50 years ago today, a carnation bloomed out of the barrel of a machinegun. 

I was 14 at the time and on that same day, as the military action successfully progressed and the people took to the streets, I realised I would not have to go to war... a thought that was becoming a rather present preoccupation, since at 17, in just three years time, I would have to "give my name to the military" as the act of registration for compulsory military service was named.

50 years after, I'm still haunted by the remembrance of the parade at  Lisbon's Praça do Comércio each year, on the 10th June, and the images of the young orphans, awkwardly dressed in their father's uniform, being presented with a medal, a posthumous medal,...

I owe it to those that made this possible! I owe it to those that resisted in times of oppression and tyranny, I owe it to those that gave all they could give, even life, so that I could today write these simple lines.

I now live in a country that in spite of its many contradictions and idiosyncrasies is ruled by the most righteous of the rules, the Rule of Law, thanks to them. I'll never forget it.

Obrigado!

After writing these notes, it came to my knowledge that France's President, Emanuel Macron, had published a note on YouTube which I cannot resist incorporating here, for all its meaning. Democracy is about this, Europe is about this: Respect, Solidarity, Common grounds in spite of differences.

Merci, la France; Merci, Président Macron.