It only lasts and it is for good, the wealth that is created

January 29, 2022. No. 142

There are those we can call "mountaineers", who like to climb for the sake of climbing, to be on top (I am not referring to those who climb mountains, with effort, or even taking risks, for the pleasure of dialoguing with nature —nothing more healthy, human and of brothers, than to practice real mountaineering). I am referring to those who like to climb on the backs of others, those who want to ascend in life, not because of their merits but by tracking and inventing demerits to those around them. Those end in an abrupt collapse, since whoever climbs to the place that does not touch him ends up falling under his own weight.

Never try to jump seats dragged by ambition: arriving slowly, but firmly, ensures that it is you who arrives and not the false image that you have created for yourself through murky roads. If you want to reach the top, start at the bottom. Those who know their strength, and their efforts, find the path to go further, those who do not, show their claws —subtle or grotesque— and can gain dizzying distances for a time, but in the long run, they are left lying, displaced, and forgotten.

A simple example: a student, who instead of "burning the midnight oil" is unconcerned about studying and at the time of the exams goes to the "goats" or to the one who blows the answers. I may get good grades and even get to college on fraud. When the race begins: the disaster; or let us suppose —something very difficult— that he is so good at noticing that he even manages to graduate, then he will be a failure in his specialty, and life will catch up with him. Never try to advance on other people's virtues, the important thing is not to go further but what you grow in advancing, the gain is one, not the distance.

Julius Caesar used to say: "I prefer to be the first man here than the second in Rome", which is currently the case: it is better to be the head of a mouse than the tail of a lion. It is always good to have a little ambition to set higher goals, take risks for noble goals, even if they imply fewer comforts; this should be a constant in life.

Whoever gives up undertaking new projects and sits down remains fossilized in life. It is important to know how to distinguish ambitions: there are silly and harmful ones, there are healthy and noble ones. We cannot go through life thinking that we will discover the time machine, at least if we are not just a scientist or have high knowledge of Physics, Mathematics, Engineering, and how many other subjects exist to be able to carry out that task. But if you can look for lenses that, although they require research and development time, are affordable. So, if you wish, you can from time to time dedicate time to your Time Machine, to continue testing.

José Martí wrote: Only the wealth that is created, and the freedom that is conquered, with one's own hands last and is for the good! Cleanly creating your world, spiritual and material, is the only way to carve out a lucid, calm existence that grows over the years.

Someone wrote that ambition destroys the possessor. I agree that the greedy end up being prey to their own nonconformity and this always reminds me of the story "The Enchanted Shrimp" by the French writer Laboulaye that José Martí recreates in The Golden Age. It is the story of a humble woodcutter (Loppi), who One day catches the enchanted shrimp (a kind of magician) that fulfills his wishes. He had no ambitions, but his wife was not satisfied with anything, so every day poor Loppi asked for more on behalf of Masicas. From a simple plate of food, the requests came to luxurious dresses, a palace with servants, a whole reign, until, the always dissatisfied wife, asks to be queen in heaven and, there was the complacent husband to ask on the shore of the River:

!Hard little shrimp

Get me out of trouble!

Nobody answered. Not a leaf moved. He called again, in a breathy voice.

"What does the woodcutter want?" answered another terrible voice.

"Nothing for me: what should I want for myself?" But the queen, my wife, wants me to tell the magician lady her last wish: the last one, magician lady.

"What does the woodcutter's wife want now?"

Loppi, shocked, fell to his knees.

"Excuse me, ma'am, excuse me!" She wants to reign in heaven, and own the world! He wants to be God!

The shrimp did a round turn, which made the water foam and went on Loppi, with its mouths open.

"To your corner, imbecile, to your corner!" Cowardly husbands make wives crazy! Down with the palace, down with the castle, down with the crown! To your house, with an empty backpack!

When the poor man returns to his house, the enchantment has vanished. And the story continues when Masicas grabs him by the neck:

"Are you here, monster?" Are you here, bad husband? You've ruined me, bad fellow! Die at my hands, bad man!

—Masicas, you hurt yourself! Listen to your Loppi, Masicas!

But the veins in the woman's throat swelled and burst, and she fell dead, dead with fury.

Loppi sat at his feet, straightened his rags over his body, and put his empty satchel as a pillow. In the morning, when the sun rose, Loppi was lying next to Masicas, dead.

As the saying goes: greed breaks the sack.

Thanks to @Jeansapphire39 for renewing the sponsorship :)

See you tomorrow.

Credits:

Based on the book: The Golden Age, by José Martí.