The Secret Manuscript

THE MANUSCRIPT

Having finally understood that the passage through life is nothing more than a continuous apprenticeship, from the moment of our arrival into this world until the day of our final departure, and aware that my life certainly has its days counted, I have decided to leave to the generations to come, the fruit of my particular learning. Without false modesty I assert, that during my life I managed to decipher what I consider to be the greatest secret in the world, from the trial and error of my particular evolution. Perhaps many may assert the same, the difference being in that I will be able to prove the truth of my argument to anyone who set to replicate it. Do not expect literary merits or grandiloquent phrases in this manuscript, and perhaps many errors of expression, because the pencil was certainly not my best tool. I warn you to take the fruit of my experience, leaving aside the way in which it was acquired. It will be mentioned only as an element so that you can be aware of the risks of the path that you undertake, and henceforth, follow the correct path.

Much I have revealed myself trying to string together the correct way of expressing the ideas that I will thereupon present, arriving at the conclusion that the simplest is always the best way. And there is perhaps no simpler way than to limit oneself to narrating things as they happened. It is because of this and not because of protagonist pretensions that it will be through a recounting of the history of my life, that I will finally express the teaching that I propose to bequeath.

I came to this world in 1770 from the love of an immigrant to a native of this land. My father had managed to collect some small savings before embarking on his adventure, and having had housing problems when he first stepped on this land, he envisioned the possibility of opening a small inn in an uninhabited house near the center of the city. Hence, during my childhood I grew up knowing and serving all kinds of travelers.

My father raised without a father, and in spite of his evident love, was not very communicative and very sparing in the expression of his words and affections. Thus, my mother was always in charge of my grooming. Much to my regret, she was prematurely called from this world, and at twelve, I became orphaned of a mother. My father retreated into himself in his silence, so from that moment, of my free will my life depended. My father died when I was about to finish my engineering studies, so I found myself in need of postponing them to take charge of the inn, which by then had already become the reference inn in the city. In those days, I worked hard, increasing the inheritance that the author of my days had left me.

Two years before, I had married a beautiful and sweet woman, and very soon, we became blessed with the birth of a beautiful son. Many years and many sufferings would have to pass by, for me to realize that at that moment I was already the owner of everything a man could aspire to: a beautiful family, a solid economic position and the respect and admiration of the society.

However, my success was my own downfall. Soon, bad influences in the form of dubious friendships appeared, and my priorities began to change. Eventually, it became more important to me how much money I had and how I dressed, instead of what I felt. I am ashamed to acknowledge that I started to mistreat my wife despite her new pregnancy. And the only cause for my actions was that she tied me to my responsibilities and distanced me from what I considered to be my rights to live. Thanks to my fortune, I had made new friends with whom I feasted at the expense of my own business.

One day, the demands of her attention made me exasperate, and having arrived drunk from one of my frequent pranks, I beat her at the point of blows, and in this way, made her to miscarry who would have been my second son. After leaving the hospital and to my satisfaction, she finally abandoned me. The only positive thing I can say about this stage of my life is that I could barely finish my engineering career, and that because I was seen this woman who happened to go to college with me.