Manuscript Found in Accra (12 page)

You will forget all the obstacles you overcame, all that you suffered and sacrificed. And because of that feeling of guilt, you could unconsciously destroy everything that took you so long to build.

That is the most dangerous of obstacles, because renouncing victory has about it a certain aura of sanctity.

But if a man understands that he is worthy of what he has struggled so long for, he will realize that he did not get there alone and must respect the Hand that led him.

Only someone capable of honoring each step he takes can comprehend his own worth.

And a man who knew how to write, and who was frantically trying to note down every word the Copt said, paused to rest, feeling as if he were in a kind of trance. The square, the weary faces, the religious men who were listening in silence, all seemed part of a dream
.

And in order to prove that what he was experiencing was real, he said:

“Speak to us about loyalty.”

And he answered:

Loyalty can be compared to a shop selling exquisite porcelain vases, a shop to which Love has given us the key.

Each of those vases is beautiful because it is different, as is every person, every drop of rain, every rock sleeping on the mountainside.

Sometimes, due to age or some unsuspected defect, a shelf collapses and falls. And the shop owner says to himself: “I invested years of my time and my love on this collection, but the vases have betrayed me and broken.”

The man sells his shop and leaves. He becomes a solitary, embittered individual, believing that he will never trust anyone again.

It’s true that some vases do break—a promise of loyalty
broken. In that case, it’s best to sweep up the pieces and throw them away, because what was broken will never be the same again.

But sometimes the reasons why a shelf collapses and falls go beyond mere human intentions: it could be an earthquake, an enemy invasion, or clumsiness on the part of someone who enters the shop without looking where he is going.

Men and women blame each other for the disaster. They say: “Someone should have foreseen what was going to happen.” Or: “If I had been in charge, these problems could have been avoided.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. We are all prisoners of the sands of time, and we have no control over them.

Time passes, and the shelf that fell gets mended.

Other vases fighting for their place in the world are put there. The new shop owner, who understands that nothing lasts, smiles and says to himself: “That tragedy opened up an opportunity for me and I will try to make the most of it. I will discover works of art I never even knew existed.”

The beauty of a shop selling porcelain vases is that each vase is unique, but, when they are placed side by
side, the vases exude harmony and reflect the hard work of the potter and the art of the painter.

Each work of art could easily say: “I want to be noticed, and I’m going to get out of here.” But the moment it tries to do that, it will be transformed into a pile of broken shards with no value.

And as it is with vases so it is with men and women.

And so it is with tribes and ships and trees and stars.

Once we understand this, we can sit next to our neighbor at the end of the day, listening with respect to what he has to say and saying what he needs to hear. And neither of us will try to impose our ideas on the other.

Beyond the mountains that separate the tribes, beyond the distance that separates bodies, there exists the community of spirits. We are part of that community, where there are no streets peopled with pointless words, only broad avenues that connect what is distant and sometimes have to be repaired because of the damage caused by time.

Thus, the returning lover will never be eyed with distrust, because loyalty accompanies his every step.

And the man who was seen as an enemy yesterday, because there was a war being waged, will now be seen as a friend, because the war is over and life goes on.

The son who left will eventually return, and he will return rich in the experiences he had along the way. His father will receive him with open arms and say to his servants: “Bring the best robe for him and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet, because my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.”

And a man whose brow was marked by time and whose body was marked by scars that told of the battles in which he had fought said:

“Speak to us of the weapons we must use when all is lost.”

And he answered:

Where there is loyalty, weapons are of no use.

All weapons are instruments of evil because they are not the instruments of the wise man.

Loyalty has its roots in respect, and respect is the fruit of Love. Love drives out the demons of the imagination—which distrust everything and everyone—and, instead, returns purity to our gaze.

When a wise man wants to make someone weak, he first makes that person believe that he is strong. The other man will then fall into the trap of challenging someone even stronger and be destroyed.

When a wise man wants to bring someone low, he first makes that person climb the highest mountain in the world to allow him the illusion that he is very powerful.
The other man will then believe that he can go still higher and plunge into the abyss.

When a wise man covets something that belongs to another man, he loads him with gifts. The other man will have so many useless objects to take care of that he will lose everything else, too busy trying to keep what he thinks he owns.

When a wise man cannot discover what his opponent is planning, he feigns an attack. We are always prepared to defend ourselves, because we all live with the fear and paranoia that other people don’t like us.

His opponent—however brilliant he may be—is insecure and reacts with excessive violence to the provocation. In doing so, he reveals what weapons he has, and the wise man thus discovers what his opponent’s strong and weak points are.

Then, knowing exactly what kind of reaction to expect, the wise man either attacks or retreats.

This is how those who appear submissive and weak conquer and defeat those who are powerful and strong.

And so
wise men often defeat warriors, but warriors also defeat wise men. To avoid this, it is best to seek the peace and repose that exist in the differences among human beings.

The wounded person should ask himself: “Is it worth filling my heart with hatred and dragging the weight of it around with me?”

He is thus making use of one of Love’s qualities—namely, Forgiveness. This helps him to rise above all the insults spoken in the heat of battle, insults which time will soon erase just as the wind erases footsteps from the sands of the desert.

When you forgive, the person who insulted you feels humbled in his error and becomes loyal.

Let us, therefore, be aware of the forces that move us.

The true hero is not the man who was born for great deeds, but the one who has managed to build a shield of loyalty around him out of many small things.

Thus, when he saves his adversary from certain death or from betrayal, his gesture will never be forgotten.

The true lover is not the one who says: “You need
to be by my side and I need to take care of you, because we are loyal to each other,” but the one who realizes that loyalty must go hand in hand with freedom. And without fear of betrayal, he accepts and respects the other person’s dream, trusting in the greater power of Love.

The true friend is not the one who says: “You wounded me today, and I am sad.”

He says: “You wounded me today for reasons unknown to me and possibly to you as well, but tomorrow I know that I will be able to count on your help. And so I will not be sad.”

And the friend responds: “You are a loyal friend, because you said what you felt. There is nothing worse than a friend who confuses loyalty with accepting our every fault.”

The most destructive of weapons is not the spear or the siege cannon, which can wound a body and demolish a wall. The most terrible of all weapons is the word, which can ruin a life without leaving a trace of blood, and whose wounds never heal.

Let us, then, be masters of our tongue and not slaves of our words. Even if words are used against us, let us not enter a battle that cannot be won. The moment we
place ourselves on the same level as some vile adversary, we will be fighting in the dark, and the only winner will be the Lord of Darkness.