The other day I had an argument with a Portuguese friend. It is not often that I have arguments with my friends, so he should consider himself lucky that I care enough to argue. I don't even remember what got us started, but I remember how we overcame the argument. I wanted to know what he would do if he had lived during the dictatorship. Would he have been critical, would be just live his life and not raise much hell. He couldn't tell me what he would've done.
It is these questions that haunt me sometimes, but I would like to believe that I would not stay quiet and I would fight for what is right. It is not a question of us defending our rights; it is also a responsibility. Past generations have fought for our right to free speech, our right to receive an education, our right to vote, etc. None of these things were trivial and we should not take them for granted. But we should take what we were given and preserve it for others.
History repeats itself, but it does not repeat itself in exactly the same way. A few years from now, people will look at some of the current governments and will see new forms of authoritarianism. I hope someone will ask on which side of the fence people stood, in particular on days like today.
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