I talked about Robi in the second-to-last episode, but I forgot to mention that he was incredibly honest. I've known him since our undergraduate days in philosophy. Our first meeting was in a class about... Metaphysics of Morals, by Immanuel Kant. He had a habit of beginning his interventions like this: "From my earliest childhood..." And only after this introduction would he make his intelligent comment or an embarrassing question to the professor.
Once, when we were still students, he saw me at the university with a shorts pink pink and he proposed that we make a trade: his viscose shirt, made by his mother, with embroidery on the V-neck, for mine. shortsI told him the garment would be too small for him, but he replied point-blank: "Marcos, I want to show my ass." I accepted the proposal, because if the shorts He admired her buttocks; her blouse, my curly hair. Thus began my friendship with Robi, sealed, years later, with an invitation to be my best man, which he politely declined, telling me that as an openly gay man he could not share the Catholic view regarding homosexuals. I sadly accepted his refusal, but praised his loyalty to his principles.
Roberval always told me that the Catholic Church wasn't a club, an NGO, or a political party that we joined. "Marcos, I'm not obligated to be Catholic, but if I wanted to be, why shouldn't I follow its rules if I believed in the promise the Church claims to uphold?" I've never seen such a simple and emphatic defense of commitment to a belief, not even among my priest friends.
This text does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Unicamp.
Cover photo:
Illustration: Fernando Morato
