Eduardo Costa, journalist and president of the General Assembly of the National Press Museum, opens his article by citing a poem by popular poet António Aleixo, who was almost illiterate, which addresses censorship and envy as indicators of success.
The article then reproduces a story told by Jorge Sampaio, when he was President of the Republic. Sampaio met in Australia a Portuguese who had a small tasco on the road between Lisbon and Porto, where he prepared grilled chickens with a special recipe that attracted long lines of waiting customers. However, he never managed to expand that business in Portugal.
According to Sampaio, this Portuguese emigrated to Australia, where he continued to cook the same chickens with the same recipe. Today he owns a large chain of restaurants. Sampaio lamented that in Portugal this entrepreneur was unable to progress, because in the country people with value rarely move forward, always looking back so as not to be overtaken, thus losing good professionals, entrepreneurs, jobs and revenue.
Eduardo Costa concludes the article by refusing to give up on believing that Portugal will one day admire those who have merit, take risks, work and produce wealth, hoping that Aleixo's poetry and Sampaio's words will one day cease to make sense.
