But what about our grandparents? Did they ever feel they were living through history? I was speaking to my grandfather in Guatemala the other day, and like most grandparents, he started with "when I was a little boy." Normally I'd fall asleep, but my grandfather was living through the time what is now known as "The Crisis in Guatemala." My grandparents live near the capital where most of the fighting took place. I asked him if he ever thought deeply into it. He said It was on the news a lot but he didn't seem to care much. Now a days I'm sure most of us don't take the things around us into consideration, things seem like they haven't really changed much in the youth. I always liked hearing my grandfather's stories about during World War 2 in Guatemala. He said he could here bombs in the distance and air-planes every day. I asked him how was that possible since I used to think only Spanish speaking Guatemalans lived there. It wasn't until that day that I found out I was part German. My great grandfather was from a German colony in Guatemala and that's where most of the fighting took place, between the German colony and the French Colony with the aid of America.
It's weird to think about what we New Yorkers have lived through. We never expected to live through 9/11. But now when we're a bunch of old people we'll be the ones saying "Back in my day." I remember how my parents used to tell me how they dressed and compare it to now. It's made me think of how I'm going to tell my offspring how I used to dress. These things don't come to mind commonly because it's just something we don't like to think about. We're getting old. All of us at some point we'll have a good story to tell at a family gathering or reunion.
No comments:
Post a Comment