In Brazilian culture, whether someone fulfills agreements is understood as a matter of personal character, not just contractual compliance. Keeping your word demonstrates integrity; failing commitments reveals character weakness. The language connects to personal honor—giving your word, keeping your word, being a person of your word.
This means your reputation for reliability matters enormously. A person known to keep commitments receives trust, opportunities, and flexibility that someone with a poor track record will not. Agreement history follows you through your networks.
The character judgment considers circumstances—failing due to genuinely uncontrollable events differs from failing due to negligence or bad faith—but the judgment is made. This raises the stakes of commitment: better to commit to less and fulfill it than to commit to more and fail. Your agreements reveal who you are.
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