Texto 2 - Influence on Others - Part II

He has become an icon, a person of significant meaning for people all over the world. Pelé has the amazing ability to connect with people from all different backgrounds; maybe it is his optimism and goodnatured spirit, or maybe it is the fact that he understands the hardships that so many people in this world endure. In his biography Pelé: His Life and Times, he describes “his first visit to Africa [as] an uplifting experience. “Everywhere I went I was looked upon and treated as a god, almost certainly because I represented to the blacks in those countries what a black man could accomplish in a country where there was little racial prejudice, as well as providing physical evidence that a black man could become rich, even in a white man's country... To these people, who had little possibility of ever escaping the crushing poverty in which they found themselves, I somehow represented a ray of hope, however faint' "(4)

One of the most impressive examples of the impact that this sole individual has had on the world is the time he stopped “war: both sides in Nigeria's civil war called a 48-hour cease-fire in 1967 so Pelé could play an exhibition match in the capital of Lagos:"(5) The world truly stops when it comes to this Brazilian: in his playing days, footballers dreamt of playing on the same field as him, even if it meant having him as an opponent; “when he walks into the room, the king or queen of that country couldn”t make more of an impact" (6); and even the Shah of Iran is said to have once delayed his plans by three hours only to be able to speak with the world-famous player.

* (4) Harris. Pele. 85.

* (5) Kissinger. Time.

* (6) Harris. Pele. 7.

From: https://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/research-projects/brazil/pele/influence-on-others/. Accessed on 01/11/2023