Listen To Grandparents

Friday afternoon. On a bench in a plaza, Mónica, Natalia and Eva, after leaving the institute, were chatting animatedly about the plans for the next weekend:
–Shall we meet tomorrow for a drink?
– I am, perfect. Monica, will you sign up?
–I would love to, but I have to residency.
-Home?
Yes, I have to go see my grandfather. I will spend the whole afternoon.
–Ufff… –Commented Natalia–, what a stick.
-But it’s okay? Eva asked.
-Yes, yes, perfect. But, imagine! He is eighty-four years old. We have little to talk about …

From the adjoining bench, they heard a voice saying to them:
“But there is a lot to listen to.”

The three friends were puzzled. They had not seen the older man arrive who had sat on that bench and who, without looking up from his newspaper, had made that comment. Somewhat annoyed because she had gotten into their conversation, Eva said:
– Defending her generation?
– No, defending your learning.
“Well, I have a lot to learn from an octogenarian who doesn’t even know what whats is, ” said Monica.

– No, you will not learn from networks, of course. But you could learn a lot from your life.

That phrase caught the attention of the three friends, who invited him to continue:
–Tell us.
–Let me introduce myself: my name is Max and what I want to share with you is for you, not for me or my generation.
–We listen to you!

– When I was your age, I was a mediocre student, without much interest in studies. But my parents insisted that I go to college. In the second year I wanted to quit. My parents accepted it, but one night my grandfather came to my room and said, “Max, when your father was your age, he loved to study. I wanted to be an architect. But the war caught us. We had to go into exile and he was unable to continue his studies.
At the end of the war, when we were able to return, we had to start from scratch. He had to find a job and go to work to help support the family, forgetting his dream of being an architect ”.

That conversation gave meaning to my parents’ insistence that I study, and the financial effort they were making. I got involved in my career, and not only did I graduate, but I ended up being a professor at my own university.

But without having known that story, I probably would have missed all of that.

The three friends were deeply shocked by the story. Max took advantage of it to continue:
–It is difficult to make sense of many things in life if we do not know our history. And we cannot know it if we do not listen to the elders.
The stories of our grandparents are essential to understand and make sense of much of what happens to us, and often we are so full of activities and we have so many distractions around us that we do not stop to listen to them.

Monica was mentally reviewing her grandfather’s visits and realized that she spent them chatting on WhatsApp or listening to music. Max continued:
–Our past as individuals and as a family gives meaning to our present. Sometimes we have no idea what life experiences are behind the values ​​we share, or we do not know who or when the house where we live was built. And it is difficult to value the things of the present and understand the relationships of the present without knowing where they come from.

The live life we ​​live today ignores our history. Our stories. And this impoverishes us as people.

The three friends listened attentively. They openly acknowledged that they knew very little about the stories of their families, and that indeed many times they had wondered why some decisions of their parents or some episodes in their lives.

Max’s speech made all the sense in the world. Eva, however, wanted to question him:
–But, Max, you will admit that we live another reality. We have mobile phones, we are connected, we know less about our past but we know much more about everything.
– Certainly, but the present needs a past to be understood. Let’s not throw away the cell phone, let’s not disconnect from the Internet, but let’s listen to our grandparents more. To grandparents in general.

It is a great vital learning. And the risk of not doing it is that there is a lot of wisdom that when we lose them it will have gone with them.

Monica stared blankly. I was imagining the visit that Saturday. He came up with a lot of questions to ask his grandfather. Max sensed her thought and added:
–You know, Monica? Listening more to your grandfather you will learn a lot, do not hesitate, but you will also be giving him a huge gift.

Laura, a fourth friend, suddenly appeared. Monica was going to introduce him to Max, the enigmatic older man who was giving them that life lesson. However, looking at the adjoining bench, he found nothing but an abandoned newspaper.