Chase of Wisdom. Шахзода Жамшедовна Абдуллоева

everything's over now, it's a sign of bad luck!", "Don't kill this spider, it's a bad omen", "You need to make chicken borscht and eat it with seven women so that the baby is born healthy", "Bring a chicken tomorrow. The newborn baby needs to touch the chicken so that he grows up well" and so on and so forth, this kind of nonsense. All this is nonsense, there's no other way to call such a superstition. Let these superstitious people explain to me what these animals and objects of theirs can do! They can't do anything, neither bad nor good. Only Allah can do everything. And if you ask him, he will give you everything you want, if it is beneficial for everyone. That's it! You can't be so superstitious, it's harmful to everyone. I wish, my granddaughter, that these superstitious people would finally understand that their path is completely useless. That's it.

      – Amazing! I completely understand you, dear Grandma! I hope that your words reach all the people who mistakenly consider themselves superstitious, – said Charlotte. She hugged her Grandma Alicia, thanked her for such a sincere conversation, and ran to speak to the second grandfather – Sofron Moroco:

      – Grandpa, Grandpa, I have an important question for you. Is there anything that you personally would like to change in our society?

      – Absolutely, my granddaughter! Look, we all went to school as children. And you will go there soon, too. You know, the system there is that, starting from the first grade, children are forced to learn and simply memorize, for the most part. There's also this exercise among elementary school students – speed reading. Pay attention, not expressive reading, not reading and reasoning about the text, but speed reading. Why is that? Or let's see what else happens. When entering a Higher Educational Institution, applicants need to correctly solve special tests that are prepared in advance according to school textbooks. Once again, we are brought to the point where we simply learn facts. Why, do you think? If all smart children graduate from school with critical thinking skills, it's good for the state itself, isn't it? So why not pay attention to the school education system? Children are forced to learn things they don't want to. And if they don't learn what they're not interested in, they're immediately called passive students, which can have a very bad effect on their self-esteem. You can't treat children like that. Every person has some kind of peculiarity, some kind of talent that needs to be developed. So why not inspire children and help them develop where they are truly interested? Of course, it's not just the school, but parents should also be interested. Someone has to start, right? That's what I've been thinking about for a long time, Charlotte. I want the school system to change in our town. I believe it would lead to a fundamental development not only of our town, but of our entire country.

      – That's incredible, Grandpa! Thank you so much for sharing your opinion! I'm going to talk to Grandma Florentina now, – said Charlotte and went to the last interviewee of the day – Grandma Florentina Moroco:

      – My dearest Grandma, can you tell me what troubles you about our society?

      – Well, last month, my cousin invited me to her grandson's birthday. I went. As soon as I entered their house, all our relatives, and there were about 10 of them, started greeting me. It took more than five minutes. Each relative repeated the same line, which sounded like: "How are you? How are you doing? How are the family members? Aren't you tired? How are your children…?" And I, consequently, answer everyone absolutely the same, even though no one even paid attention to my answer: "Yes, everything is fine with us. Everything is fine, thank you. Everyone is doing well…" Okay, this is somehow digestible, Charlotte, because we still have to endure the continuation. So, finally, we greeted each other and went into the living room to sit down at the table. Oh my God, and then the second round of lines comes: "Let's sit over there, please! I can't sit there, it's disrespectful to you. You're our guests, you can't sit close to the door. Oh, come on, sit next to the elders, you're at our house for the first time…" And so the whole ceremony called "sitting at the table" went on for the next 10 minutes. I came for the birthday; it's been 20 minutes, and I still haven't figured out where I can sit. Okay, I said, and sat down in one place that they chose for me. As soon as I wanted to have some tea, you know what happened? 5 more women walked into the living room! All 15 of us got up from our seats; we started stupidly repeating our lines from the first round again; then came the second round of lines, after which my place was taken by someone else. And I had to sit down again in another place, where I sat in hopes of having at least one sip of tea. I look at my watch: it's been over 45 minutes. In about 20 minutes I'll have to go home, and I can't even have my tea. Now tell me, please, my dear Charlotte: why are these female habits needed? Who do they benefit? And who invented all this? I dream of the day when these completely useless, and moreover harmful, customs disappear among our people. This trait of our society doesn't appeal to me at all, to put it mildly. I simply can't stand to hear these "lines".

      – How I understand you, dear Grandma. I sincerely wish that these customs would disappear from our society. Thank you for sharing these opinions with me, my Grandma!

      – Thank you for listening to me! – said Grandma Florentina, and joyfully hugged her granddaughter.

      And so, all the members of the Sambrano, Moroco, and Castro families spent their time together in such an interesting and cheerful way. They chatted almost every day, shared different points of view on life, and lived life to the fullest. They spent autumn, winter, and spring in this way. And, on that most important date, May 24, 2008, our Charlotte turned 5 years old. The flash drive came out from under Charlotte's neck again, which only her parents could see; a purple notebook opened, and a white pen began to write the following:

      "Charlotte, congratulations on turning 5 today! Every year you learn more and more interesting things about life. Your soul is very happy about this, believe me! From this year, you should remember the following types of lessons:

      1. Learning this lesson, of course, does not depend only on you. But, I hope that one day you will be able to convey to everyone that crying loudly at a funeral is not only ugly, but also harmful to the soul of the deceased person.

      2. The 2nd lesson mentions that you cannot be superstitious under any circumstances! You just need to believe in Allah, and ask for everything you want from your heart only from Him.

      3. Implying the 3rd lesson also does not depend on you, but let us write it down just in case: the school should focus on the self-development of each child, which will lead to the development of the whole state!

      4. Useless lines at events do not benefit anyone at all! We wrote this down here in the hope that you, Charlotte, will be the one who can one day tell all the people around you about it! We believe that you will succeed in your task. And for now, good luck, we will see you again at the end of the sixth page of your life!"

      This time, the inscription was left as a series of enigmatic pronouncements, as you have also observed. Charlotte could not fully grasp the flash drive's intent. However, as the adage goes, time reveals all! We shall soon discover the meaning of these cryptic words. For now, let us proceed.

      CHAPTER VI

      Summer 2008. It was a time when Manuel Sambrano decided to embark on a journey with his family to their ancestral lands. They were going to move in the town of Lemari in the country of Lafem. The reason for this occasion was that Charlotte was nearing school age, and Manuel and Artemia Sambrano wanted their daughter to receive her education being surrounded by their native land traditions. Thus, they all travelled to Lemari.

      Charlotte vividly remembered the day of their arrival for the rest of her life. The people, the way of life, the mentality, the communication – everything was different. Not like it was in the city of Loyalty. However, Charlotte liked it there, too. She loved both Loyalty and Lemari equally. Both cities felt equally like home to her.

      The summer months passed as Charlotte adapted to her new surroundings. Then, at the end of August, Artemia Sambrano enrolled Charlotte in the local school, number 24, so she could comfortably start in class 1 "B". In September Charlotte went to school for the first time. There were many other children like Charlotte at the school. Since everyone around her was unfamiliar, Charlotte felt a little awkward walking amongst the other children. The homeroom teacher took the entire class 1 "B" to their classroom. The homeroom teacher, it turned out, was named Bertha Garcia. She was a very kind and positive woman. You could tell from the children's faces that they