The Great Empire--Bilingual Edition

by Joaquim Augusto Ferreira Barbosa De Melo

  - This morning, when I received the operating maps from Accounting, I was pleased to see that the results of the refurbished store are encouraging.

  -In my opinion it was a wise decision.

  -I didn’t expect such rapid increments in sales. This confirms that the knowledge acquired in the course was an important asset.

  The good progress of business is almost always a reflection of a healthy economy, but also and above all, a consequence of correct decisions at different levels of management in companies - it is from books that the “know-how” is a determining factor in success! If it is true that the tendency and feeling for business was in her veins, it was no less true that his success was based on her work and her clairvoyance in everything she did. Her mother had taught her, over and over again, that “all success depends on strong determination, effort and continuity in the struggle to achieve objectives, materialized step by step”; “it is not enough to want, it is necessary to take the path to build anything”; “all success is always the result of a lot of sweat and, many times, tears”. Lili had inherited a small commercial empire, started by her grandmother, continued by her mother with determination and effort, having added much, much more to it.

  With the arrival of autumn and Sun’s entry into the Faculty of Economics, a new time arose for Lili, full of multiple challenges: academic monitoring of her son; business monitoring; and, an intense social life; forcing her to unfold into multiple commitments. If it was enough for Sun to be a good student, that was not enough for his mother. She wanted much more for him! She wanted him to develop high leadership skills in addition to being a good student, and this could only be achieved through outstanding activities at the Academy. The future she had dreamed of for Sun was far beyond mere economics professional running family businesses. She expected high flights - she wanted him to play a major role in their country’s politics one day. It soon became clear, however, that his mother’s strong desire to go into excess would soon have to be corrected. A few months after Sun had started school, he went into a nervous breakdown. The multiple commitments to which he became subject at the Academy and Faculty, aggravated by his mother’s constant high psychological pressure, installed a weak state of health. The medical services to which Sun had to resort recommended aggressive therapy, accompanied by absolute rest and for a period of not less than ten days. For Lili that had been a clear warning sign. In the future she had to moderate her action and give her son a little more autonomy, freeing him from additional pressures. Fortunately, it was confirmed that Lili’s new attitudes proved to be healthier and more beneficial for both. From then on Sun had no more difficulty in managing his time and reconciling good school performance with activities at the Academy. In the following years there were moments of great intensity of work for Sun, but he (after the crisis) managed his times and especially his energies better. Although he was a good student and participated in a great number of activities, he also acquired the status of an outstanding leader. After Sun got his degree, Lili acknowledged that she had exaggerated her initial concern. After all, her son had shown her a high sense of responsibility and high leadership skills. Lili now said to herself that “if it were not for the relative joviality of her son, he would be able to assume a leading political role in her country”. The return of the family thus became a medium-term goal. However, her business in Paris recommended moderation in her intentions - the commercial success achieved by her companies meant that she had to stay for a while longer. Business consolidation required close attention from Lili, so Sun had an opportunity to pursue doctoral studies. At first his mother was surprised by that decision, but quickly realized that it could represent a political added value. Thus, in Lili’s mind, academic reinforcement with an even higher degree would allow her son to go further in his vision of the world economy and would not cause embarrassment to his future political career.

  Trade in the world’s major metropolises was now awakening to a new concept - that of aggregating several stores into a single space. Thus, Lili began to follow this new world trend and it gradually took shape among her plans. With the confirmation of the success achieved in some cities she visited, in addition to the good results achieved by the aggregation of the new accessories space to the silk shop, she started to have additional reason to start “thinking big”. From the intention to the decision was a short step and thus was born the project of the “Big Warehouses”. Under these circumstances, the option became to build from scratch a twelve-story building with all the modern infrastructures: three lower floors for parking; seven for shops; one for restaurants and in the last one the spacious office facilities. All floors would be connected by fast and functional access. Thus, in a few months, the city started to count on a new commercial concept, more current and broad, connecting the various business areas in a single building. If for the clients it resulted in more amenities, for Lili there were finally opportunities for the much demanded investments in advertising. As a result of this new strategy, a Company specialized in marketing and advertising was opened, with all the others being covered by those services, now aggregated into a single group and with a single name to be disclosed to the general public. With Lili’s involvement in the restructuring of the business, she did not notice that the years had passed. It was only when her son brought her the news that the following week he would be defending his doctoral thesis that she became aware of the passing of time! That information rekindled old ambitions for her.

  When the noble hall of the Faculty of Economics was filled with guests to attend her son’s public defense, Lili could not contain her emotion - only with a great personal effort could she remain discreet at all times. Sun gave the presentation with eloquence, determination and knowledge, obtaining in the end a high classification and praise from those present - he was thus awarded the degree of Doctor with recognized academic merit. Days later, to celebrate the event, Lili invited family and friends to a party at her home. It was there that she revealed a secret so well kept in all those years, implying that new and great challenges awaited her son in his homeland. Sun listened to the comments, but in his heart, he was in no hurry - although his mother kept saying that the country was waiting for him anxiously, he felt, however, that once again she was pressuring him. Perhaps because of this, and to make it very clear that he was taking care of his life, he soon accepted an invitation from a company, offering him a six-month internship. Upon learning of this decision, Lili did not like it, although she acknowledged that her son had every right to dispose of his life as he saw fit. Regardless of Sun’s choice, Lili maintained her decision to return to her country.

  A few months later...

  Sun’s parents said goodbye to Paris. The weeks that followed were bitter and silent for both of them. That setback, mixed with ungrateful attitudes on the part of her son, opened some emotional wounds (it wasn’t the first time she felt those corrosive effects). At those times she used to tell herself that “if nature has put her head above her heart it is because the decisions should come from her head and not her heart”. With that certainty she kept her motivation for achieving her goals. Thus, the political career she had set for her son remained her main goal. She therefore made use of old friendships, opening doors and building paths for her son’s future return. From then on, she began to do everything, sowing seeds that would bear fruit in Sun’s future political career. Lili started intelligent movements, in a careful, discreet and effective way, which would lead to the future success of her son. Thus, Sun had not yet finished his internship in Paris when he received, from a financial company in his country, an invitation to join the staff of a new delegation to go public. At first he was surprised, questioning himself: “how is it that news of my doctorate travels so fast across the country?” he thought. Strangely enough, however, he declined it by saying that he wanted to stay in Europe for a while. Months later, the same company invited him again, this time to work in the United States of America, specifically in New York Cit
y. This time Sun, after much thought, eventually accepted and stayed there for almost two years, when he decided to return to his homeland. All the while, Lili remained patient, always hoping that her son would return to fulfill her old dream. In a continuous but discreet action, every day she struggled to plan her son’s future career, always believing that one day her efforts would bear fruit. When he finally announced that he would return, a new hope was born - a light at the end of the tunnel, after so much effort...!

  A decade after leaving the country, Sun realized how far away it was from the civilized world he had just left. His mother, with the argument that it was necessary to identify new suppliers of products for her shops in Paris, influenced her son to accept travelling throughout the vast territory. Her goal was quite different - what she really wanted was for him to realize how asleep that great nation was, poor and distant from the boiling developed countries he had known.

  The centuries had passed through that empire without its people and rulers realizing that the ancient barbarians, who lived beyond the “Walls”, had humanized and developed. Even today the only human construction seen from space is the “Wall” precisely built with the objective of blocking the constant attacks of these barbarian peoples. With the passing of the centuries, the great civilization of yesteryear was now doomed to abandon. Since the death of the former Emperor, the empire has been degrading, particularly during the reign of Empress Xi, and now, with her death, the new political class (that appeared from the military revolution) was disoriented and faced gigantic problems. This was the empire that Sun saw as he travelled through the country - a cruel reality that his mother so subtly wanted to show him. A huge country, once prosperous and now in the hands of half a dozen ideologists who did nothing but stir the waters, in the hope that (by some miracle) the country would wake up from the long sleep in which it lived. That attitude reminded him of a farmer he had once met, lamenting that “he had a fig tree that had not borne fruit for many years.” When Sun asked him when he had last pruned it and taken care of the land, he looked at him with the amazement of those who thought about it for the first time. A year later, the same farmer brought a basket of figs to his mother’s house, with a message: “Thank you!” Looking at that country, Sun often remembered that farmer and the fig tree, which after all did not bear fruit because there was no one to look after it. After that long trip, which impressed him so much, he went from a passive attitude to an intensely active one, so he joined the Party and began to participate in its local meetings. From the very beginning he began to attract the attention of colleagues and superiors and in a short time he ascended to more and more prominent places. The new local responsibilities gave him access to the dome structures and there the old ghosts (from the time when his mother was Minister) began to appear. Among the older members of the Party structure, Sun was in the spotlight of their attacks: here and there he was confronted with accusations of having a megalomaniac vision; or of disrespecting the Party’s collegial principles; still others reminded him that because his mother was very close to the current President, this did not entitle him to privileges. Some time later, (at a summit meeting) when he ran into the President, he nodded his head in deference, but contrary to his expectations, the President’s reaction was one of total indifference. Sun, at first did not understand the deep reasons for that attitude, so days later he commented on what had happened with his mother.

  - I might surprise you with this news.

  - Just say it.

  - At the last meeting of the Party I met the President, whom I greeted with a nod, but from his indifferent reaction I thought that he had not recognized me - soon afterwards I could confirm that he knew very well who I was.

  - You have to get used to the attitudes of a politician! It’s not always what it seems! - Said Lili, quietly.

  - You don’t convince me with beating about the bush, Mother!

  - You may be right! It could mean several things, one of which is that you represent a certain threat to their interests.

  - Don’t you think you’re going too far in your assumptions? What are you getting at?!

  His mother’s silence was the answer that made that ended the conversation there. Sun felt, however, that the President’s hostility represented much more than his mother wanted to admit. For Lili, however, that attitude represented a wake-up call that she sought to share with old friends. And through them she learned, among other things, that the President was giving clear signals to the structures to limit Sun’s rise. The President argued that Sun’s ideas were immature and liberal, and could even pose a threat to the country’s higher interests. In the months that followed, Sun became more reserved and attended meetings less often, using that time for in-depth political reflection on his country. As a result, he prepared a notebook with a set of reflections that he shared with his mother one day.

  - In this manuscript you will find a record of the political ideas I have been writing! - Said Sun.

  - Yes, and what can I do for you?!

  - I’d like you to read it and give me your opinion.

  Lili skimmed the voluminous notebook that her son had just handed her.

  - To read all this, I need some time!

  - As long as you need. Can I ask you to take notes of the remarks, and then we’ll talk?

  - What’s your goal, to edit a book?!

  - If the contents deserve such a fate, perhaps!

  - From what I know of you, by now you’ve even thought about the title!

  - Don’t you think you’re burning steps?!

  - Maybe! But, as you know...

  - I know! The title of a book is always very important, but it has to be analyzed with time!

  - That’s why I’m questioning it. As you know, it is through it that the readers’ attention is drawn to the content.

  - I have several alternatives.

  - Well?!

  -I’ve been thinking “My Country and the Future”, what do you think?!

  - After the reading we’ll talk about it, okay?!

  The weeks that followed were endless for Sun. His mother’s silence about the content of the book puzzled him: “what is she thinking?”; “isn’t it even worthy of a comment?” he wondered at every moment. Over time, the waiting on the evaluation was undermining his self-confidence. A whirlwind of questions was now passing through Sun’s mind, increasing his uncertainties. One day, at lunch, his mother asked him:

  - When can we talk about the book?

  After such a long wait, his first reaction was - did he had heard right to what his mother had said.

  - What?!

  - Can we talk about your book?

  - Obviously! I’m all ears!

  His mother went to a piece of furniture that was close to her and took the manuscript out of the drawer. Then she looked at her son and after a brief pause, said:

  - It’s reasonably well written! It takes an economic and democratic approach to a modern plural society open to the world. I do not have much to add about this.

  - From the look in your eyes, I see a... “But.”

  - Yes there is a “But”!

  - Well?!

  - I’m afraid of the consequences of editing it! Our country is not prepared to receive it.

  - The country, or the Party?!

  - The Party, of course!

  - What do you suggest, then?!

  - The book edition, of course! You have my full support! But...

  - Another... “But”?!

  - We must take precautions! The “storm” can come at any moment, strong and painful! If I know the Party radicals’ way of thinking, they’ll have your book destroyed or worse...

  - It will be seen as a threat to the social and political stability of the Nation, no?!

  - I wouldn’t be surprised if they did that reading!

  - I’m not looking for “storms”, but if they come, I hope I’m ready!