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Roja Rodriguez inhaled a lung-full of fresh air. After working five years in the United States at a low-income assembly job, he was able to save enough money and accumulate enough vacation time to take a two-week vacation back to his Mother Country. To make this vacation better, two of friends, Mariposo Tollen and Jan-Michael Turla, were able to save enough money and accumulate enough vacation time to go with their friend. Roja was very happy showing his friends his native homeland from the rustle and bustle of the city to the pristine, blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. Now he was showing his friends the Amazon Rainforest, one of the largest and flourishing ecosystems on the Earth today. It was until they came to a certain spot on the Amazon River that Roja remembered what he had to do to cross. He looked back at his friends and told them to stop when they came to the edge of the river.
“Okay guys, here is what you do. This is the safest part of the river because it is shallow and the run from this shore to the next isn’t that long. You need to hike the legs of your pants up to your thighs and run like this.” Roja explained while showing the water-skipping, hop step to his friends. “Any of you have any questions?”
Mariposo and Jan-Michael both shook their heads no. What Roja did not mention was that if they didn’t get to the other side quickly, they would be attacked by the piranhas. However, he thought if he set the pace, both Mariposo and Roja would be able to keep up. Roja hiked the legs of his pants up to his thighs and told Mariposo and Jan-Michael to follow him. Roja did the water-skipping, hop step as fast as he could to get to the other side. However, he realized that five years of no practice made him slow and unrefined in the water-skipping, hop step. He looked to his right and saw the rustle in the blue waters. The piranhas were coming up fast and Roja realized he wouldn’t make it. He didn’t want to die. He wanted to live. He wanted to get back home to his wife and son. Even though he felt guilt for what he was going to do, he pulled out his machete, turned around, and threw back. The machete found its mark in Mariposo’s thigh as he went down cursing in Spanish. Roja knew that Mariposa would be enough food for the piranhas since he was morbidly obese. Roja still felt a huge amount of guilt for what he had done.
“I’m sorry Mariposo but I want to live. I want to live.” cried Roja.
The piranhas smelled blood and surrounded Mariposa like a group of hungry little league baseball players over one hot dog and gnarled away at the excess amount of fat and meat Mariposo was able to provide. The screams were not audible due to the splashing or water diluted with blood.
“I’m so sorry Mariposo! I am so sorry!” cried Rojo.
Ten seconds later, Rojo made it to the other side of the river. He caught his breath and turned around looking at the screaming Mariposo still waving frantically while being swallowed by the mixture of shallow water and families of piranha. Jan-Michael was nowhere to be found and Roja felt even guiltier since he was the one who brought both of his friends into this mess. What would Roja tell Mariposo’s girlfriend when she found out Mariposo was dead? What would he tell Damylia when she found out Jan-Michael was dead. Roja vomited a little in his mouth remembering that Damylia was a violent woman. When she found out, she would probably torture him for thirty years until finally curb-stomping his mouth in like Edward Norton did in “American History X”.
“The piranhas got Jan-Michael too! What am I going to do!?” cried Roja.
“Hey Roja where’s Mariposo?”
Roja turned to his right and was flabbergasted that Jan-Michael was standing next to him without a scratch on him. What was going on!? Roja thought Jan-Michael was eaten alive by piranhas so how did he survive?
“What the!? But!? Aren’t you out there!?” Roja questioned while pointing to the activity in the water now dying since Mariposo stopped thrashing around.
“No dude. What’s wrong with you!?” Jan-Michael asked.
“But!? I mean…. How did you get over here!?” Roja frantically asked.
Jan-Michael smiled and pointed in the direction from whence he came. Roja’s eyes flared in disbelief at what Jan-Michael was pointing at.
“I took the bridge.”
The moral of the story above is simple really and that is you should take your time with problems that come into your life. There is always a simple solution, a better solution, than the one that you may have thought before. Sometimes, what you thought was the best solution truly is the best solution but you won’t know that unless you take your time to think of other possibilities. It is also known as keeping an open mind. Also, taking your time on problems could be very important because someone’s life could be at risk. A decision make can be vital to someone else. Taking your time or thinking clearly within the amount of time you do have can be the difference from no problems whatsoever to a problem. So no matter what problems you have in life, take your time and do it right. For most people these days, this probably applies most to personal responsibility. For me, there was a time when I was brash and said whatever I wanted to even thought it could be true but I didn’t think about what my actions would do to other people. One time when I was eighteen, I was working at Wendy’s and a new worker said she had three kids. I asked if she was married and she said no. I then said that children born out of wedlock are known as “bastards”. In the dictionary, that is the definition but when I said that to her, it offended her and the result was me losing my job. So take your time with problems or any choice you make. The difference could be minimal to something substantial.
Faith Saves All!
Alpha OUT!
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