– Carlos M. Frota
Surprisingly, the conference room was packed with students, listening in absolute silence to what Professor Stevenson was saying. The subject was uncommon, almost alien, to the universe of students’ immediate interests: “Wisdom and memory , a lesson from an older generation.”
In the minds of many in the audience were questions easy to detect … Wisdom? What kind of wisdom could young people eventually inherit from a generation growing up without internet, without smartphones? Without even instantaneous information about what was going on in the world? Can we imagine a planet without 24/7 TV news? Was such a world even possible?
But … looking at the other side … were older generations composed of men and women without culture? Really? Without the knowledge of the past? Without the sense of belonging to a reality with humankind as the center? Were ancient libraries useless? Inscriptions in stones, papyrus, very old paintings – was everything worthless before the advent of the internet?
Professor Stevenson’s voice was calm, self-controlled, reassuring. And together Agatha and Frederic paid even more attention to the speaker’s words:
“To talk about older people, I mean, those of the age of one’s grandparents, is not easy for the youngsters. They don’t feel connected to the previous generations, so absorbed are they in living their present.
“I am not criticizing you for being so present-centered, or present-obsessed. Every gadget invented by new technologies call for your entire attention to master it. And every single day, new products, real or digital, are in the market to quench your thirst for innovation.
“And you are compelled to follow or you are outdated…
“But look, the present and its promises is just part of the picture, not the entire landscape! We can accumulate technological gadgets (more apps, more devices, without adding more culture or wisdom or knowledge to our individual luggage….)
“And everyone knows that an adequate luggage is a precondition for the success of the trip. And life is no more than a trip….
“There is indeed a connection we should discover or rediscover between past and present. Life is a continuum. And History, life rewritten itself, is a continuum. And this continuum is called global reality.”
And the conference finished one hour later with a Q&A session where several young people raised stimulating questions about what the past can teach the present.
The debate turned into a philosophical dialogue between Stevenson and a particularly brilliant fellow.
The conference room slowly emptied, until only two or three people witnessed the end of the session.
Next morning Agatha was quite excited when they met. The reason was, by coincidence, it was the 94th birthday of her grandma Florinda.
The entire family had organized a party to greet her, to share their love and to enjoy the traditional cake with candles … and to spend a pleasant time together.
“I have never met her, actually, your grandma!” Frederic said in a tone of complaint. “How is she as a person?”
Frederic had no such a chance of seeing his grandparents alive. Granddaddy Alfred, the father of his own dad, a career soldier, had been killed in combat in a distant country. And grandma Margaret, a young widow, passed away many decades ago, a victim of loneliness more than infirmity, after educating her children.
From his mother’s side, Fred had a vague idea of something tragic that happened during his mother’s adolescence that made this subject a kind of taboo, never mentioned in conversation.
In a certain sense, Fred was handicapped by the lack of experience in dealing with older relatives, older than his father and mother.
During his time in kindergarten and then in primary school, he was surprised to see old people going to the main entrance to pick up their kids. And Fred wrongly thought that his colleagues had very old parents! Only later did he discover that they were the grandparents, not the parents!
And more than once the other kids described how their granddaddies loved to play with them, to accompany them to the garden, to offer them ice cream…
“My grandma? A marvelous human being, Fred! She is amazing! It’s absolutely necessary that you meet her!” exclaimed Agatha with a sudden , involuntary shout of enthusiasm is her voice.
“But,” asked Frederic, “isn’t it a little bit boring to deal with old people all the time, when you live with them under the same roof? They repeat and repeat the same stories all the time, they become more and more stubborn, and finally they isolate themselves in their own world of memories nobody can enter in….”
But Agatha disagreed with a quick gesture of her head. “Not at all!” she objected. “This is not the case with grandma Florinda. She is open minded, ready to accept opposing ideas and opinions, and always, always enjoying the company of people!”
“Your grandma is an exception, then ! How do you explain this?” Frederic was really astonished.
“She travelled a lot during her active years. With her husband and even after he died, grandma Florinda went very often to visit relatives abroad, or travelled just for fun, always interested in knowing new countries and meeting new people. This kind of intellectual openness remained a trait of her personality until her late years.”
Frederic suddenly remembered yesterday’s conference and asked:
“What kind of wisdom can a lady like your grandma bring to the family and close friends?”
“Oh, you know, she expresses, by her behavior only, another understanding of life, putting worries and sadness in the correct perspective….”
“And she gave you many pieces of advice? Even if you don’t want them? Sometimes older people don’t allow us to make mistakes, for love of us! And mistakes are so necessary for personal improvement!”
“No, no, Grandma is not like this, not at all. She lives in a particular way, always friendly, always at peace with herself. And her serenity spreads to others. To us. But there is more. She never judges others. She pardons instead. She tries to play down others’ faults or shortcomings.”
“Good! Fantastic! And you feel motivated to follow her, right?”
“Yes, we just want not to deceive her, and we bring ourselves to the level she places us in. The highest….”
Frederic was silent for a while and then made an observation that first surprised even himself: “We can conclude that seniors and youngsters can enrich themselves through close contact … Not only do old people teach youngsters, but the contrary is also true, isn’t it?”
“Correct!” exclaimed Agatha. “Because old people are better prepared to understand how heavily young people feel the burden of their present!”
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