WEBVTT

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Good morning.

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I'll try to tell you what I think,

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what I believe led me 
to be here this morning

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speaking to you at TEDx,

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which is of great importance
to the whole world.

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On a February night in 2014,

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in Peru, in a small city,

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in a football game

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where I was playing for Cruzeiro
in the Libertadores Cup

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upon entering the field
for the second half,

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every time I saw the ball
coming towards me

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and I got the ball,

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I heard a monkey sound, and well ...

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This was increasing
every minute of the game.

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Since we were losing the game, we were
tuned into the tension of the match.

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Since it was an important match,

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I didn't even sense what was happening.

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This wasn't the first time
that it had happened;

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we were getting used to it
and were overcoming all that.

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There was only a little time left
before the end of game.

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I was on the sideline

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when the match ended, and the press
was already on the border of the field.

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The press came in my direction,

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and I was imagining that they
would talk about the result

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because we had lost the game.

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In my head, I was ready
with a quick response

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because football questions
are normally all the same,

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so the answers are also all the same.

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(Laughter)

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So I had the answers ready. Easy, right?

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I thought that they would ask,

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"Why did you lose?",
"Why didn't you score?"

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So I was ready with all those answers.

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And to my surprise -
this was only the three to five seconds

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after the game was finished,
it was very quick -

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the question was different than all those
I had ever heard at the end of a game.

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The question was the following:

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they asked me what I felt

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or how I felt

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after having won so many titles,

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played in so many countries,

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to be suffering that act of racism
or racial insult -

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I don't remember very well how he spoke -

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in a neighbor country to ours.

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And that question surprised me

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because, as I said, I assumed
it would be the usual question.

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And that surprised me,
and I was not prepared with an answer.

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I seized that opportunity.

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As I didn't have an answer,

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I seized the opportunity when he spoke
of achievements and titles

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that I had won in my career.

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And I simply said
that I would trade all my titles

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for racial and social equality, anyway ...

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That is what I said,
but it was real quick.

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At the end, I went to the locker room,

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took a shower ...

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There was no cell phone reception
in the stadium; the city was underserved.

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The reception was very weak
at the hotel, too.

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I arrived at the hotel and it was already
late here in Brazil, it was one o'clock.

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I grabbed the telephone
and, as was my practice, I called home.

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When I called home, my family,
my wife, my children,

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everyone was asking
what had happened and how I was.

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I said, "I'm okay,
we lost the game, right?

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I'm upset, but it's the way it goes.

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Sports are like this,
you win, you lose ..."

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I thought it was about this
that they were asking.

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My family said, "No, this that happened,"
and such, and I wasn't aware of anything!

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There was no internet, nothing
in the room, the situation was precarious.

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Then they said, "No, it's coming out
on all the websites all over the world,

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the country's president talked
about it, our president too,

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and various athletes across the world,
many people are talking about this issue."

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I was worried because I am a guy
that doesn't like much the media thing,

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I always liked to be valued only
for my work, for my accomplishments.

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I don't like this thing of -

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So it started to frighten me.

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I went downstairs to talk with
the press agent about what was happening,

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and when I arrived, there were
many people in the reception area,

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press from all the places
that were covering the game.

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I went upstairs fast, he came to my room,
"Look, people want to talk to you."

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I said, "No, I have nothing to say.

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Tell them that I am sleeping,
that I'm going to sleep, or something."

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And when I woke up the next day,
we caught the flight, arrived in Brazil,

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and the thing continued, even bigger.

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And that frightened me because I didn't
want to see my name spinning like that.

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Of course, I didn't look for that.

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What I did was simply

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give an answer like anyone
unprepared for the issue would,

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but it was an answer
that came from my heart.

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I think that in every battle,
in every war, or whatever,

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the only solution for me is in love.

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So, that's what I said, that I would trade
all my titles for equality.

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That was what came to my mind,
and I seized that opportunity,

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And the thing started to be
talked about more and more,

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and then my phone rang.

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It was Dinorah and Manuel,

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who are representatives of CUFA,
Central Única das Favelas.

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We've set up a few
football projects together,

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so, we were already partners
in other activities,

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and we talked about -

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because the thing was so big -

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creating a campaign, a project, something,

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and we started to talk about names,
about what could be done ...

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I remember that, out of the various
names being considered,

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one was "Chutando o Racismo,"
"Kicking Racism,"

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as we were talking about that,
and the World Cup was coming up.

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We reached a conclusion.

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I thought the name should be "Chutando
o Preconceito," "Kicking Prejudice,"

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and they immediately agreed
because there was this idea,

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that we should talk not only 
about racism, but all types of prejudice,

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because I believe that when I am lecturing
and talking about prejudice,

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I don't need to talk about what I suffered
or what I am going to suffer

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for the color of my skin, or for my hair,

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just as I believe also that when we
are talking about a disabled person,

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someone in a wheelchair
or an obese person,

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we don't need to talk
about what they have suffered

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or are going to suffer from their problem.

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With our eyes, we can see
and imagine many things,

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and all of us have
a little prejudice in our hearts.

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Both the black and the white,
anyway, we have it.

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What I try to convey is that we first
accept that we have this,

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and then try to evolve, to improve.

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And then we created the project
"Kicking Prejudice."

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The project's first action
was at Shopping Total.

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We did a really cool activity,
many participated, influential people,

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both from football and the media.

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And this ended up running all over Brazil

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where I gave 16 lectures in 2014.

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I didn't give more because
I was playing and didn't have time.

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Many of these lectures used
a question-and-answer model,

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and what surprised me a lot
was that each time I lectured,

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there were always some repeated questions,

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about how I overcame it,

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how I had the calmness

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to overcome or live with it and be calm.

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Because it wasn't the first time
that this happened to an athlete,

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this has already happened many times,
especially in Europe, it happens nonstop,

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and in the majority of cases,
athletes, whether entitled or not,

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react to it in a different way.

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Many leave the football field,
many throw their shirt,

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many react by cursing the fan.

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I believe that each one reacts in one way,

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and the way that I reacted was
that I only gave a short sentence,

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but I think that this is what made
a difference and an impact.

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So they asked this a lot, how I,
as a person, had reacted like this.

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I couldn't say why I reacted in this way

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without talking about my life

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because we don't do anything
for which we are not prepared.

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My preparation, my base -

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I always say that I had a very good base.

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I will explain to you about
my family base which was very good,

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a base in which I was raised
practically by my mother alone.

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When I was seven, my father abandoned us,
it was just my older sister and me.

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A base where my mother
left for work at 7 a.m.

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and came back home at 6 p.m.

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This is one of the things
that I remember most,

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that my mother, when Friday,
Saturday and Sunday arrived,

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mainly Friday and Saturday,
as she worked at a club,

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there would be parties,
dancing, at the club,

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so she worked extra hours.

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And that was an extra source of income.

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I remember that I liked to play football,

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I arrived at 6 p.m. at home
and my mother said,

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"Son, don't make any noise because I have
to go out again at 10 p.m. to work."

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There were three short hours that she had
to sleep and to return to work

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because she worked all night.

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So this is the base that I have,

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and the memory that I have
of childhood is a memory of work,

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that I arrived at home,

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my mother had just arrived from work
and was already resting to work again.

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I woke up in the morning and she arrived
at seven, eight o'clock in the morning,

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bringing something different,

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maybe something to eat
that I hadn't had all week.

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So, in my head, I imagined

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that work, honesty, her discipline
to the schedule that she kept,

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sleeping just a bit to then leave again,
this brought good things.

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I would wake up in the morning
and stay at the window waiting.

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She would come carrying bags
and I would run to get them.

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I was growing up imagining that work

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and meeting schedules was a good thing

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because when I asked for sneakers
or something, she said,

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"This week I will work longer
so I can buy the sneakers."

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So the base that I had was of work,
of honesty, of keeping a schedule.

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And these were things
that I carried into my career,

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since I arrived in Grêmio, at 15.

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I always say that I was educated
inside of sports,

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and, for this reason, I strongly encourage
all schools that have sports, music,

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or whatever thing that teaches discipline
and maintaining schedules.

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I ended up carrying this
through my entire life,

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so I always tell people

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that having a schedule,
a work schedule, was my base.

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Why do I say this?

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Because I see a lot
of people taking a stand

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and, sometimes, even using as an excuse
the fact that they had no base,

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that they've been raised
only by their mother, or by their father,

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and that was what they lacked.

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I don't see this, I can say that my mother
raised me alone with a good base,

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and she was working,
practically the entire day.

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So truly, as we've discussed here,
we choose our destiny,

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we choose what we want
to take by example.

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I could very well use this as an excuse,

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I was raised by my mother and practically
didn't see her, only saw her at night,

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and could use this as an excuse

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and become a person without objectives,
without focus, without a profession.

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And many people say,
"Oh, but he was lucky."

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I did have much luck,

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and every time that luck found me,
it found me working.

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This was the great luck that I had.

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When luck came to me,
it always found me doing something.

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I was always working, waiting for it.

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This is the luck that I have in my life,

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of having had my mother's example,

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an example of much struggle, of much work.

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I'd like you to know

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that I am proud to see,

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on a Saturday morning,

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persons of different ages and professions

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worried about so many issues
that are going to be discussed here.

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This shows that we are capable of being
a better country, of being better people.

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This encourages me because
on a Saturday morning,

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although we could be doing
many other things, we are here

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to listen to different stories,
different lives.

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This shows that we have dedicated people,

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people that can change the world,
like was said here.

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If each one of us changes our world,

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we are going to reach a higher goal,
each one trying to change their world.

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And this was one of the things
that encouraged me,

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each day, to not only become
a player, but to become a person

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because I always thought about the day
when I would stop playing football;

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I would have to deal
with Paulo César, the person.

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Even with failures and successes
because we are human, we are like that,

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I always seek to have a life
that I can follow after football,

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with respect as a man.

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I believe that when we have
a talent or do something,

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many times people put up with us
because of the talent we have,

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but when we are men and have a discipline,

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people put up with us,
in fact they respect us,

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they like us for our character.

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This is one of the things I have learned,
and I wanted to pass on to you:

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through work and through honesty,

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we can reach our goals.

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I have learned in recent years

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the great "trickery" of the century.

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When I say this word, people get scared,

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and I don't like it either,

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but I have learned this,

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I have lived this in the
most recent years of my career,

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mainly by working outside of football too,

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as much in the social part as other areas,

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that the great trickery
of the century is honesty.

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This is something that seems very simple,

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but today, honesty is the great
trickery of the century, in business,

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in day to day routine, and for people

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it is very difficult to have.

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Today everyone is thinking about
their own advantage, where they can win,

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or what they will have to do to get there,
so it is very difficult to live this.

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I have lived this way
the last years of my career,

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and it has given me great joy.

00:16:33.293 --> 00:16:38.313
I was not supposed to do it,
but I am going to confide in you here

00:16:38.993 --> 00:16:41.902
and say that I am going
to stop playing in April.

00:16:41.902 --> 00:16:44.422
I am telling you firsthand.

00:16:44.422 --> 00:16:46.898
I felt the need to say this here, now.

00:16:48.248 --> 00:16:51.558
I am going to stop with great honor.

00:16:52.618 --> 00:16:55.622
(Applause)

00:17:18.022 --> 00:17:20.352
(Applause) (Cheers)

00:17:27.482 --> 00:17:28.482
Thank you.

00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:31.356
Thank you.

00:17:31.376 --> 00:17:37.316
Maybe what every player
and every athlete dreams of

00:17:38.826 --> 00:17:42.824
is to announce this in a full stadium
as those where I've lived my entire life,

00:17:42.824 --> 00:17:44.745
but for me, my biggest pride

00:17:44.745 --> 00:17:48.975
is to be announcing this in a room
with so many educated people,

00:17:49.815 --> 00:17:51.582
so many trained people.

00:17:52.187 --> 00:17:56.212
My dream from when I started

00:17:56.212 --> 00:18:01.782
was to be able one day to be on a stage

00:18:01.782 --> 00:18:06.302
talking for people who truly are idols.

00:18:06.302 --> 00:18:11.504
For me a true idol is a teacher, a doctor,

00:18:11.504 --> 00:18:14.264
those that educate, those that form.

00:18:14.874 --> 00:18:16.494
For me, this is the true idol,

00:18:16.494 --> 00:18:19.416
those that save lives,
those that care for lives.

00:18:20.386 --> 00:18:22.786
So I could do this in a packed stadium,

00:18:22.786 --> 00:18:25.998
but I have great pride
in the fact that I can do this -

00:18:25.998 --> 00:18:29.403
I don't know how many people are here,

00:18:29.403 --> 00:18:33.194
but I know that those who are here
are persons that truly influence lives.

00:18:33.637 --> 00:18:34.637
Thank you so much.

00:18:34.637 --> 00:18:38.817
That's how I kicked all the difficulties
I came across in my life.

00:18:38.817 --> 00:18:40.754
I want to know how you are going to kick

00:18:40.754 --> 00:18:43.014
the difficulties
you come across in your lives.

00:18:43.014 --> 00:18:45.839
(Applause) (Cheers)