There we were in Budva, this tourist city
in the seaside of Montenegro that I fell in love. Budva is just a small village
with 14 thousand inhabitants. The village is surrounded by three big
mountains. These mountains make the city be a big hole that access held by
ocean. There is also an island in from of the city covered by a hill. This hole
is completely covered with constructions and there is a long beach crossing the
seaside from a extreme to the another one.
Budva is the center
of the Montenegrin tourism, the main reason why is because Budva is a
really well preserved medieval walled city. This natural contrast between
island, mountains and sea with the fabulous constructions just made the city
more special.
As I civil engineer
I use to freak while I'm seeing impressive European cities that has strong
connection with architecture and history, fields that I'm really interested.
Architecture is
really related with Engineering. In my field, the architects are the ones that
created and projected the idea and the engineers have the mission to make the
architect's ideas become real. The connection that make an idea become real and
make we see every construction that are around us, without the idealizer and
the executor we wouldn't be able to see anything that is built around us. What
I'm saying is that without the engineer, none of the architect's ideas could
become real as he wanted and without the architect, none engineer couldn't
build it properly, once there is no project.
I'm really
fascinated who are engineer and architects at the same time. When I was 18 I
had the amazing experience to have a professor in my technician course in
construction that he inspired me a lot. Carlos Bonfim was Civil Engineer and
architect that inspired me and many other students in the beginning of our
studies. He wasn't just someone that has a Master Degree. He was the master and
is still being. In fact he's the guy that could create the ideas and make they
become truth at the same time. Being the best professor that I had in my entire
career as Engineer, He was the young and expert teacher that even having a wide
knowledge he was always opened to discuss and teach us what he knew. It was the
moment of my life that I started to understand the meaning of teaching, as a
professor and as the student that was learning. I could see how important for
him was sharing his knowledge, his goal was making us know everything that he
knew and we were able to understand in this moment of our life, at the same
time discussing with us.
I had the feeling
that he was opened for learning with us and seeing how in future experiences he
could learn and share more. If I liked my career in the beginning, this moment
make me really feel in love in the construction field.
The feeling that I
have is that our education often is mechanized. We sit in the classroom worried
about memorizing contents and being able to be approved in the final exam. For
my entire student life there were just few subjects that I studied that I
learned by heart and until now I have memories from it. As student, stop and
think what you really still know by heart. Even forgetting some details
overtime, you will just need to have a quick check for reminding what you
learned.
Bonfim’s classes
were like that, like few of the ones that I had in my career of student in the
Technician course, civil engineering degree and 2 masters degrees that I
attended. If you have the same feeling that I had in most of my academic life,
you learned in this really mechanic and memorizing way. Unfortunately it was
this way that I learned in the school in all of levels. Going to school, taking
some notes, preparing myself for the subjects that I would have in the exam and
the content was normally from a specific book. Without any analytic thinking,
we are just memorizing information, but not learning them. Our education system
makes we being knowledgeable, but not able to criticize our knowledge.
Our professors
sometimes forget that they are there to teach (share their knowledge with
students) and they use this mechanic method. For me this is not the meaning of
education.
Education for me is
about sharing information from someone that had the chance to have more
experience in some topics to others that experienced less. This is how I see a
real teacher. He/she is not the one that knows a lot, it's about the one that
share as much as he/she can with others.
I don't believe
that teaching and learning is something hard, it's just about make people know
what you know and learning from others. In fact the biggest school called as
world are full of teachers and students.
Some of them are
closed to learn or teach, but the ones like me, Carlos Bonfim and many other
people that I met in my life are the ones that understand that we never have
enough knowledge that we couldn't learn more. We’re the ones that are not afraid,
to share our knowledge, thinking that knowledge is power. We are the ones that
think that everything that we learned should be shared with some other people.
This is the power
that I have while I'm writing, sharing with you everything that I learned and
I'm still learning. It's the power that Bonfim has as a professor while he’s
teaching and it's the power that all of us have when are sharing our knowledge.
We have more power when we are sharing the knowledge than when we keep it just
for us. It's something complementary, while I'm teaching, I'm learning at the
same time.
It's
an endless loop.
I'm saying that
because while I'm sharing something that I experienced with someone, I have the
chance to make they understand what I think. While I'm talking and writing, I
also have the chance to rethink about it. Also while I'm listening them back,
I'm being the student and I'll probably rethink again about this topic. This
loop makes we constantly being teachers and students.
Not just teachers
and students. We also can be like Bonfim, Architects and Engineers. The ones
that have the idea and make it become real.
In this long
process of interactions (teaching and learning), in some moments of our life
we'll realize the we have so many ideas and overtime we will also understand
how to make this idea becomes true.
The process of
thinking is going to be limited just about ideas and even with they are
brilliant. If you don't share this idea and make it become true, it will be
just ideas. Living your life doing things just for doing are going to make you
be like the engineer making a building without the project.
It's like living
just for living, without thinking in what you're doing in your life. René
Descartes, a philosopher, scientist and mathematic said the quote: "I
think, then I exist". He though that the doubt about his existence proved
that he existed and he should be opened for the doubt. He also assumed:
“Therefore I can’t doubt that I exist. Hence, there is
at least one fact in the universe that is beyond doubt.”
Philosophy can
make your ideas work in an infinity loop, but it's going to give to so many
answers for questions that you didn't know the existence before. In this time Descartes’
book was prohibited by the pope (1663). If you want to have a deeper trip check
it out: I
think, then I exist.
I'm
talking about a visionary, a philosopher that is standard text at most university
philosophy departments. The respected mathematic that created the Cartesian coordinate system and he's the
father of the analytical geometry, he was one of the key of the Scientific
Revolution. His philosopher and scientific experiences gave many contributions
for both of the fields that we still have nowadays.
Avoid this
automatic mood of living that you wake up, go to work, go to sleep then seeing
your life passing without you noticing it.
In this process of
learning and thinking we can also be the one that create and project things
that can we can act and contribute positively to the world.
It's in our hands.
It's up to us understanding how we can change our world. My utopian is the one
that make me share my mind with you, while I'm writing and interacting with
people, makes me believe in a better world in the future.
My friend, I truly believe in what John Lennon said in imagine. If
you have some patience, try to read sentence by sentence from this lyrics.
“Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today... Aha-ah...
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace... You...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world... You...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one”
I also would like to share with you some pictures the city of
Budva that I took. The one that make me have this trip in my mind that allowed sharing
my thoughts with you.
Thanks for your attention!
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