Once upon a time, in the old country of fables, a family made up of a father, a mother, a grandfather who was the father of the father and the son of the son, an 8-year-old boy, a little boy.

It happened that the grandfather was very old, that's why his hands were shaking and food was falling from his mouth when they were at the table, which caused great irritation to the son and daughter-in-law, always telling him to be careful what he was doing But the poor old man, as much as he wanted, could not contain the tremors, even worse if he was scolded, the result was that he always stained the tablecloth or the floor when he dropped the food, not to mention the napkin that was tied to him. neck and it was necessary to change it three times a day, at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Things were like that and without any expectation of improvement when the son decided to end the unpleasant situation. He appeared at home with a wooden bowl and told his father, From now on, he will eat here, sitting in the patio, which is easier to clean so that his daughter-in-law does not have to worry about so many table cloths and so many dirty napkins.

So it was. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, the old man sitting alone in the yard, taking the food to his mouth as possible, half fell down his stomach, not much slipping what the vulgar calls the gañote . The grandson did not seem to mind the ugly treatment they were giving Grandpa, looked at him, then looked at the father and mother, and continued to eat as if nothing had to do with the matter.

Until one afternoon, when returning from work, the father saw the son working with a knife a piece of wood and believed that, as was normal and current in those remote eras, he would be building a toy with his own hands. The next day, however, he realized that it was not a car, at least he could not see the place where he could fit the wheels, and then asked, What are you doing? The boy pretended that he had not heard and continued digging in the wood with the tip of the knife, this happened in the time that the parents were less scary and did not run to remove from the hands of the children an instrument of such use for making toys.

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You have not heard me, what are you doing with that piece of wood, the father asked again, and the son, without looking up from the operation, answered, I'm making a bowl for when you're old and your hands are shaking, for when You have to eat in the yard, like Grandpa. They were holy words. The scales of the father's eyes fell, he saw the truth and the light, and at the same moment he went to ask the father for forgiveness and when the dinner hour came with his own hands he helped him to sit on the chair, with his own hands brought the spoon to his mouth, with his own hands he gently wiped his chin, because he could still do it and his dear father no longer.

What will happen next there is no sign in history, but very true science we know that if it is true that the boy's work was halved, it is also true that the piece of wood is still there.

Nobody wanted to burn or throw it, either so that the lesson of the example did not fall into oblivion, or in case it were the case that someone decided to finish the work, an eventuality that is not impossible to produce if we take into account the enormous capacity for survival of the dark sides of human nature.

Fragment of the book "Las intermitencias de la muerte" by José Saramago.

Curiously I got this fragment, reviewing material around the exacerbated current assessment of youth, downplaying old age, experience, without considering that earlier
that later we will be full of gray hair, with our slower movements, less balance, missing teeth, with wrinkles on the skin, finally "older".

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NOT for this we will be less people, less human, rather the opposite.

After living so many years, of helping so many, the most logical thing is to deserve a good deal, much more of the family. Treat others as we would like to be treated, dictates an old saying. As simple as that, know that others are worth as much as we are.

We have to value our elderly, grandparents, grandmothers, they are people with great experiences, from whom we can learn a lot, they have had a school of life that will surely serve us.

Around that I can say that the relationship I had with my grandparents was very respectful, as with my great-grandfather, to whom life gave me the chance to know, and I must say that they are an open door to contemporary history, I learned of a direct source as my country was 100 years ago, 50 or 40 years ago, with particularities that I will not find in any history book. As they cooked, they washed, they transported, as they will understand, I learned a lot from them.

So, value, respect, life goes fast, we treat people badly, that life has its particular way of charging us what we in this world do.

Have a good start to the week.