A choice of suffering

Unearned suffering is redemptive.

- Martin Luther King

I had been in Barra do Bugres for about six months when a stranger knocked at my door. I could tell he was American by the sensible shoes he wore.

The man lived in Paraguay but owned a tract of land about 40 miles from town. With his wife and son, he had come to take a look at it and to see what he had for squatters. My Brazilian counterpart h...