Otto, just 14 years old, sat down at the table and behaved like a business man, 30 years old or more. He started:
- Helga, you are a representative of a beverage company, aren't you?
- Yes.
- And do you produce the drinks that you sell?
- No. We will start producing here.
- So, you buy the barrels, bottle and sell?
- Yes, this way.
- I apologize a thousand apologies for wasting your time, but our farm is not for sale.
- I'm the one who apologizes, but the news that this farm here is going to break has already spread there in the city. There are a lot of interested people and if you don't want to sell me because they are already chatting with other people, no problem.
- That's not it. You are the first to come here.
- Sorry. Didn't your father pass away?
- He passed away, but I'm here.
- You?
- Yes. And know that although I am not of age, I have the capacity. I have the ability to analyze, to think, to produce.
- Right. All is well then. If you change your mind, look for me.
She took out a business card and handed it to Otto.
- What is your interest here on the farm?
- The drink produced here.
Otto asked Helga to wait a while, went to his room, took some sheets of paper and showed her.
- We produce about 180 barrels of wine per harvest. About 65 barrels are produced between harvests. I'm looking into the possibility of starting juice production. We also think about expanding wine production, but we still don't have a market for that.
- And what are you up to?
- What if you and I get together? As a doctor does not need to have cancer to study the disease, his company does not need the land to have the drink we produce here. I don't want to and I'm not going to sell the farm. If you join me, you will have the drink and I will have a bigger market to expand my business.
The woman was delighted. The boy had a business acumen, an amazing ability to manage that farm. She said:
- Then you can start to extend the production, because everything you can produce destined for us, we will then buy.AQUI
Ann couldn't see anything in Otto that looked like her: that boy who was sitting at the table was Karl. He had the will to command, the gift of business, the vision to grow and help. Sitting there, they agreed on prices, delivery dates and finalized business. While having lunch, Ann, Otto and Helga spoke in English, French and German. During lunch, he behaved like a perfect 14-year-old boy: he talked about the books he liked, the dreams he had. When lunch was over, Otto took Helga to show him the extensive farm, the houses of the people who helped, the people working, the machinery, everything. When they returned to the house, there was a couple with two children waiting for him.
- Are you Karl's son?
- Yes.
- Can we talk to him? We really need his help.
- My father is doing his tasks, in another place. Who knows I can help?
- We need work, food, a roof.
Otto looked Helga in the eye and said to the couple:
- We have all the sharecroppers' houses occupied; however, we have the work and the food they need. I think we have two guest rooms with a bathroom and a fireplace in my house. Mother!? - Otto shouted - prepare the guest room for our new employees. Congratulations, pack your things and let's get to work.
When they left, Otto looked at Helga and pointed out:
- That's why I want the farm, it's for these very few seconds where I can see the sparkle in the eyes of people who ask for help and I can help. That is why I will continue my father's work.
The woman was very impressed, really. Otto was very young and yet he had a much more mature thought than a very accomplished man. She asked:
- How can a boy of just 14 years old act like a man?
- This is something I always say, if age were measured by the luggage that each one carries with them, I would be much older than many elders.
That thought only made her even more impressed.
- Unfortunately, I have to go.
- Feel free to come back whenever you want.
- Yes, I'll be back. I am sure that our path will still cross a lot. This world is very small and you will go far. Whatever you need from me and I can help, count on me.
- We will send the barrels of wine and juice to you as soon as possible.
- How many barrels are we talking about?
- I'll show you how it works.
Otto took the woman to the porch, took a rope, rang the bell six times, and in a few minutes all the employees were gathered in the courtyard. Otto started:
- This lady here is a representative of W&D Limited Corporation. She came to close a contract with us. How many barrels of grape juice and wine can we deliver by the second half of the coming month?
There were some whispers and the elder asked:
- Working at full throttle?
- Yes.
- About 9 barrels of 100 liters of good wine and 13th barrels of good juice.
- Okay. Thank you. I haven't closed anything yet, but if this contract is closed, I will increase your pay by 1/3 of what you earn weekly.
Everyone clapped their hands and Otto gave permission to leave. He and Helga did some math and she said:
- We will advance about 50% of the final payment.
- I can't accept it and I won't accept it at all.
- You can't, you have to accept.
- What if some weather happens to me?
- You will be able to do well, you will have to make investments, accept!
Otto weighed the pros and cons. To accept that money or not?
- Let's go in and have a cup of coffee, at the end I answer if I accept the money or not.
They went in and had a cup of coffee that Otto himself prepared. They talked a little more and He replied:
- I did not want to, but I am obliged to receive the advance. From now on, I thank you from the heart, as it will help a lot.
- Otto, you are the strongest and most courageous young man I know. If you can and want to, listen to one piece of advice: you just have to fight yourself. Never let discouragement bring you down, nor the most difficult issues, any obstacles you will face. You are a point of light within the darkness of the world.
- Thank you very much.
Helga thanked Otto's company, she was really excited to do business with that 14-year-old MAN, not knowing that in the not-too-distant future, fate would take charge of uniting their fate.
The days went by, the weeks went by. Otto and the big farm team worked day after day, always in full swing. They fought bravely to produce the best grape, because only then would they have a quality final product. It was Sunday, after finishing that day's work (yes, they also worked on Sunday), Otto and everyone else were drinking wine and the kid's juice. And he asked:
- Is this wine they drink now, good?
- Yes, of course.
- Is it the best?
There was silence and he asked again:
- Is it the best wine they drink now?
Everyone lifted their goblets and mugs and shouted, with all the strength of their lungs:
- Yes!
- And I also tell you yes. This wine is not only the juice of that grape, fermented, in this sip of wine is deposited every drop of sweat and blood of each one. Every callus in your hands or feet, every feeling of love and kindness. - He raised the cup and asked - Do you love working here?
- Yes!
- Do you love doing what you do?
- Yes!
- Well then! Me too. That is why we produce such a good wine. It's your love! It is our love for the land and the profession that what we produce is so good. We will rest because we deserve rest; but tomorrow there is more work.
Otto showed how important each one was in his task, no matter how small it was, it was very important. There was a day when the son of one of his employees, a little older than he, was a little unhappy. He tried to work without showing his discontent to others, but Otto noticed. At the end of the day, he asked the boy if he could have dinner with his family:
- We are very poor; I do not know if our supper will please you.
- I bet you will.
The boy was very embarrassed, ran to tell his mother and father that Otto was coming to dinner. A few minutes passed and he arrived. Louis was the boy's name and his mother asked to go and answer the door.
- Come in, boss.
- I'm not your boss, I'm your friend. On this farm we are all friends.
Otto and his friends sat at the table with great joy and great hunger. Otto invited Louis to the next day for dinner at his house. They worked all day with great happiness. Louis was not so sad, but he was doing his job with enthusiasm. When night came, he went to dinner with Otto. When he got there, he was received by his mother and they sat at the table before. He arrived shortly afterwards, with several papers in hand. Unlike the night before, there had been no laughter, no conversation, no jokes. Although the soup was hot, it was a cold dinner.
The next morning, Louis woke up very early, even before Otto. He prepared coffee for his family and went to work. The job they assigned for that day was much harder than usual: turning over the land to plant a new batch of vines. In spite of everything, there he was, standing up, excited to get on with the day's work. If he went a few days earlier, he would pretend to be unwell, just so he wouldn't go to work, but after having dinner at Otto's house, he could compare the two families and realized how happy he was and all he had was the most. you needed what you needed. Alone, he prepared the oxen, the plow, the yoke and began to plow the land. It was very interesting to see how he guided the oxen: to make the job easier, they always had similar names: planet and comet, east and horizon. He was plowing the land and shouting:
- It becomes a planet; it becomes a comet. Lay the planet, lay the comet.
When Otto and the other workers arrived, they were stunned to see Louis there, he who always made up an excuse to escape the heavy duty, and that was the heaviest service on the farm. He sat down to drink water and Otto asked:
- What happened?
- I discovered how happy I am and even more, I discovered a purpose for living. I think I woke up to see what until today I have only been looking at.
- I'm glad you got to see this. Know something Louis, there are people who spend their whole lives without seeing life, just look.
Otto was very happy, he knew that somehow, he had helped that boy and helping his neighbor was one of the few things he cared about. He joined the others and started to work. That job was really hard work, really hard and really tiring. All worked in groups, always with four oxen, while two stayed at the board pulling the plow, two were drinking water and resting; when three hours passed, they changed the gasket. At the end of the day, they gathered in the courtyard to have some wine. At this moment, two men arrived at the farm to ask for a job:
- We need to work. We accept any type of service and accept what you can afford.
Otto looked into the eyes of those men and something made him shudder from head to toe. There was something in those eyes that went back to the past, it reminded him of something very bad.
- What country are you from? They don't speak with our accent.
- We came from a very distant country.
- Have you been around here?
- On this farm, never.
- Not on our farm, in our country.
- No. It's the first time.
The other man remained silent for the entire time, and when
Otto asked if he had been there before, he shuddered, as did the other. Otto tried to look them in the eye, but it was very difficult, as they avoided his eyes. He asked:
- Let's be honest with each other, okay? Why do I have the strange feeling of having already seen you?
- I don't know.
The other man who had remained silent could not help himself and pleaded:
- Please! Give us a chance to change our lives, to become better people, men of honor. Help us, we beg you.
The last chapters of Otto's life passed as if it were a film in his head, where the last scenes were the death of his father. At that very moment he recognized those eyes: those two men who were standing there, begging him for help were the same men who managed to escape that fateful night. They were the men who hurt his mother and took his father's life. He stayed there not because he wanted to face them or even talk to them, he just stood there because his body did not want to respond to the commands that his brain sent. It was only a few seconds that he remained there without showing any reaction, but those seconds seemed more like eternity; an eternity of anguish and suffering. Some feelings that Otto believed he had forgotten, but were very much alive in his chest. In his head, senseless thoughts and ideas fought with his common sense, on the one hand he thought of killing those two men, but he knew it would be wrong. His heart burned in his chest, which for him was a new feeling.
Unfortunately, we are dominated by instincts. Human beings, like all animals, are endowed with prehistoric instincts, and anger, hatred, ignorance, disrespect is some of them. Man became sovereign over other animals only when he learned to tame these instincts, when he learned to tame himself. All beings in nature think, but only the human being thinks about improving himself. Standing there, Otto remembered the principles he was taught and a phrase came to mind:
"When instincts want to take over, then stop, think and reflect!"
In that situation, he had to be cold, calculating and very calm after all, he knew that any of his co-workers knew that those two men were their parents' executioners, for sure, they would kill them. Otto pretended:
- I think I know where I know them from.
- From where, sir?
- The great lord is in heaven. I'm not sure, but I think it's from somewhere in Poland, Warsaw maybe.
- Yes, Warsaw.
- Really. It must be from some wine-producing farm that I visited with my father. Unfortunately, we have no work, but I will write a letter of recommendation and send you to my uncle's farm. Please accompany me.
The two men believed the story Otto was telling them. They followed him and when they got close to the house, he asked:
- Stay here in this bush, I don't want my mother to see you.
He left and within a few minutes he was back, but he was not carrying any paper, but he was carrying something else that those men could not distinguish. Otto said to the two men:
- I know them very well, I think they already know that.
- Yes. - The man stated and stared at the floor. - When we were here for the last time, we were weak and lost. We are in your hands, either you forgive us, or you kill us all at once.
- You took what was most precious from me, you took what was most precious from me.
- We know that. In fact, it was all my fault.
- Now it doesn't matter who was to blame or not. The most important thing is that they are here now. Did you come to ask for a job? Or did they come to harm us?
- You can search us; we are not even armed.
- I will trust you, I forgive you, with all my heart.
This was much more difficult than it looked and as painful as it was, Otto knew he needed to give his forgiveness. As long as his body wanted to see the blood of those men spilled on the earth, in his subconscious, he knew that forgiveness was the best way out for the three of them. At that moment he made a discovery that would change his life forever: forgiveness is not a will, a feeling. On the contrary, it is a necessity, an action.
Few people know this, some find out in their old age and others die without knowing it. Interesting to think about it because you will never wake up in the morning and say to yourself, "Today I am going to forgive such a person, because I wanted to forgive him!" This will never happen because it cannot be so, such a thing is ignoble. To forgive, you have to tame all your primordial instincts, only in this way that it will be possible to reach such a degree of spiritual elevation.
When Otto gave his forgiveness to those men, a good deal of that anger and anguish vanished when those men burst into tears. Forgiveness not only cleared the obstacle that stood between those men and the way of good, but also their heart. When you forgive, you learn that all those bad feelings you carry in your chest will only hurt you. The boy continued:
- Although I forgive you, I am not in a position to employ you.
- Okay, we didn't even wait for his forgiveness, he's enough for us.
- For my mother. I don't know what her reaction would be.
Otto reached out and gave each an envelope. What he carried in his hands and they could not distinguish. At first, they had even thought it was something else. He said:
- In this envelope you have enough money to become men of goods. Do not disappoint the One who is above you.
They looked at each other and Otto explained:
- Above all human beings there is a force that forgives everyone and loves everyone as children. Remember everything you did wrong in the past should not be forgotten, but remembered in a good way, you have changed, for the better. They are new men. Remember that.
The men said goodbye and left. Otto remained in the same place, where he fought battles with himself: how had he been able to let the men who killed his father escape for a second time? Your brain did not understand what your heart had just done. Deep in his soul, he knew he had done right, and anything that was contrary to what he had just done would not be right and would in no way bring him peace, would not make his mother forget all the suffering and suffering that went on and on., in no way would bring your father back.
"Why is the path of good always the most difficult?" He asked himself.
That night he managed to sleep well, and so it was every night that followed. The months passed and more and more the farm progressed and he could make all the improvements he wanted to make. For her mother, life started to lose its meaning and that was bad. She no longer needed to work in the house of others, in her house, she helped the various maids, who were the women and daughters of the men who worked on the farm (there was not always work on the farm for all women). It didn't take long for Ann to start being courted by men, after all she was a beautiful and well-cared woman, but the last thing she wanted was to share her life with another man. It was on a sunny afternoon that she had a brilliant idea, but she kept it to herself. When night fell and Otto was ready for supper she asked:
- Is working on the farm still very difficult?
- Not much, aside from the legwork, which is tiring, it is not at all difficult to make this place go forward.
- Think of a hypothetical situation.
- Hypothetical?
- Yes. If someone asked you to learn to have mastery over the farm, could you teach?
- Hypothetically yes, which would not depend directly on me but on the person in question.
- Why?
- When you really want to learn something, whatever it is, it doesn't just depend on who teaches, the person who learns has to want, want to learn.
- I want to learn, but I don't know if I'm capable.
- Of course, you're a mother! I am happy to see your interest in the farm. It will be good for you, believe me!
Ann was very happy to see her son willing to help her. An occupation in her mind was all she needed at that moment and more, she had plans for the future and learning to run the farm was part of them. Otto was even happier that his mother was happy, as he saw in her eyes the happiness of taking care of all those people and knew that his mother was facing a difficult part of life (later this would be called depression). You cannot live in vain, whoever lives in vain is like the person who picks up a book to read and does not leave the front page. When she started to learn how to manage the farm, Otto was astonished, his mother was not able to perform such a task, she went beyond that, she had the gift. He asked:
- Are you sure you never did that?
- I have!
They laughed together. Otto tried to pass on all the knowledge he had acquired during that short time in charge. Time passed and, as expected, the pupil overtook his master and she surprised him. It was the end of the harvest season and the farm produced 42% more grapes than in previous years. Otto wanted to make juice, because the output was faster, there was more liquidity. However, Ann did not agree with such an idea. For her, it would be better to make wine and despite not having the same outlet, it was much more expensive, it yielded much more. Ann and Otto talked each one presented one against the other's idea and a pro for his own idea. Ultimately, Ann managed to subdue the idea of her son, who said: