The Great Empire--Bilingual Edition

by Joaquim Augusto Ferreira Barbosa De Melo

  - We don’t have the slightest idea!

  Lili, who was standing next to Song, hearing those laconic responses, intervened.

  - It all starts at the beginning!

  - Yes, but where’s the beginning? - the President said, with a defiant expression.

  - At the origin of all things! - replied Lili, enigmatic.

  From that moment on, the conversation between the two became productive and lively.

  That question put by the President to his party colleagues was not innocent. He knew that many of those who shared the struggle for power with him now felt out of place and inept. The same people who were of great value in the revolutionary and military turmoil were now embarrassed by the new reality - they did not understand the urgency of political and administrative decisions. But Lili was different, and it did not surprise Song that her timely intervention (despite the initial play on words) so wisely provided a fruitful dialogue. Perhaps that’s why Song continued to pull the end of the ball of threat that Lili had launched, as he knew it was long and fruitful.

  - And the source is?!

  - In the decision, which may well be: to question, to plan, and to execute. You know that no work is born from chance; it is always the product of dream and above all, of will. Nobody expects this country to pass from night to day, from nothing to something, only by letting time to pass. Everyone has their eyes on you! It is urgent now to plan for the future and, with hard work and realism, to build the future of this country where almost everything is lacking: from infrastructures in the State; in the Party; in the Internal Administration; in short, a sea of needs at various levels.

  - I’m enjoying listening to you, keep going!

  - Nowadays it is not possible to think of a Modern Nation without associating Equity, Efficiency and Justice to it.

  - Keep going! You’re talking to your old friend!

  - What I have to say may be uncomfortable at the moment, but it is important that you pay attention. I won’t have another chance to mention it any time soon.

  - I’ve always enjoyed listening to you, as you know!

  - I don’t know if you’ll have the same opinion after what I have to tell you!

  - Don’t keep me waiting!

  Lili looked Song in the eye, perhaps to assure him that her words might not be the most opportune for that place and moment, but they were absolutely true.

  -There goes the time when one man, for example an Emperor who, because he was cunning, skillful, enlightened and influential, affirmed himself to others as the representative of the gods and, in this condition, Lord of all. All the others had the obligation to serve him, submitting them to his will, blindly fulfilling all that he said or determined. The life of the communities, generally hierarchical, had this demigod at the apex of the pyramid. At the bases remained all the remaining subjects, separated by a panoply of other men who carried out the orders emanating from above and served themselves, in this intermediate condition. The vassal to this demigod, largely as a result of human frailty as a consequence of helplessness in the face of greater evils, was supplemented by fees and taxes in exchange for protection, security, and justice. In the future all this will be more and more different! As man acquires knowledge, he reduces his fears and installs reason, self-confidence, to give way to a Being more equal to himself. Humanity, in its journey through time, has obtained an ever greater consciousness of itself, reducing the extent of ignorance. History tells us that Man walks in a permanent search for new ways to organize society, with ever higher levels of participation in community life. To begin at the beginning is, first of all, to always know where we are, at each moment, in view of the main objective of each Human being - “to achieve happiness through the full realization of each one of us”.

  Song, though invested in the high office of President, listened to his friend with the humility of one who receives a history lesson. And, gladly, in the end he said:

  - I soon knew that education is a determining asset in the lives of all men! In the campaign we ran with the people, we were concerned about that. The question I ask myself is: - how do we bring education to everyone?

  - You will have to build several fronts of fight. Education is just one, among many others! A country needs to guarantee food, health, housing, education, security and so many other things, but for that it is necessary to have an economy that works as much as possible to allow the sustainability of the Nation. Otherwise, everything becomes difficult or even impossible to achieve.

  - In a word, you have to generate wealth! - Added the President, with a smile.

  - I would rather say, achieving a harmonious balance of the whole, hence the fight on the various fronts. It is not possible to distribute wealth without generating it. But not everything is so linear. In my opinion, the difficult times of governance are often compounded by misunderstandings, traps, incondensable interests, veiled oppositions, corruption and so many other stones thrown in the way. Even with all the care, you will find disappointments and disenchantments all the time. Do not be surprised when you come across poisons where you expect to have honey, thorns instead of roses, dishonesty instead of righteousness. Even when you are surrounded by crowds of people cheering, you may feel loneliness, but if you remain strong, you will win! The most normal thing in a leader is to mix sweat, blood and tears in most of his days!

  - I always thought that the hardest thing would be to achieve power, but by your words you do not share my conviction!

  - The teachings of history say that it is easy for a ruler to confuse power with possession and this with the misuse of the goods at his disposal.

  - Don’t take me wrong! I hope I’m ready for all the challenges! – Said the President, promptly.

  - The thorns are around the corner and sometimes a lot closer than you think. It’s the hard truth!

  The conversation remained lively throughout dinner, but it was clear to Lili that her friend Song, now President, would change the way he saw the world as a result of climbing to the top of the pyramid.

  That night the President had a restless sleep. The expectations for the future or the weight of Lili’s words disturbed him all night, so when he woke up, he felt a significant tiredness. When he opened his bedroom window to let in the first rays of sun, he was dazzled for a moment by the views of the palace gardens, putting his ideas in order and reassuring his restless spirit. For him, who had such a high performance expected that day, those moments were comforting, allowing him to absorb the energy of the King Star he so badly needed. That morning, the sun had barely awakened and many people were already working outside the palace so that everything was in place at the high points of the planned ceremony - military parade and the President’s speech.

  Time was running fast and a few minutes from the beginning all the military chiefs and soldiers were aligned in the square, waiting for the long-awaited moment. On the balcony of the palace illustrious military and civilian figures began to appear, a sign that the solemn session was about to begin. Moments later, shrill clarinet sounds announced the arrival of the President to the balcony, which, with outstretched arms, corresponded to the enthusiastic greeting of the whole crowd. That was the first time that the square had been filled with such a large number of people, to greet its highest representative, since the Republic had been implanted. From all the provinces men and women, figures of society and of the people, had arrived to attend the ceremony, many of them from the President’s homeland, who remembered their illustrious son. Moments later, the military started the parade in cadenced march and, as they passed by the tribune, they executed the traditional movements of greeting with their guns, while with their boots they produced shrill sounds, stepping on the ground in a strong and synchronized way. After the military parade, the expected speech followed.

  For the elders, all that represented a great change, not only political, but also of the times. The Emperor lived confined to palace spaces and enclosures, so only a restricted number of people had t
he privilege of knowing him (at that time, most mortals were not even allowed to look the Emperor in the face). Never, as at present, did the highest representative of the Nation expose himself in that way, as if he was one of the people. He spoke to the crowd openly, addressing topics hitherto reserved for very narrow circles of listeners. For all this the fascination took over those present in that square. Many of those who listened clearly to the President did not even understand the meaning of many of his words: modernity; cutting with the past; education for all; and so many others, repeated insistently. The way the President spoke, the conviction he put into what he said, led each of the listeners to take his words as unquestionable truths and promises for a better future. When the speech was over, the people greeted their President enthusiastically, who, in the moments that followed, already gathered in his chambers, meditating on the crowd’s expressions of appreciation. It was for him an important encouragement for the struggle he had to wage to build a better future for his country.

  The following day, the President met with the Party’s senior structures to review the formation of the new government and define the guidelines for its programme. The need to provide the country with a political structure with the capacity to intervene and take it to modernity forced them to profoundly review old administrative and political concepts, seeking to look at what was best done in the world and draw conclusions (the wisest and most respected masters of political and administrative knowledge in the country were therefore heard). However, the President soon realized that the concentration of oligarchic power of the former emperors, despite many mistakes and defects, had some operational advantages: it was firmer in decisions; it enabled faster responses and above all it allowed unity of command. On the other hand, a democratic vision with broad discussion of the issues allowed the analysis of alternative paths and the finding of assertive and consensual decisions more easily. When analyzing the various political models that existed around the world, he found that the variety was very great and controversial. There were those who defended the privilege of the individual over the collective, even those who consecrated (at the other extreme) a broad power of the social over the individual. For the President there was not a single model of political organization that did not have its negative and sometimes perverse side. Among the State Councilors the divergence was great and difficult to conciliate. Under the President’s prerogatives, it was(ultimately) up to him to propose a model which, once accepted by a majority vote of the Party’s Supreme Council, would give way to the country’s fundamental law and would derive all the others from it. Thus, after much thought and listening to the wise men on the subject, the President drafted a proposal based on a mixed model based on the privilege of the collective over the individual, using some principles of an oligarchic nature in the command of power. He thus built a bridge between two (somewhat antagonistic) worlds, but with advantages in the day-to-day management of the Nation, although insanitary questions could be raised in the field of human rights. In the future, in order to guard against possible opponents of the decisions taken, there would be no alternative but to segregate and silence the opponents. With this model, the country would have the necessary unity of command, facilitating the management of broad political and economic guidelines. After weighing up the advantages and disadvantages among the possible models, the President considered that this solution would be the least bad for a country like that, giant in its territorial and population size. When the Party’s Supreme Council was confronted with the President’s proposal, it took some time to analyze all its consequences and finally decided to accept it. The acceptance of the Basic Law was long and painful, as well as the implementation of all the legislation derived from it, in support of the new Political and Administrative Structure. Despite the speed with which it was intended from the beginning, the process was developed with ups and downs and in zigzags, amidst painful struggles and many difficulties (many aspects, material and human structures had to be taken care of throughout the nation). The very stability of government, which was so necessary, also experienced vicissitudes - the assignment of some ministerial portfolios was not easy to achieve. In the constitution of the first government, Lili was invited to the Education portfolio, which she accepted, but only after long hours of meeting with the President. Lili considered that, since Education was one of the pillars in the construction of modernity in a country, it had to have tacit acceptance from the Party, so it had to express itself in favor of the broad guidelines proposed for its programme, in the short, medium and long term. Otherwise, it was at risk of, in practice, the project never coming out of the drawer. In this circumstance, Lili, after being appointed to the post, had as her first action to elaborate a detailed plan for appreciation, a plan that defended compulsory schooling levels for the entire population and also broad guidelines in the implementation of a modern and with quality university education, endowed with its own research infrastructures. Her plan was so ambitious and detailed that when the Party’s Supreme Council received it for analysis, she was in a situation of total embarrassment. None of its members were prepared to give any opinion on such an in-depth subject. In this circumstance, the members of the Council in charge of analyzing it, and after long and several meetings without coming to any conclusion, decided to consign the plan to a drawer, waiting for a better opportunity. Lili thus saw time go by without any decision being passed on to her. Despite her insistence she always received the invariable answer “the matter is under analysis”. The activity of the Ministry of Education was thus blocked to the displeasure of many and deep dissatisfaction of Lili. As the weeks and months went by, a growing uneasiness arose between the Ministry and the Party’s Supreme Council, to which the President himself was not unaware. Lili saw in that strange delay a frontal opposition to her work and asked the President to intercede with the Council for a deadline; otherwise she was forced to tender her resignation. Days later, the Minister received information about the decision taken: “The Council, after careful analysis, considers that the program presented cannot merit its approval because it contains matters that may allow subversive political acts in the future, and therefore suggests writing a new document more appropriate to the current national reality”.

  For Lili, that opinion was an affront to all human logic and intelligence. She immediately wrote and personally delivered not a new document but a letter of resignation to the President, telling him that she considered the Council’s position to be a “colossal political error”. The President tried to make Lili see various other points of view and also warned her that it was not opportune, given the financial difficulties of the moment.

  - The Council reached this decision because it is afraid that the liberal form of the education model you propose is outside the broad guidelines of our internal policy. - Said the President.

  To which Lili responded by saying:

  -I don’t know what you’re getting at!

  -In other words, your plan for Education represents a major turning point, not only in the way and form of teaching, but above all in the programmatic contents, inducing a real cultural revolution. In my opinion, you should review your proposal and opt for a more consensual model.

  - What can be understood by a more consensual model? Keeping the traditional teaching model, totally obsolete and out of step with modern times, is that it?!

  - For example, opting for a gradual evolution of the present one! - Said the President, already a little displeased with Lili’s inflexibility.

  - This country has been asleep and abandoned for too long! Everywhere you look you see only delays. At this point we should not have political ambition at a snail’s pace. For those horizons do not count on me! - Lili said, definitely.

  Despite the President’s words of moderation, he did not succeed in stopping the impetus of protest from his Minister, who, without further ado, left the office in the same way as she entered, that is to say, decided to end it all. For the President, that attitude rep
resented Lili’s irreverent side – the one he didn’t like as much. That untimely departure brought back to him some memories of moments in the past he had seen while attending school. Her temperamental character was in her blood, so it did not surprise him.

  Two days later, the President responded to the Minister’s resignation with a “Rejected” order. However, by the time the President’s decision reached the Minister’s office, she had already left the office. For the President that attitude represented a serious blow to their personal relations - as President he could not tolerate his Minister’s conduct being so irregular. Under those circumstances he had to act as a politician. So he immediately issued an order exonerating the Minister of Education while at the same time informing the whole of his government that he would be accumulating its portfolio.

  Over the months, Lili felt a growing bitterness, both because her attitude had cut personal relations with the President and because the Party now had a frontal hostility towards her and her businesses. From Paris she had also received news of growing difficulties in the business that her companies in that city were going through, so she began to have a serious problem to solve. Since she was a child, she had travelled a lot with her parents, so she had been confronted with other civilizations, places, cultures and different developments from her country. Perhaps that is why she acquired a different view of the world and life than her fellow countrymen, having become an experienced woman and of quick decisions. Thus, the news she received from Paris represented another opportunity - to rethink her interests and priorities. In this circumstance, she set up a management company to which she entrusted her local business and soon afterwards left for Paris.