DUTIES

“If you have to do it anyway, do it with pleasure”

A friend of mine once told me a particular phrase her mother used to say ever since she was a little girl. Whenever they have a task to accomplish, her mother has always instructed her and her sister to do it with all pleasure they could.

“Well, you have to do it anyway, don’t you? Then it is better to do it in the most pleasant feeling possible. Don’t you think it is nicer?”

Just another day, my friend had found her mother in cleaning-clothes, half dancing and half cleaning, listening to a funny rock music out loud playing in the radio.

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A STRONG WILL PLENTY OF PLEASURE

This very mother of my friend has another interesting story I would like to share with you.

By the time of her 70th birthday she decided to pick up one activity she had never performed before in her life, due to accomplish it in the course of the next year.

The first one chosen was participating of “San Silvestre” marathon, an annual event that takes place in the streets of Sao Paulo City on December 31st. It is quite hard to make the entire course because it is one of Latin America’s biggest road races: 15 kilometers and the final part of the course (at Brigadeiro Luis Antonio Avenue) is a tiring climb.

Well, that was a real challenge! According to my friend she started to practice running and exercise on the end of September. On the day she was running the marathon it rained. Nevertheless, she keeps running and FINISHES the entire course!

The picture above was taken by my friend. Her mother was at Brigadeiro Luis Antonio Avenue, and despite of the rain we can almost feel her joy and happiness running there!

Ms. Komatsu, my sincere congratulations for your accomplishment (and cheerful perseverance)!