" A man who doesn't eat his dreams, gets old early.

" A man who doesn't eat his dreams, gets old early." (WilliamShakespeare)

I don't know if it is cultural or not, or if we are not a country used to great deeds, not least because we have a press that only “opines” about what is negative, or if it will be something else, but I notice in the Portuguese a curious inclination to look for great meaning in things that are not that great. As Maya Angelou said, a civil rights activist who summed up her constant aim of struggle and claim: “My mission in life is not just to survive, but to prosper; do it with a certain passion, a certain compassion, a little humor and a little style ”.

It is really strange that many of us are so irritated with our elders when we all get older, every day. What it looks like is that we don't have the “stomach” to see our future “me”…. for those who get there! But if we look at the new reality, we need not be so scared, because it seems to me that it is enough for us to have the feeling of not being so obsessed with age - all interviews with celebrities talk about age - but, in In fact, our chronological age - the number of years we live - has less and less to do with our biological age - how healthy and energetic we are. It is not old age that is getting longer, it is middle age. And we need to be much, much more ambitious about what it means in our lives. ” How old would we be if we didn't know how old we are? (Confucius)

Thankfully, there are things that sometimes hurt, and not only in these times of great risks and uncertainties, without them we would have no way of identifying the problems. It is the pain that makes us go to the doctor and, so often, diagnose an illness in time to be cured. It is the pain that shows us that that relationship is no longer for us. It is the pain that makes us want to change careers. It is the pain that makes us switch to healthier habits. And it is when we embrace it and accept that it starts to hurt less. Deep down, the goal of pain was never to make us suffer, but to free us from suffering. “And let me tell you something that is very close to my heart: take the opportunity to share and enjoy a good“ face to face ”with everyone, but especially with your grandparents, with the elderly in your community. Perhaps some of you have heard me say it, but I think it is an antidote against all those who want to lock you up in the present, drowning you and suffocating you with the pressures and demands of supposed happiness, where the world seems to be end and everything must be done and lived immediately. Over time, this generates a lot of anxiety, dissatisfaction and resignation. Friends, spend time with your elders, with your elders; listen to their long stories, which sometimes seem fanciful, but in reality they are full of precious experience, eloquent symbols and hidden wisdom that must be discovered and valued. These are the stories that take time. (cf. Francis, Exort. post-synodal Christus vivit, 195).