Between fragility and firmness

Until a few years ago the population of my country was mainly young, it was not common to see older people in the streets. But that has changed radically as a result of emigration.

After the departure of more than eight million young people, now we older people are more noticeable, it is common to see older people everywhere, as if we had multiplied.

Somehow the lack of young people has forced older people to solve things that perhaps in another time were left to their children or grandchildren, but in their absence there is no choice but to do them by themselves.

Sometimes I think that this situation has made the elderly to be seen with a little more respect.

In these days two curious situations have happened to me. For some reason, which is perhaps normal when you reach seventy years of age, I feel that my ears are more sensitive, loud noises bother me more than usual. Explosive sounds such as motorcycles and car horns disturb me a lot.

The thing is that I have a neighbor with a very noisy car, he has a resonator in the exhaust that produces a thunderous sound. On other occasions I have spoken to his mother, who is the same age as mine, to tell her about the situation with her son. Sometimes the boy, a man in his thirties, listens, but after a while he goes back to his old ways, accelerating his car as if he were going to blow it up.

Since I haven't seen the lady for a while, I decided to talk to the boy myself. I tried to calm down as much as possible, thinking that if I was the oldest, I should set an example.

I firmly resolved not to let him get the better of me, after all in terms of strength I have nothing to look for in front of a young man much taller and stronger than me. I chose very carefully what I was going to say to him, trying to put him on a reflective plane.

The first thing I said to him was that if he had thought that the sound of his car bothered others. He replied that no one had told him that, which was not entirely true since I had spoken to his mother several times about it.

I asked him if he had thought that what was fun for him could be a nuisance for others. He looked at my face as if surprised, as if disoriented. His expression indicated to me that it was a matter he had not thought about.

I told him two or three more things, thanked him for his understanding of my complaint and ended the conversation.

The truth is that I did not expect so much attention from that young man. I don't know if he was shocked that someone like me, who had hardly ever spoken to him, had decided to make a complaint. When I decided to talk to him I thought he was going to answer me in a rude and contemptuous way. But fortunately that was not the case.

After that conversation I was left thinking several things: that our word can still be taken with respect by the younger generation. Sometimes we can tell them some things that move them to reflection. As elders we should not miss the opportunity to give some guidance.

The other thing I thought is that no matter how fragile we may be as a consequence of our ages we always have the right to demand the treatment we deserve. If we have the capacity to act firmly we should do so...

Thank you for your time.

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