João Rodrigues

February 2, 2025

The Man Who Was Always Wrong

Once upon a time, there was a man who was always wrong.

He read countless books, watched endless movies, and traveled to far-off places, yet he seemed to understand nothing about the world.
He earned a degree, but whenever he discussed his knowledge with his peers, he was met with correction and disdain.
Not only was he wrong, but he was also a bad person.
He tried to make friends, but his sharp tongue and mean-spirited remarks pushed people away.
Determined to change, he began speaking less, hoping to avoid causing harm. Yet now, he was pushed away for being strange and distant.
He tried to do good—donating to charity, volunteering his time—but even these acts proved his hypocrisy.

One day, he stood up for his colleagues against an oppressive force. No one thanked him. When the tyrants came for them, they betrayed him to save themselves. But they were not wrong, he should not have spoken.

After escaping, he cut ties with everyone, retreating into solitude to live free from the judgments of others. But this only made him worse in their eyes—now, he was ungrateful.

Despite it all, he thrived in his career. He led groundbreaking projects and was sought after by the best companies. Yet he was shied away from speaking of his achievements—it made him an arrogant.

Then, one day, he met a woman who believed he was always right. She was captivated by him, and for the first time, he felt something he had never known before: acceptance.
But this love was a double-edged sword. While it filled him with warmth, it also left him uneasy. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he didn’t deserve such goodness in his life.

In the end, he pushed her away, retreating to a remote village where no one from his past could find him.
There, he lived a quiet life, taking occasional walks through the mountains to admire nature and gather what little he needed.

On one such walk, he noticed a group of young people. Among them was a boy who was being excluded—pushed to the margins of every conversation and activity.
When the group finally left, abandoning the boy, the man approached. The boy flinched at first, but the man’s calm demeanor put him at ease.

"Right now, you feel sad, powerless, and overwhelmed by the world and the people around you. But one day, you may realize that none of it truly matters. The only constant in your life is yourself. Your life is what you make of it. Focus on yourself. Be brave. Learn what you need to learn, do what you must do. Make your happiness dependent on no one but yourself."

Some say the man lived his life the wrong way.