Asterisk Week 52: Sobre Sucesso
We’ll never be successful, unless we…
Asterisk Project: Grupo de Escrita Criativa
Texto por: Viviane
O terceiro prompt de janeiro, correspondente a semana do dia 15 ao dia 22, foi escolhido pelo Guilherme.
“We’ll never be successful, unless we…” pode render textos bem clichês, mas completamente reais. Então, vem ler as composições dessa semana e conferir o que pensamos sobre isso. O que precisamos fazer para obter sucesso? Confira abaixo:
We’ll never be successful, unless we change
The way we look at each other
The planet
Life.
We’ll never be successful, unless we build
Bridges that can connect each other
Paths for
Souls
We’ll never be successful, unless we cry
For those who were not able of achieving
Success,
Love.
Alan Zahid
“Early January is always a slow time”, Hadwin mumbled to himself as he scribbles some notes on a piece of parchment and uses his long index finger nail to gently move a bead across a wire on his abacus. “Yes, January is always slow — the humans tend to spend all of their savings during the Winter Solstice, when they honor that son of a virgin who died but actually didn’t die or whatever. Very shortsighted of them”.
Hadwin looks up from his accounting and continues speaking to himself: “They travel to visit relatives they secretly despise, they buy gifts they can’t afford to impress people they don’t like. They drown themselves in drink and devour roasted pigs whole” he says bitterly, “… although I really can’t blame them for eating the whole pigs.”
His office is a mess. Papers are thrown haphazardly all over his undersized desk, and shelves packed with folders and dusty old books sit behind him. Notes with reminders are affixed with pins onto the walls, along with smoke stains from decades of tobacco use and an old, broken cuckoo clock with a one-eyed cuckoo doll sprung out sits in the corner. It is a wonder he manages to get any work done or find anything amongst this mess. Trolls generally don’t care much for tidiness, but even amongst his brethren, Hadwin’s office is seen as something of an eyesore.
He adjusts his monocle and continues to look down on his accounting books. Despite the pigsty of a room he works in, Hadwin’s dress is immaculate — he is dressed like a proper Victorian gentleman, as is expected of someone of his rank and position. His long hair is slicked back with grease and his mutton chops are neatly trimmed. Smoke, courtesy of his cigar, bellows from his mouth, but not a single ash has fallen unto his desk, clothing or papers, but gently into an ashtray. He wears a colorful bowtie that is a bit tight on his neck, which make his saggy jowls even more prominent than need be, and his vest made of fine oriental silk is a few sizes too small, but otherwise, he is neat as a pin and dressed rather smartly.
A faint knock on the door interrupts his bookkeeping. “What is it?!”, Hadwin yells, somewhat annoyed. The door barely cracks open and the head of his secretary, Joshua, pops into the room and timidly says in a cockney accent “Um, Mr. Hadwin sir, um, you’s sister is ‘ere to see yous”. “Oh bloody hell”, Hadwin grumbles “Britta always manages to find the absolute worst times to see me. Tell her to get an appointment!” he barks. “Wells uh, Mr. Hadwin, she does has an appointment. Has hads it for 2 weeks now. In fact, you set the date yous self when she cames 2 weeks agos. Don’t yous rememba?”
Exasperated, Hadwin tells Joshua “I pay you to remember things, you foul Eastend Human. Tell her –“ but before he can finish, a large troll woman pushes her way inside, knocking poor Joshua on the ground. She is quite large and portly, but not unpleasant to look at, at least by troll standards. She has managed to slip herself into a tight-fitting bodice and corset, which made her substantially large bosom appear even more prominent, and a large crinoline skirt which knocked over several papers on Hadwin’s desk as she sat herself onto a chair opposite Hadwin.
Hadwin stood. “Joshua!” he said, adjusting his collar “can’t you see that Lady Britta graces us with her presence? Fetch her some tea!”. Joshua leaps to his feet, brushes himself off and gives a short bow before walking out of the office. “Ah-“ Hadwin begins to utter before Joshua pops his head back into the office and asks “Earl Grey, sir?”. “Whichever is most expensive. Only the finest things for my dear sister!”, Hadwin replies, waiting for the door to shut once again. “Foolish boy, but he has a good heart and is honest, to a fault.” Hadwin says to his sister. “To what do I owe your presence?” he asks as he takes his seat.
“Business. There is no other reason I’d step foot into this latrine you call an office otherwise”, Britta says thumbing her nose and with a disgusted look on her face. “I’ve been looking through our quarterly reports, and I must express my deep disappointment. Profits have been lower than projected, which I can only blame on your general incompetence and mismanagement.”
Hadwin, annoyed but keeping his composure, through clenched teeth says “Oh dear sister, do not put too much exertion on your frail head. It must be difficult for you to understand — “
“Cease your flattery. I understand quite a bit, you rapscallion, you inadequate dullard, you contemptable, inadequate excuse for a troll” she says sharply, interrupting him midsentence. “Cursed be the fools who placed our family finances under the care of a sniveling nincompoop such as yourself. Our grandfather, wise in the ways of coin but still clinging to troll customs, trusted YOU Hadwin to make our enterprises profitable, but you’ve managed to squander all the opportunities you’ve been given.”
“Silence you wildebeest, you scorn of man and troll alike, you Babylonian harlot.” Hadwin coughs as he puffs on his cigar. “My investments have been sound and secure. I’ve expanded our toll business all over the isles — we get a fee for every bridge anyone crosses, and we have made great strides in the grog, cauldron and raccoon pelt business. We will multiply our investments in no time at all”
“Don’t condescend to me, you fat, unsightly oaf” she snapped back. “You know as well as I do that we are in a Bull market. We should be focusing on diversifying our assets and taking risks, not wasting valuable time and coin on two-bit troll rackets like raccoon pelts. There is growth in the markets and lucrative profits to be made, but you’ve been too stupid to see it.”
“While you have been titty fucking gremlins, I have been minding our finances. We don’t have any liquidity to invest”, said Hadwin as he spit into a bucket conveniently places near his feet. “Our money is all tied up, not that you’d know anything about business, what with you and your wart covered orifices prancing around Canary Wharf hunting for poor sods to fill them”
“Then. Take. Out. A. Loan. Interest rates are low — there is no reason to not be doing it. Are you so afraid of debt, you coward? You shame our ancestors. They built an empire from a single bridge from which they charged a toll. When trolls were allowed to own assets in the Troll Rights Act of 1782, our grandfather took the coin our family had accumulated and invested in building iron ships for trade, which he then used to invest in the worthwhile coal and railroad industry. You know our history, don’t you?”
“Of course I know, trollop!”, Hadwin said, beaming proudly. “I run the business, don’t you remember?”
“You were placed as Chief Financial Officer because you are male. Don’t flatter yourself. If you had been anyone else’s son you’d be shoveling coal, not turning a profit from it”
“Okay Mrs. Know-It-All, what do you suggest? Since you seem to know everything there is about making money, pray tell, what should we be doing?”
“You imbecile, I’ve been telling you all along. And don’t come to me with some excuse about it just being Christmas and people not having any money to spend. Consumption is still high — do you forget that February is coming soon? Lovesick morons such as yourself will be spending barrels of gold on roses and chocolates and a myriad other frivolousness. Have you secured investing in confectionary? In roses? In cacao and sugar from America?”
“Cacao? What in blood hell is that? It sounds like a rectal affliction”
“It’s what they make chocolate out of, you pisspot! Listen, I have big plans for our fortunes, and I know just the way to do it.”
“How?”
“Banking. Loans with high interest. Revolution is springing up all over the Spanish and Portuguese holdings. They will need capital to build up their far-flung Republics. Standing armies, infrastructure — you know, the price of governing. For that they’ll need loans, for which they’ll need credit. They are actually looking to have debt, the monkeys! What we need to be doing is making them indebted to US.”
“Bah, that sounds risky. I won’t put my money into such a gamble. What if they can’t pay their debts?”
“OUR money, you mean. You don’t understand risk, and you certainly don’t understand reward. You see, they will never be able to pay back the debt. And when they default on their debt, we will –“
“Claim their estates.”, Hadwin says stroking his chin. “Yes, yes — but what if they actually pay off their debts?”
Britta throws an ashtray at her brother’s head. “Think! They’ll never pay off their debts. They will barely be able to pay the interest. But we have an Ace up our sleeves, brother. What do we trolls do best?”, Britta says as a giant smile forms on her face. “Sow chaos.”
We’ll never be successful, unless we try. There is failure, yes, and your best effort is no guarantee of success. You can do your best and still fail. But when no attempt is made, that is when failure goes from possibility to certainty. Yes, failure tastes most bitter when it’s the fruit of our labor, but only through our blood, sweat, and tears can we reap a victory. It is better to gamble on a victory than to sit down and accept the inevitability of failure.
We’ll never be successful, unless we believe in ourselves. Before we wish people believe in our potential, we need to do it. So, we’ll can do anything we want to.
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Notas:
Os textos produzidos foram corrigidos por nós mesmos, então nos perdoe por qualquer erro!
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