysistrata, with her sex strike, which motivated the women of Athens and of Sparta, to deter the Peloponnesian War, according to the comedy by Aristophanes (450-388 B.C.).

In 1857, hundreds of textile and clothing women workers in factories in New York started a strong protest against their low salaries and working days of over 12 hours and detestably poor working conditions. In 1908, over 14 thousand women returned to the New York streets. With the slogan “Bread and roses” — “the bread being the symbol of economic stability and the roses representing a better quality of life” — they demanded identical rights as those claimed by the workers of the ‘50s in the 19th century. Approximately 130 of them died during a mysterious fire. But this was not all. Three years later, also in that city, another tragic occurrence was provoked by the truly infernal conditions lacking in safety at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. On March 25, 1911, more than 140 male and female weavers died, the majority of them Italian and Jewish, burnt to death (21 of them were men). The facts were registered in their dramatic nature: desperate Creatures throwing themselves from the burning building. The protests which occurred in the cosmopolitan metropolis were aligned among other main steps for the emancipation of Women, as well as the efforts of so many others, as for example the German Clara Zetkin (1857-1933), one of the most famous activists for women’s rights, who, in 1910, during the 2nd International Conference of Socialist Women, proposed the creation of the International Women’s Day.

Their courageous attitude, with their energetic revolution, without giving up their affability, the sense expressed already in the slogan “Bread and roses”, fits in perfectly in this exclamation by Helen Keller:

“Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all!”



It is evident that the famous social activist refers to the audacity that propels those in the vanguard to review outdated habits and concepts, which retard the evolution of all Creatures and Nations (above all in indispensable spiritual knowledge). She herself is a model of this premise. Blind, deaf and dumb, due to a disease that manifested itself when she was only 18 months, she broke barriers, becoming one of the most respected women of History. She “saw” how many steps were necessary for the path to comprehension:

“The highest result of Education is tolerance”.

The housewives’ miracle

On another occasion, Paiva Netto declared:

There is no better financier than the mother in a family, the housewife, who very often has to make do with her minuscule budget, achieving real miracles, of which we are all testimony of, from the most powerful Minister of Finance to the simplest citizen. Above all, women’s actions are fundamental in the field of Economy, which cannot be caught practicing the terrible crime of forgetting the spirit of Solidarity.

Mohammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948), jurist and politician, founder of Pakistan, in a speech he made in 1944, at the Muslim University Union, pointed out:

“No nation shall be able to reach the heights of its glory unless the women stand side by side with the governments”.

Ecumenical Instruction, Education and Spirituality lead to liberty

The late journalist Ibrahim Sued (1929-1995), considered the pioneer of Brazilian social columnists, interviewed a few select personalities, amongst which the North American President John Kennedy (1917-1963), the Pope Paul VI (1897-1978) and, in the inauguration of the city of Brasília, capital of Brazil, the Brazilian President Juscelino Kubitschek (1902-1976). In 1995, he chose Paiva Netto for an interview on the course that Education was taking, this being the last great report of Ibrahim’s long and victorious career. The president of the LGW, discoursing on his educational proposal, recalled:



After the Second World War, the United States of America established, for Europe, the famous Marshall Plan*12, and for Japan, that received the tremendous impact of two Atomic bombs, let us say, General Douglas MacArthur’s (1880-1964) plan. Fabulous amounts of money entered Europe and in the land of the Rising Sun. But what, in fact, raised these nations up was, at that time, the extreme zeal taken in the education of their youth, their people, united to concerns of immediate economic order. They invested in Education, besides strengthening their bodies and fostering work. How to include in the work market a citizen that is not duly prepared? In what way raise a nation if the People are not well prepared? The posts appear, the occupations too, however, how to develop them? By not educating women, men, the elderly and the children is to ankle shackle a nation.

Educated, instructed and ecumenically spiritualized People form a Nation that breaks the chains of misery and throws them far away. For this reason, for a long time we believe that, as long as efficient education desired by all those of common sense does not prevail, any nation will suffer the captivity of the limitations that it imposes on itself.

And thus ended his declarations to Ibrahim Sued.



The permanent concern of the LGW to provide the needy and suffering classes of society access to an Education that strives to ally instruction to Ecumenical Spirituality, and, as Professor Arnaldo Niskier, ex-President of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, dated July 8, 1995, during a visit to the Educational, Cultural and Community Center of the LGW said, “A noteworthy effort. Paiva Netto brings a unique teaching methodology that requires specialized teachers that are not available in the work market and, therefore, shall have to be prepared within an original and revolutionary system from a pedagogical point of view”.

Efficacious learning

Recently, commenting to his work team about the message that he delivered to the Legion of Good Will educators in 2000, also published in the magazine Solidary Society, and sent to the UN, Paiva Netto exalted the expressive words of the Brazilian abolitionist and politician Dr. Bezerra de Menezes (1831-1900), deservedly revered as the Doctor of the Poor. This thought, as the president of the LGW points out, reflects attuned ideals concerned with the fundamental theme of teaching:



“Education and Instruction are the two columns on which the building of human perfection are laid, and from where we may trespass the vast and infinite horizons, closed with seven seals to those who let remain inert, in sterile germ, the powers of their Soul”.

And Paiva Netto comments:



Dr. Bezerra, in addition to being a distinguished educator, was an advanced legislator — let us just observe his project regulating the services of domestic servants, dated July 27, 1883, decades before the subject became a concern in the Country.

Renewal of generations

Without a way of teaching that focuses the innermost part of the Human Creature, nothing of concrete can be built or transformed. Under this theme, it is worth transcribing what the Brazilian businessman Elzimar Antunes stated when interviewed by the Super Good Will Radio Network, on June 13, 2007, during the Congress God and Ethics in Business, an activity of the World Forum Spirit and Science, hosted by the LGW, in which he was one of the speakers:



“How will we walk up the steps of evolution, administrate our business, and guide the countries and studies? It all depends on the Human Being, the citizen. Following the process of renewal of generations in the Legion of Good Will, which is very constant, we notice that this gives it life. And we may think: ‘Well, the LGW was founded almost 60 years ago’, and when you visit it you find young people, all fraternized and in tune with the same objective, with the same purpose. The LGW is a constant process of renewal, starting with the Human Being; it prepares the individual”.



The analysis of the entrepreneur Elzimar comes to meet the message that Paiva Netto forwarded to the teachers of the Legion of Good Will Institute of Education, in the city of São Paulo/SP, Brazil, regarding the difficult art of educating nowadays:



The Spirit has a predominant place in our labor. However, in the preparation of youth and adults for their subsistence in this material world of unheard of technology and, paradoxically, at present, so unstable for those who struggle for their own future, we must take into highest consideration that the students have to be qualified with efficiency for the demanding necessities of the present tough work market. Even more: do so in such a manner that they do not follow a path in which the profession for which they prepared themselves for, no longer exists at the end of the course. Hence it is essential for them to receive an efficacious formation in order for them to be daring, entrepreneurs, so that they may supersede the supervenient facts that may at any moment defy society, scaring multitudes. (...) It would be of no use therefore — let us say for argument’s sake — to make audacious plans if there is nobody that has been duly prepared to develop them. For this very reason, take care of the Spirit, reform the Human Being and everything will transform itself!

Love is the great champion of the most difficult battles.

Greeting

The Legion of Good Will, on this opportunity, enthusiastically greets all those who idealistically gathered for the Annual Ministerial Review — AMR, hosted by the ECOSOC during the High-Level Segment 2007, in Geneva, Switzerland, in which the AMR Innovation Fair was also held for the first time. Our deference to the worthy representatives of the United Nations, Heads of State, Ministerial Advisers and other participants from civil society or the private sector, who are engaged in fostering socioeconomic development of our Planet on sustainable bases.



By uniting the efforts of all those of Good Will, we shall have a better world for all.



*1 Author’s note — The Ecumenical Christ’s Commandment, in his Gospel, according to Mathew, 10:8: “Heal the sick, resuscitate the dead, clothe the naked, expulse the demons (which means, remove pain from the heart of those who suffer), give freely what freely you have received”.

*2 Editor’s note — Upon closing this document, we received the information that the G8 Leaders agreed to consider the goal presented by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, at the meeting in Heiligendamm, in Germany, to cut greenhouse gas emissions in 50% by 2050.



* The Earth Summit on Climate Changes occurred on September 24, 2007, at the United Nations headquarters, in New York, USA.



*3 President of the State of Minas Gerais — At the beginning of the Brazilian Republic, the State governors were known as Presidents. The representative of the LGW Danilo Parmegiani with Hanifa Mezoui (L) and Michele Fedoroff, from the NGO Section of the UN/DESA, during the New York edition of the Innovation Fair. Read complete article on page 88.



*4 Associative Spirit of Charity — Read more about Paiva Netto’s thoughts on Charity, which he calls “the most powerful instrument to carry out even what is considered impossible”, in Spiritual Guidelines of the Religion of God, volume 1, in the chapter “About Complete Charity”.



*5Lísias — Character of the book Nosso Lar, by André Luiz, channeled by Francisco Cândido Xavier, FEB.

*6Luiza Mahin — Mother of the famous Brazilian poet, journalist and abolitionist Luiz Gama. A well educated and combative slave, who had an important participation in the Male Revolt — a series of slave rebellions that occurred in the first half of the 19th Century in Brazil. The movement leaders were brutally chased and punished, but Luiza managed to run away to Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) where she continued her fight for her people’s freedom, being arrested and possibly deported to Africa.



*7 O Capital de Deus [The Capital of God] — In this way Paiva Netto defines the Human Being and his eternal Spirit. It is also the title of one of his essays.



*8 Ecumenical Citizen Pedagogy, the Pedagogy of Affection — Is a vanguard educational line, proclaimed by Paiva Netto, whose methodology is applied successfully in the socioeducational programs and projects developed by the Legion of Good Will throughout Brazil and Abroad, by means of schools; Homes for children, youth and senior citizens; Community and Educational Centers; and sports and cultural centers. It is based on the values born of Universal Love, adjusting people to live the Ecumenical Citizenship, established on the full exercise of Planetary Solidarity, above all beliefs, disbeliefs, traditions, ethnic origins or any other factor of segregation of the Human Being. It has as its banner the New Commandment of Jesus, the Ecumenical Christ: “Love one another as I have loved you” (Gospel, according to John, 13:34).



*9 Dag Hammarskjöld — Died tragically in an air disaster, in 1961, in Ndola, Zambia, a place where he was to discuss the cease-fire in Congo with the separatist leader Moïse Tshombe. The DC-6B that transported him fell shortly after the airport had come into sight. Many believe that it was a conspiracy for his assassination, although the causes of the accident have never been explained.

*10 Reflexões da Alma [Reflections of the Soul] — Book written by Paiva Netto that has already exceeded 200.000 copies sold.

*11 Conserto and Concerto —In Portuguese, the pronunciation for ConSerto and ConCerto is the same, but the meaning of both words is different. The first one is for fixing, repairing, restoring. The last one has the literal sense of the musical show, agreement (such as a political one), harmony. (Translator’s note)

*12 The Marshall Plan — Theme constantly analyzed by the veteran Brazilian journalist Hélio Fernandes.