THE ALCHEMY OF HOPE AND THE MASSES.

THE ALCHEMY OF HOPE AND THE MASSES.

        The human inventions and discoveries turn into products and services that can bring good and bad results for some people or for all mankind. The moment that such results are made available is also something that needs observation as well.

        A lot of inventions are universal and they really useful to all people. Others are typical stuff for a people or an area and they are applicable specifically to that place and/or population.

        The wheel is an example of universalized invention. It is, actually, an adaptation of natural elements that already existed and that man knew how to take advantage and to develop its use.

        In my opinion, the most important human invention is the “word”. The transformation of produced sounds, by the mouth or no, and converted into specific codes, makes it possible to have started and/or finished anything, by just the speaking of a simple word or command. The word is the most powerful invention ever created by the man.

        The word can be universally used, but there other ones that are of local use. For instance, the word "internet" is now a word of global use. Though, the word "vipe" is an entry that only has communicative value and meaning for the speakers of Cruzeiro do Sul, in Acre, and for the neighboring communities.

        Some inventions are ephemeral and do not grow, others are perennial and they will last forever. Some are appropriate to give life, others to extinguish it. Some give to the user the possibility to maintain them alive for a long time, other ones have the capacity to remove thousands, or up to million, of lives in matter of seconds.

        Some people invent some products and for that reason they get rich with a lot of money. Others know that their inventions or services are used by a lot of people and they don't receive a single dime due to their creation. The example firstly mentioned is the software "Windows" by Microsoft. In spite of many copies being into operation in millions of computers worldwide, the Company sells the product and it enriches with the sale of their programs. An example for the second type to be noticed here is, for instance, the e-mail. A service for exchanging static messages that was created by an ARPA’s professional technician, and he doesn't receive at least a dime for each e-mail account created.

        The wheel is one of the oldest and most useful inventions. Another which is very important for the human history is the gunpowder. With it, human beings got to accomplish a lot of changes in their behavior, and in the other people’s life.

        The gunpowder was invented by Chinese alchemists Taoists. According to Discovery Channel, the alchemists tried to discover some products that were capable of allowing man to live more and better. The attempts went on happening and due to some chemical reactions that started happened and unintentionally they also generated some explosions. The gunpowder was one of those discoveries that caused a very huge impact in people’s life. Gathering sulfur, saltpeter, and dark coal produced a composite of great explosive power.

        The gunpowder was spread all over Asia, the Middle East, and the rest of the world as a whole. Being an explosive element, it caused a lot of deaths of some people, but at the same time, it also served to protect other communities that learned how to master its. Imagine, for instance, when the Europeans came to American continents wishing to find and to plunder gold and other wealth from the native peoples from here. And as they run across with the native of this area that knew only as weapons, just arch and arrow, they made use of their firearms. How godlike they might have looked like!

        That terrible explosion, the spitting of smoke, and the throw of some lead or other metal balls, capable o killing another person. Think of how the native persons would have noticed that moment! If the thunder that came from the sky was a symbolic representation of Tupã’s power, but it didn't cause such a damage to their siblings, that new "thunder" caused by another similar person, it also represented the power, besides the capacity of killing.

        For us, to arrive at an understanding of the gunpowder use, we will have to draw a parallel of it with the popular manifestations as those ones that happened in the beginning of the second half of April of 2013 in Brazil. An enormous blowout was made with the students’ presence fighting for a price reduction in the bus fares for public transportation in São Paulo. The metaphor is something more or less similar to this.

        The parts of a complete cartridge are: projectile, case, propeller, and fuse. Each one has its function and it serves to the purpose of the explosion. The projectile is the solid part to be flung. Here each person represents a projectile. The case would be the gathering of everybody in the streets asking for and making the changes. Propellers are the hopes, the ideas, the philosophies, social and individual needs, each person’s expectations; and, the fuse is that small group that is ready to start a fire and joining itself to the projectile causes the explosion in the propeller. It is enough to the fuse to enter in ignition generating a small explosion so that the great explosion happens to being inflamed. Well, once this mass enters into reaction, the wishes change and the result can go beyond that one which was planned.

        It is an inexplicable, unexpected, and powerful alchemy. When inflaming the mass that seemed to have no life before, that little yeast alters all the mass and makes people go out to the streets and start asking  for their leaders and other authorities a correct and humanitarian attitude towards everybody. When everyone notices that corruption is something that corrodes and impoverishes the country, its development becomes reduced, and the life seems to have no sense at all, so every citizen goes out and cry.

        But, once that fuse begins the explosion, the people start to have a little more faith themselves and in their compatriots. That amorphous mass starts having life and attitudes.

        Thus, the alchemy of hope starts working and the mass starts to have life.

        For this reason, one should not play with explosive elements, because if he/she does, appropriate carefulness should be given to handle the content with plenty of attention.