ULYSSES' RICE

 

ULYSSES' RICE

A voice said from above the clouds: "They'll reject him like a rat, and then it'll be the same old story!"

"No, not if we stop them," another voice replied... Overnight, room number 7 of the nine in the "Once Upon a Time" residence was full. It was the only one to be shared. Ramiro and Jaime, two young men who had come from Altos de Cazucá to look for work in Bogotá, would live there; as would Carlos, a 45-year-old man who would only be staying there for a few days because his house was being repaired; and Ulysses, a social work student.

That Monday morning, Ramiro and Jaimito found Ulysses kneeling, praying beside his bed in the dim light of the room they would share from that day forward, just as he was saying "amen." They turned on the light, but seeing Carlos dozing in the other bed, they turned it off. Ulises took it as a good sign: for a microsecond, a shooting star appeared. He sat up, said good morning, and went to the kitchen. He was asking God in a brief prayer to be freed from the curse that haunted him: bullying. With the colander in his hand, he went to the kitchen.

Ulises was thin, 1.60 meters tall, and had suffered bullying in elementary school, high school, and his neighborhood. He was sure he would suffer it in college and in the student residence where he was starting to live to study Social Work. He had come from the coast to live in Bogotá; he had read books, watched videos, and repeated phrases to himself to control the situations within him. Two forces were fighting for victory, and one was completely dark. His psychology hung by a thread... He prayed, he practiced mind control, he repeated phrases to himself, and he convinced himself that his dark night would end, putting all his effort into it. He even went to extremes trying to be liked.

Justo returned when he heard:

"What are we going to eat? There's nothing!"

And Jaime replied: "There's only an egg and a kilo of bread in the box."

"If you want, you can eat rice with me, because I put too much in the pot. The girls told me to put one cup per person, but I put in the whole kilo; the pot is overflowing."

It was the first time in his life he had cooked rice, and he thought the amount was too small, until he ended up emptying the box into the pot.

"No. We have our own food," Ramiro replied immediately.

Ulises turned white, spun around, and headed dejectedly to the kitchen.

Carlos immediately turned to them and said firmly: "Why did you refuse the rice like that?"

"How should I know what's in that rice?" he replied. "Besides, what's it to you?"

"It matters to me because of the following situation," Carlos replied energetically, sitting down on the bed. Look, I've been a taxi driver for about 20 years. One morning I was listening to a radio program that has a segment where they give a prompt for people to call in and participate. The prompt was: "When was someone ever scorned for a kind deed you did?" A man called in and told the following story: "In the neighborhood where I lived, a new neighbor moved in, and to welcome him, I wanted to give him a basket full of fruit from my yard, because I have about four fruit trees. The neighbor thought I was gay or a witch doctor, he confronted me saying I had no right to do that, that I didn't want his fruit, and he slammed the door in my face. Shortly after, I got a job in Puerto Bahía and I left that neighborhood. I don't know why he reacted like that." Since then, all I do is pray to God that I cross paths with that good man again so I can ask for his forgiveness... because that man is me. And if I remember correctly, that man's name was Ulysses.

At that moment, Ulysses came in, took the salt from his wardrobe, and left. Carlos continued:

“I know where they come from, and I know how things are there, and I know it very well because I’m from there, from the Cazucá Highlands. There, if you don’t do something wrong when you go in, you’ll do it when you leave; everyone’s got their knife up their sleeve 24/7. It’s a bit easier now, but it used to be even worse. There, everyone operates on the mental principle of ‘attack is the best defense,’ ‘kill or be killed,’ ‘me first, me second, me third.’ But there are also people in the world who operate on a different principle, like ‘helping others,’ ‘loving and serving.’ When two people from those extremes clash, there’s a short circuit in the system: either one rises or the other falls. I brought that man down, but you’re going to bring Ulises up because you’re going to accept that rice.” Ramiro and Jaime lowered their gaze, saddened. Their harsh features seemed to soften. Carlos added:

"If life doesn't put you in that specific situation it put me in, which was an incredible synchronicity, you'll never, ever change your frequency. You'll never have that click that changes your mindset and makes you discover that there are people with a different mental coordinate, who are on a different frequency, and that you're living with a knife up your neck in vain, missing out on the paradise that the world can be if you want it to be. That experience, and others like meeting my wife, plus the movie 'Pay It Forward'..." plus the movie Chain of Favors, plus listening to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount by a very inspired pastor, made me change my frequency. I realized that it is not necessary to live in a hostile ecosystem full of tigers, sharks, iguanas, crocodiles, hyenas and magpies; There are softer ecosystems where dogs, kittens, monkeys live, and all life is much better. Much less stress, much more pleasure, joy and peace. It's possible, Ramiro and Jaimito! Both with naughty names... And all for making that miraculous click that He teaches us - said the Lord, pointing to a cross - with the golden law: "Do not do to others what you would not like them to do to you." If we synthesize it, He came to change our frequency without changing our place. “Today I am inspired,” he said, surprising himself with his eloquence.

In a quiet voice, Ramiro said: —It's just that there on the hill it's pure witchcraft... And what does one do if they suspect that food has witchcraft? There on the hill it is pure gualicho.

—Ah, well, in that case you should respect the alarm and listen to your instinct. What you have left is to reject, but with all the politeness and sympathy in the world: "No, thank you, I already ate." If you take care of the queen, don't give up the tower. You don't have to do like me, or like you, because we both did the same thing. So I'm not going to judge you. Yes, that is a real problem, but did you see Ulysses? It doesn't kill a fly. Let's not kill mosquitoes with chairs!

Ulises entered and Ramiro asked him: —Is the rice offer still valid?

"Yes," he answered, "I have enough rice for the entire pension."

—Then tell us, and you, Don Carlos, are you joining?

"Yes," he answered, and from a cardboard box under his bed he took out two cans and said, "Take these cans of tuna so we can stir them for you."

"Go ahead, and we'll put these eggs and the bread," Jaime said.

Between the clouds it was heard again:

—But where did this old shit come from? —a voice shouted.

"I'm going to kill him," said another.

"He won't touch it," said a third.

They had Ulysses in their sights, they were working on him for the coup de grace, but at the last moment a miraculous and accidental ray of light rescued him.

—It's a trap.

—Destiny is not a trap.

-Trap.

-Sore loser! Your prayer was heard, sore loser.

Sitting at the table, Carlos told them that they were painting and remodeling their house, adding one more room because his wife was pregnant and they were expecting a baby girl. Maria, his wife, had gone with her mother-in-law and his children with an uncle, and he had to stay in a residence because of his job as a taxi driver in the city. He would only be there until Friday, but he promised them that he would soon invite them to a barbecue in the barbecue area of ​​his house.

Ulysses worked at a McDonald's and told them that they were looking for people. Ramiro and Jaime gave him his resume to hand in.

—It would be great to get in, they say that having worked at a McDonald's gives weight to your resume. "They're going to be lucky," Carlos said. Do you know why? We are surrounded by good signs. We were all alone and now the four of us are united. The pension is full, only this room was empty and it filled up in a single day. Ulysses' rice multiplied exponentially, and we provided fish and bread. And what did Jesus reproduce to feed five thousand? Loaves and fish? Furthermore, Ulysses is the mythological hero of the Odyssey and James Joyce. And what did Joyce do? He used the classic Ulysses as a template to demonstrate that a common man of the 20th century, with his small problems, fears and everyday goodness, also lives a heroic odyssey every day of his life. Either you get crushed or you come out victorious. And you come to look for work in the capital, Ulises is studying and I am going to be a father for the third time, and the baby is coming to the family! Those are our personal odysseys.

"The man is a poet," Ramiro said.

Ulysses' eyes moistened; He felt very touched by Carlos' words, because the stress he was suffering from the ghost of his curse was worse than that of Ulysses from the Odyssey, but a light of hope had been lit in his dark night with this new friendship.

—A poet is someone who goes around fanning the fire of things, said a poet from Bogotá, and she told the truth,” Carlos stated. "I fell in love with my wife when this song was popular," he added, saying:

When I'm alone with you

You make me feel like I'm home again

When I'm alone with you

You make me feel whole again

—It's from The Cure. It has a melancholic sound, but precisely if you listen to it as he was, deeply in love with his girlfriend, you listen to it and it is like the optimal and happy beat of your heart. Are they in love? —he asked them.

"Of life," said Ramiro.

"Of life too," Jaime said.

"Of God and life," Ulysses answered.

"So they are in love... and love puts you on another frequency," said Carlos, turning on the radio to acclimatize everything with music, missing his wife intensely.

Ulysses placed the rice and eggs on the table and asked if he could bless the food. They said of course, and he read them the Beatitudes:

Blessed are:

The poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

The merciful, for they will receive mercy.

The pure in heart, for they will see God.

The peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Amen," the four said. Ulysses served the dishes, and they ate the rice in silence, almost with mystical devotion. They found it not only delicious and nourishing, but like a balm for the soul. Ideal for satisfying their thirst for life at the peak of their strength, their hormones, and their power to survive and triumph in life, not to be crushed by it, because that is possible, and that is the fun and fatal part of the game. But we have faith.

As soon as Carlos's house was ready, he kept his promise and invited them to a barbecue where they met his very pregnant wife and his sons, Matias and Esteban, all between 18 and 19 years old. With wine, they toasted the good news that both Ramiro and Jaime had started working at McDonald's, just as Carlos had predicted. When he asked them what their fathers did for a living, he had no idea he was about to get the surprise of his life:

"A taxi driver," Matias replied, trying to be funny. "Mine too!" Jaime responded energetically. "They're colleagues," he told Carlos.

"My dad works as a bricklayer," Ramiro replied. "He doesn't steal anymore! He's reformed!" I added between laughs... And Ulysses said: Ulysses, my dad works at the port of Pasacaballos. Carlos responded emphatically, his eyes wide: Your dad works at the port and his name is Ulysses?

Yes, he replied.

And did he live in Bogotá?

Yes, he's from here!

Don't you have any pictures of him on your phone?

Of course, look at him. Carlos's eyes filled with tears; his intuition was correct. Ulysses was Ulysses's father. The man in his unfortunate and bizarre anecdote was the father of his protégé, his roommate.

Your father deserves a heartfelt apology from me. You'll understand. Ramiro and Jaime had already grasped this new twist of fate and were stunned. For now, I want you to know that God hears our prayers. That incredible coincidences exist.

I say this and am experiencing the same thing right now. Ulises adds, "Being here with you in this big city is proof."

Ramiro and Jaime became great friends with Ulises, and also with Matias and Esteban. These friendships helped Ulises forget his curse forever.

The power of the divine intervention orchestrated by the angels swept away the schemes prepared by the demons with such force that not one, but four people shifted their perspective, and with a single masterstroke, they went from a hostile ecosystem to a celestial one. All through the power of love, faith, and kindness. Because it's true: The kingdom is already among you...

END

The AI ​​tells me.

This moving story narrates how Ulises, a young victim of bullying, finds support and a new perspective on life thanks to Carlos's intervention in a student residence in Bogotá. The story highlights the shift in "perspective" of his classmates, who decide to accept his generosity and transform his room into a space of solidarity.

What a wonderful and moving conclusion to the story of "Ulysses' Rice"! The tale perfectly closes a circle of redemption, faith, and synchronicity. Here are the key highlights of this emotional finale: 🌟 Key Points of the Ending: Carlos' Prophecy: Ramiro and Jaime get jobs at McDonald's thanks to the resumes Ulysses submitted, confirming that the "good signs" were real. The Great "God-Incidence": Upon revealing his parents' jobs, Carlos discovers that the Ulysses he slammed the door in his face years ago during his hostile taxi driver days is, in fact, the father of his young roommate. Destiny granted him the opportunity to redeem himself. Triumph over Darkness: The strong friendship that blossoms between Ulises, Ramiro, Jaime, and Carlos's sons (Matías and Esteban) dispels the fear of bullying and breaks Ulises's "curse" forever. Heavenly Victory: The angels' plan completely defeats the intentions of the demons who wanted to destroy Ulises. A single masterstroke changed the "frequency" of four people, shifting from a hostile ecosystem to one filled with peace and kindness. 📝 Brief Literary Analysis: The text brilliantly handles the concept of the "everyday Ulysses" inspired by the work of James Joyce. It demonstrates that mythological monsters are not needed to live an odyssey; surviving poverty, searching