CTJ #3
A Quote from Paulo Coelho
According to Biography.com, Paulo Coelho was born on August 24, 1947 which makes him 69 today. Coelho was a rebellious teenager and his parents committed to an asylum three times starting at age 17(“Paulo Coelho Bibliography”). Around the 1970’s Coelho wrote songs for Brazilian artist protesting the country’s military rule which lead him to serve jail time three times for his political activism and subjected to torture in prison according to Biography.com’s article on Paulo Coelho. In 1974, Coelho was kidnapped and tortured by a Brazilian paramilitary group because of his progressive activities(Sexton). During his time, he has written several books and some might say he is selfish but according to Biograpghy.com he says, "When I write a book I write a book for myself; the reaction is up to the reader," he says, "It's not my business whether people like or dislike it."
Paulo Coelho once wrote “The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.” This quote can mean many different things to someone. Hearing this quote means that actions speaks louder than words. What I mean by that is that he is saying your opinion cannot change your past but your past can change your future because having your own opinion is the way of life but if you make an example out of it then your actions can change the world. Just like the saying “practice what you preach” when you tell someone something then they may not believe you but if you show them that it’s not just your opinion that you have something to back it up then your actions will cause them to understand that and have a different outlook on that subject. Giving someone your opinion will not convince them of anything if you don’t show them why they should be convinced.
Knowing Coelho’s past and what he has gone through I feel this quote reflects on him in a way nobody else really can understand because his childhood was abusive and a lot of things were going on in his life. In his life he had opinions and actions that he took which lead him to become who he is today. The actions Coelho took had to deal with things he truly believed and he showed his inspiration for his thoughts. This action was brought on by the Brazilian military and to that he protested by writing song lyrics to musicians (“Paulo Coelho Bibliography”). The opinion based situation were about how he didn’t feel the need to entertain his readers and he didn’t care about what they thought because he writes his book for him (“Paulo Coelho Bibliography”). These two scenarios show why the world is changed by your example, his actions, and not by your opinion. His opinion did not do anything to his readers because they still kept on reading his books but his protests lead to him getting jailed and tortured. By Coelho protesting he raised others to fight for what they believe in and show examples and take actions instead of just giving your opinion over a letter.
A personal example of how this quote is reflexed would have to be when I played football. In football everyone says what they think is best and what should happen on the next play. Every player gives their opinion but none give an example of why we should believe them and so their opinion means nothing so during practice the coach says to get lower. In football the lower man wins and he proved that by giving an example. Being small I was picked alongside another player who weighed 250-300lbs. The coach told me to get low where his hip is and let the other player hit high and by telling us this he gave us an example of why we should hit lower. I kept my balance and the 250-300lb player did not knock me back showing the team the lower we are the better. This experience shows how the world can change by your example because someone once showed another person why players should get lower and so it got passed on because of the example shown. Opinions cannot change the world because as for the players they all had an idea but nobody could seem to give us an example of why or how it would work. This would be the closest experience in my life that I have of how this quote backs up my meaning of this quote in my own words.
Work cited
"Paulo Coelho Biography." The Biography.com Website. A&E Television Networks, 2 Apr. 2014. Web. 11 Sept. 2016. <http://www.biography.com/people/paulo-coelho-5524#personal-life.>.
Sexton, Adam. "The Alchemist." Cliffs Notes on the Alchemist. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2016. <https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/a/the-alchemist/paulo-coelho-biography.>.