Arturo insisted: I don’t fully agree with what you said. There’s something that I have to add. Yes, it’s gold for everyone, but the elder knows it. The young don’t know. The old are like the one who’s locked in a cell, who’s been locked for twenty years. He knows what he’s lost. But the young don’t know! The young want to live, clearly, we are stealing the best moments in life from them, in quotes, but once he will return to live normally with his friends, he won’t forget that, he will remember it all of his life. And so, every moment, for him, will be more important. This is what the old already understood, but the young not yet. This is the difference. Yes, it’s gold for everyone, but for the old, sadly, this is the last gold. It’s the last gold! For the young, it’s the first.

And also, later, I think, they will understand how beautiful life is, and you will see that this young people who don’t do fuck from morning to evening if not talking on their cell phones, will begin to look at the world in another way. At least, I hope.

Look, opinions are opinions, Teodoro replied. Certainly, the old is more aware of life than the young, it goes without saying. It’s not always said, however, that they understand it better. There are some very bright young people. And also, it seems to me that other factors need also to be considered. Because it’s not necessary to complete fully an experience, to already instinctively have an understanding of what this experience entails for you. Because when you’re caught in the trap and put in a cage, even if you are a ferret, or even a cricket, I believe that somehow, you feel affected. Maybe it’s less visible with crickets, but they too, as soon as they can, they flee.

So, today the young are trapped, children are trapped. Young children don’t understand instructions and don’t understand what is going on.

And logically they are frustrated because they cannot do anymore the things they used to do until a month ago. I mean, time is very important equally for everyone, and lucky those who had time, the others still have to have it.

You don’t know when you die, I don’t know when I will die, to me every day is the last, you understand? So, every day we have to make the maximum, live it as much as possible, sleep not too much, sleep the right time, but not too much, and keep fit to make our days longer, have our flaws, not too much, but I mean, we have to create conditions every day so we can live the next day. And, so we can go to bed in the evening, a bit a better person than we woke up in the morning.

You are right, said Arturo. There’s a lot of brilliant people. A lot of brilliant young people.

And verily, the most beautiful thing is to meet them. There is nothing better than meeting a brilliant young person. You feel amazed, and you realize that luckily, there is also a future. For us too, who later will be old.

It is evident that there are brilliant young people who think beyond their smartphone. But you have to admit that there is really a big number of young people who keep talking with their cell phone like if nothing happened. Certainly, they want to see their friends again. But last time I was in a restaurant, I saw five young people together staring at their mobiles. Five persons together staring at their mobiles. How many times did this happen to you?

Maybe you frequent places for intellectuals, where no such thing happens. But if you go for a stroll, look at what is going on. Maybe these ones eventually will open their eyes and will want to talk with the person in front of them. Something which is becoming more and more a thing of the past.

I agree with you, time is important for everyone, regardless of where you stand, but clearly this can be a life lesson, this at least! But not for the old, because for the old it’s the last one. Maybe some of them had already lived the second world war, so they lived through this once, and now they have to live it a second time, I am sorry for them.

I don’t really care for myself. I can stay home even three months without seeing a soul, I don’t give a fuck. You see, I don’t think like you. Personally, it doesn’t bother me, because I do other things. It doesn’t bother me! Because I do other things, but I understand very well that for those who feel like doing something, and I repeat, those who feel like achieving something, for them it’s very important.

As to me, right now, I’m staying home and I’m doing other things. I’m rediscovering myself, and so I am discovering also some qualities of uncle Arturo, something I had not been doing for a very long time. Qualities, and then yes, we’re talking about qualities, then let’s see how it ends.

But at least I am rediscovering myself. This, at least!

EMA, April 2020