Paulo Coelho - Manuscript Found in Accra

The people who really help others are not trying to be useful, but are simply leading a useful life. They rarely give advice, but serve as an example.

Do one thing: Live the life you always wanted to live. Avoid criticizing others and concentrate on fulfilling your dreams. This may not seem very important to you, but God, who sees all, knows that the example you give is helping Him to improve the world. And each day, He will bestow more blessings upon it.

And when the Unwanted Visitor arrives, you will hear it say:

“It is fair to ask: ‘Father, Father, why hast thou forsaken me?’ But now, in this final second of your life on Earth, I am going to tell you what I saw: I found the house clean, the table laid, the fields plowed, the flowers smiling. I found each thing in its proper place, precisely as it should be. You understood that small things are responsible for great changes.

“And for that reason, I will carry you up to Paradise.”

And a woman called Almira, a seamstress, said:

“I could have left before the crusaders arrived, and, if I had, I would now be working in Egypt. But I was always too afraid to change.”

And he answered:

We are afraid to change because we think that, after so much effort and sacrifice, we know our present world.

And even though that world might not be the best of all worlds, and even though we may not be entirely satisfied with it, at least it won’t give us any nasty surprises. We won’t go wrong.

When necessary, we will make a few minor adjustments so that everything continues in the same way.

We see that the mountains always stay in the same place. We see that fully grown trees, when transplanted, usually die.

And we say: “We want to be like the mountains and the trees. Solid and respectable.” Even though, during the night, we wake up thinking: “I wish I was like the birds, who can visit Damascus and Baghdad and come back whenever they want to.”

Or: “I wish I was like the wind, for no one knows where it comes from nor where it goes, and it can change direction without ever having to explain why.”

The next day, however, we remember that the birds are always fleeing from hunters and larger birds, and that the wind sometimes gets caught up in a whirlwind and destroys everything around it.

It’s nice to dream that we will have plenty of time in the future to do our traveling, and that, one day, we will travel. It cheers us up because we know that we are capable of doing more than we do. Dreaming carries no risks. The dangerous thing is trying to transform your dreams into reality.

But the day will come when Fate knocks on our door. It might be the gentle tapping of the Angel of Good Fortune or the unmistakable rat-a-tat-tat of the Unwanted Visitor. They both say: “Change now!” Not next week, not next month, not next year. The angels say: “Now!”

We always listen to the Unwanted Visitor. And we change everything because he scares us; we change village, habits, shoes, food, behavior. We can’t convince the Unwanted Visitor to allow us to stay as we are. There is no discussion.

We also listen to the Angel of Good Fortune, but we ask him: “Where will this lead?”

“To a new life,” comes the answer.

And we think: “We have a few problems in our life, but nothing that can’t be solved in time. We must serve as an example to our parents, our teachers, our children, and keep to the correct path. Our neighbors expect us to teach everyone the virtue of perseverance, to struggle against adversity and overcome obstacles.”

And we feel proud of ourselves. And we are praised because we refuse to change, continuing instead in the direction Fate has chosen for us.

Wrong.

Because the correct path is the path of nature, which is constantly changing, like the dunes in the desert.

Those who think that the mountains don’t change are wrong; they are born out of earthquakes, are eroded by wind and rain, and each day are slightly different even though we do not notice.

The mountains change and are pleased: “It’s good not to be the same all the time,” they say to one another.

Those who think the trees don’t change are wrong. They have to accept that they will be bare in winter and clothed in summer. And they reach beyond the place where they were planted because the birds and the wind scatter their seeds.

The trees are glad. “I thought I was just one tree and now I see that I am many,” they say to their children springing up around them.

Nature is telling us: “Change!”

And those who do not fear the Angel of Good Fortune understand that they must go forward despite their fear. Despite their doubts. Despite recriminations. Despite threats.

They confront their values and prejudices. They hear the advice of their loved ones, who say: “Why do that? You have everything you need: the love of your parents, wife, and children; the job it took you so long to get. Don’t run the risk of becoming a stranger in a strange land.”

Nevertheless, they risk taking a first step—sometimes out of curiosity, sometimes out of ambition, but generally because they feel an uncontrollable longing for adventure.

At each bend in the road, they feel more and more afraid, and yet, at the same time, they surprise themselves; they are stronger and happier.

Joy. That is one of the main blessings of the All Powerful. If we are happy, we are on the right road.

Fear gradually ebbs away, because it wasn’t given what it felt was its due importance.

One question persists as we take our first steps along the path: “Will my decision to change make other people suffer?”

But if you love someone, then you want your beloved to be happy. You might feel frightened for him initially, but that feeling soon gives way to pride at seeing him doing what he wants to do, and going where he always dreamed of going.

Later, we might begin to experience a sense of abandonment and helplessness.

But travelers meet other people on the road who are feeling just the same. As they talk, they realize that they are not alone; they become traveling companions and share their solutions to various obstacles. And they all feel wiser and more alive than they thought they were.

When they are lying in their tents, unable to sleep and overwhelmed by sadness and regret, they say to themselves: “Tomorrow, and only tomorrow, will I take another step. Besides, I can always turn back because I know the road. But one more step won’t make much difference.”

Until one day, without warning, the road stops testing the traveler and begins to treat him generously. The traveler’s troubled spirit takes pleasure in the beauties and the challenges of the new landscape.

And each step, which had until then been merely automatic, becomes instead a conscious step.

Rather than speaking to him of the solace of security, it teaches him the joy of facing new challenges.

The traveler continues his journey. He doesn’t complain of boredom now; he complains, rather, that he is tired. But at that point he rests, enjoys the landscape, and then carries on.