The Slave

Chapter 5- Beliefs

The next days I checked what my Guide told me about freedom. We really ARE free, that means we can make mistakes and face the consequences of our acts being free also means that, we create our own future with every decision we take, fate doesn't exist, we create it at every moment. Despite my siblings and I had received the same education, our fates were very different.

Ludwig, the eldest and the Heir to the Koopa Throne, was always successful, I suppose that instead of rebelling, like I did, he chose to take the good things and apply it in his things, today he even is a great composer.

Lemmy, the second eldest, has a hobby of going to the circus and work as a clown rolling on his ball. He is the smallest of us, despite not being the youngest, and is very immature. He always remained cheerful even in the darkest moment.

Roy, on the other hand, always dealt emotional problems with a hardened heart. He loves to use brute force over to thinking things through, maybe because of his lack of brains. Once heard that Roy does to everyone what Dad did to him, and I agreed.

Iggy, you already know him, was always the "know-it-all" of the family. He is a mechanical genius, and often builds new weapons, vehicles and even quimical experiments to help dad get rid of Mario for good.

Wendy is the only girl, and is a very spoiled brat. She, however, had married a few months ago. My father didn't accept her boyfriend; in fact, he told her that if she married with him he would forget she was his daughter. She remained firm in her decision and hadn't seen each other since then.

Morton is very cantankerous, and is very grumpy sometimes. He also speaks, but never shuts it! He would never know when to stop talking, forcing Roy to constantly interrupt him. I just hope if Morton comes to see me, he won't start with his long speeches or something.

And last but not least was Bowser Jr., dad's favorite child; he was only 8 years old. When mom got pregnant of him it was a surprise for everyone. His birth brought me a lot of happiness. He was my adoration and he loved me very much.

Little by little Iggy and dad accepted the situation and I too. In the months that passed, I managed to see parts of my family that I had never seen before my father's loving and caring side, Iggy's great strength (literally, if you know what I mean), the union that I never felt in my siblings. I suppose that seeing me totally defenseless and immobile brought to their minds the fragility of life and faces them with their own vulnerability.

I remember when Wendy, her husband and my father encountered in my room, there wasn't any need of words, nor explanations or apologies. Wendy ran to hug my father and he received her like saying: "I missed you very much". Then he turned to her husband and told him: "thanks for coming… son-in-law" and stretched out his hand. That was enough to make it clear that my father now respected her decision, that now, it was more important for him to see his daughter than having the reason.

How terrible that a tragedy had to happen so my family would be together and start to express their love, laced aside their resentments and complications. But… why is it that way? If we are really free, why don0t we choose to be nice with ourselves and those who surround us?

"Because of our beliefs" one again, my Guide came to teach me something

"Beliefs? I don't understand" was my reply

"Our beliefs mold our existence. Anything that you think of yourself is true. Anything that you think of the others and any belief that you have about what happens around you, is also true… for you."

"I don't understand anything"

"Look, everything you see, feel hear and live is truth for yourself, but not for the others. You live the things that happen to you in a different way of the whole world. We all have a distinct way and unique to see life."

"That's why argues never come to a solution."

"Of course, an argue is wanting another person to see life the same way to see it and that… is impossible! Millions of people…" he continued. "…Die in wars because their leaders want to impose their way of seeing life the same way they do. Enough that the ruler of the kingdom wants to impose his believe that an economic system is the adequate, pr that others should praise his god, so he orders to kill all those who refuse to believe the same"

"Fifteen million died in the Second Koopa-Mushroom Kingdom War, it's unbelievable" I commented

"Exactly, your grandfather Morton was a psychotic and managed to convince an entire kingdom, that they belonged to a superior race. Six million of innocents suffered the worst atrocities that the Mushroom World had presented ever"

"But, what does that have to do with being nice with the others?"

"It has everything to do. What do you miss the most in this moment?"

"My health, the capacity to move, to express my ideas and feelings. The possibility to coexist with my loved beings."

"So… you miss what you already had."

"Yes! Before that was for me the most natural, I suppose I had it secured and didn't even allow myself to understand the blessing my body was"

"Well the same too, we make for sure the most valuable things of life an go around there, looking for the superficial, because we believe that there is something would make us happy if we had it"

"Yes, we forget the true important things: of our relationships, of what we already have; we always want more and more."

"The living being had the mistaken belief that it needs something to be happy, it doesn't realize that, it already has what it needs! It doesn't realize that happiness is a way of seeing life, an attitude, a custom."

"You are right, my life was full of blessings, but I was always unsatisfied" I answered him

"Most people is, they always fall in the stupid game of accumulating and accumulating. Some accumulate money, others knowledge and titles. Full of fear of poverty, of what will they say, of not being a valuable person; without realizing that, it's not what they have that makes them valuable, but what they ARE"

"It's like a competition. I always remember wanting to be better than the rest, to have a better car, being cutter. Today I would give without thinking, all of that for simply hugging my father and siblings."

"However" he interrupted me "it's a competition in which no one wins, because we are all unique and different. We forget that we won't take anything and fulfillments are nothing if we don't have someone to share them with. Can you realize that we answer to mistaken beliefs?"

After reconsidering a bit I commented:

"I think you are completely right, we are always trying to have more, to do more, to manage more, to be more; without realizing that if we stopped a bit to enjoy and thank for what we already have, what we have managed, what we already are, we would be happy in that moment. And, however… why it isn't that way? Why does almost everyone do the same? How is it possible that we forget that the most important things in our life are our relationships? Why that habit of ignoring what we have and set our sights on what we don't have?"

"Because we share mistaken beliefs"

"Everyone? How is that possible?"

"Possibly because we live in a neurotic society. What propitiates ou wrong beliefs, what promotes false values and has its priorities bad-established"

"It seems hard for me to believe that we are all wrong"

"Hard? Then how do you explain wars? Send our own sons and brethren to death to defend our ideas. How do you explain that the wealth of the world is distributed between the 10% of the population and the rest starves? How can you explain then that people kill for money, that fathers pay more attention in their work than in their children and their own family? How do yo understand then, that we humans are contaminating and destroying the Earth that is their home and they are annihilating almost all of the being that inhabit it? What is then the reason that they see children starve and do nothing about it?"

"alright, alright, I got the message… don't be mad at me…"

I already overcame the emotions like anger. What I want is for you to understand that the world's reality has been created by the Man and its beliefs. Belief that there's not enough foe everyone, has taken humans to create a reality of misery. To believe that money and power brings happiness has taken them and even us to get away from our brethren. To think that out life depends on what happens around us has made us lose control of our lives"

"You mean that our beliefs create our reality?"

"exactly! What you believe, soon or late manifests in your life"

We were in that when I heard someone argued behind my room's door…

I recognized Esperanza's voice that said:

"You can't enter miss, only when the relatives are present"

"But I don't want to see his relatives, I want to see HIM" a feminine vice said that I didn't recognize for now "besides, doesn't this convert m into his family?" she continued without I could figure out what she was referring to.

"Are you his girlfriend?" Esperanza asked

"What do you care? Let me go in…"

The door opened violently and there she was, finally... Carla had came to visit me.

She got closer to the bed while Esperanza followed her, trying to stop her. When she saw me she became so pale that I thought she was going to faint. Esperanza, when seeing the expression on her face, ceased on her attempt on preventing her from seeing me and placed her hand over her shoulder to calm her down.

She remained motionless, simply staring at me like scared, until she exploded yelling after a while:

"You damned! How could you do this to yourself? How could you do this to me?" she yelled as her face filled with tears "and now, what am I going to do? Look at me" she said as she took her hands to her belly. It was obvious that she had like seven or eight months of pregnancy.

I felt a chill ran in my body when I saw she came closer yelling, with the intention of scratching my face. Unfortunately Esperanza stopped her grabbing her by her arms and taking her away from me. Unfortunately, because in that moment I understood perfectly her anger and gladly would have allowed her to hurt me just to cool down her rage… just to decrease the guilt I felt… just to let her touch me…

Esperanza tightly pressed her arms while she struggled tying to get loose.

"Leave me, damn it, leave me!" she screamed and fought like crazy

"try to calm down, you won't get anything with this" Esperanza repeated at her one again and again.

She slowly calmed down, stopped fighting and allowed Esperanza to hug her. Then the two elements of security of the hospital were already in the room; two tall paratroopas wearing white uniforms. Esperanza indicated them that everything was under control and their presence was not necessary. After the paratroopas took their leave, they were soon followed by Carla and Esperanza.

Various encountered feeling filled my mind. In one side the happiness of seeing that Carla was alive and on the other hand, the sadness of seeing her suffering so much. Besides… she's pregnant! Oh, Star Spirits, why now that I can't do anything? What will become of her and the baby? Why is this happening to me?

"Ow, ow, why is this happening to me?" my guide repeated in mocking tone on my head "things don't happen to you they just happen…"

"Shut up you damned how can you mock at my suffering?" I answered him in my mind. I felt I was filled with rage and I felt an intense ache in my chest.

"I'm not mocking at your suffering, I mock at your arrogance" was the last he had said before something extraordinary thing happened to me…