Ayrton Senna, three time Formula One champion, personified individualism and the pursuit of excellence in his field. With a competitor's will to win so strong that it ultimately brought him to his own end at the notorious 1994 San Marino Grand Prix (a race that served as a major turning point in the development of Formula One safety rules and regulations after also causing the death of Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger, and the injury of fellow Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello as well as several pit crew mechanics and spectators), Senna serves as not only a testament to ambition and perseverance, but also an interesting metaphor for Brazil as a whole at this time.
This weekend, as Senna's nephew, Bruno Senna (pictured, driving for Williams-Renault for Brazil) locked in third place (ahead of such Formula One champions as Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton) in the final Barcelona test runs prior to the 2012 Australian Grand Prix in an attempt to capture his first racing championship and continue his family's dynasty of speed, I was thinking about the will to win and the discipline it requires. As an athlete myself, I know full well the psychology of winning, and how even the slightest setback can destroy you if you are not prepared to maintain focus.
Brazil, like the younger Senna, is in pursuit of a very difficult and potentially dangerous goal: in projecting its formidable soft power and leveraging its ample resources to become a player on the world stage, it risks its own sustainability. To paraphrase the elder Senna, who talks about risks in the film, Brazil--like champion drivers--has no other option but to go forward. But as the exigencies of a changing world collide with Brazil's own internal changing circumstances at both the socio-economic and political levels, it must show a resolve as steely as a race car driver's to avoid crashing into a guard-rail and blowing itself up. Moves towards greater nationalization of state resources and pledges of reform--in sectors where corruption is so deeply entrenched that the slightest change may cause an unraveling that can unleash far more pernicious forces--have Brazil on a razor's edge. As Bruno Senna pushes onward while trying to avoid his uncle's fate, one hopes that Brazil's political class may yet collectively establish fiscal, legislative and structural discipline that will help the country capture its longed-for top spot in global dominance, and elude the gravitational forces the threaten to prevent it from reaching its full potential.
CHECK OUT THE SENNA TRAILER HERE
No comments:
Post a Comment