The Street Artist

Pablisky Moreira has exactly 24 seconds to perform his act. If he takes any longer, he wastes time, energy, and risks bodily harm. His act is timed to coincide with the changing of the traffic light at the corner of Libertador and Alvear, in the Buenos Aires suburb Martínez, where he often performs. This particular light stays red for 34 seconds before flashing yellow and then green. Moreira juggles four balls for 24 seconds. He then stops and takes 10 seconds to collect donations from people whose cars are stopped in two lines at the light. Moreira weaves in and out of the cars as they begin to move. Some people honk. Others yell, telling him to get out of the way. Some smile. Some say thank you. Some wave. Many just ignore him.

Today Moreira's timing is off. Perhaps it's because I am watching, observing his every move. I seem to be making him nervous. Moreira is dropping balls right and left. Balls are rolling in between cars and sliding into the gutter before he can reach them. He is wiping his brow a lot, trying to prevent beads of sweat from rolling down into his eyes. It's hot outside, especially for a street artist. Moreira is an entertainer. He tries to make people smile. He loves making people laugh. He smiles himself and his smile is genuine. He loves people. He loves what he does. "I am a street artist," he says. "I like what I do. I like to make people smile. My goal is to make people smile, to make them laugh. If I can do that, I've done my job. I like to bring happiness into people's lives."

Moreira works six hours a day, five or six days a week. He makes around 30 pesos a day, sometimes more, sometimes less. "It varies every day," he says. "It's enough."

You can watch Moreira yourself by checking out the latest Scooping Argentina video here. If he makes you smile or brings even a little happiness into your life, he will have done his job.

Link: Scooping Argentina

*TIP: If your bandwidth is slow, click the "pause" button and wait for the video to fill-up before watching it.

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