Feature > Opinion > MORE THAN GENERATIONS APART BY MITRA RAHBAR
Generations,Sad yet True
|
| |
|
...as i sat in the doctor's visit waiting for my turn i looked around me and saw a beautiful older woman dressed in ethnic clothes...next to her was a younger woman and a young child around four....the older woman smiled at me...she had one of those wise eyes..those eyes that know and have seen so much...her beautiful scarf was drapped around her head and shoulders...she looked like a goddess....
...i started speaking to her...she was from Afghanistan and was there with her daughter and grand-daughter...her daughter and grand-child only seemed to speak english...they were wrapped up in conversations and games that this grand-mother had no clue...she sat silently like an outsider...i asked the daughter if her child spoke pashti...she said none of her children did...they did not like to learn it...she seemed also not wanting to speak Pahti and only spoke to her daughter in english...
....at one point the young child asked her mother why she had to be there...her mother explained that grandma needed to see the doctor...the child protested and told her mom why couldn't grandma come alone...conversation finally led to the young girl saying her grandmother's language was spanish....she seemed to have no clue where her grandmother was from..or what language she spoke.
|
...this was sad...three generations that were linked by blood seemed lifetimes apart...would this young child ever know her grandmother...her stories...her tears and laughter...how did this old woman feel...not only to be in a country that was not her homeland...but to not once be spoken to in over one hour...like she was invisible...
...as they were leaving the office..the daughter and grand-daughter ran out and left the old woman who could not walk well on her own...the door was swinging shut on her...i got up to hold it open...she looked at me knowingly...and i understood...
...these precious beings are our heritage...i wish my grandmother were alive...i would listen to her stories...i would learn from her wisdom...these are pearls...how can we throw them away so easily...one day we will be that age...wouldn't we want more dignity?Yes, we are away from our homeland...but, how we treat and respect each other is up to us...it has no borders....
|
|
|
