Manuscript Found in Accra. Пауло Коэльо

on what the other girls are wearing. But no one commented on what she was wearing, which went unnoticed. It was neither pretty nor ugly; it was just another dress.

      Useless.

      Younger people realise that the world is full of huge problems that they dream of solving, but no one is interested in their views. ‘You don’t know what the world is really like,’ they are told. ‘Listen to your elders and then you’ll have a better idea of what to do.’

      The older people have gained experience and maturity, they have learned about life’s difficulties the hard way, but when the moment comes for them to teach these things no one is interested. ‘The world has changed,’ they are told. ‘You have to keep up to date and listen to the young.’

      That feeling of uselessness is no respecter of age and never asks permission, but instead corrodes people’s souls, repeating over and over: ‘No one is interested in you, you’re nothing, the world doesn’t need your presence.’

      In a desperate attempt to give meaning to life, many turn to religion, because a struggle in the name of a faith is always a justification for some grand action that could transform the world. ‘We are doing God’s work,’ they tell themselves.

      And they become devout followers, then evangelists and, finally, fanatics.

      They don’t understand that religion was created in order to share the mystery and to worship, not to oppress or convert others. The greatest manifestation of the miracle of God is life. Tonight, I will weep for you, O Jerusalem, because that understanding of the Divine Unity is about to disappear for the next one thousand years.