translated by: Eric Barenboim
(any improvement or advice on the translation will be appreciated)
As adults (that is: locals) we have to learn how to handle our frustration, impatience.
If we show them an ideal role model, but afterwards they see that rules don’t always apply, or that the explanation doesn’t help to understand and unfold in the real world, they won’t adopt it, will get bored, and they will stop believing in us.
Assuming an ideal role model could turn into abandonment.
A good guide is to remind ourselves:
Do you remember of when you started something?
Of when you traveled?
Of how tiresome two weeks of tourism can be?
Of when you moved in?
Of when you were newlyweds?
Of when you met your couple’s family?
Of when you had just started as teachers?
Of when you started college or university?
If you’re parents, do you remember of what you felt when the date of birth was getting near?
Do you remember of when she started having contractions?
Of when you got back home with your firstborn? The first nights?
Would have been useful then to have ideal role models?
Stories of parents who slept eight hours straight?
Pictures of splendid women, only two weeks after labor?
The same happens to children,
they feel that.
They don’t have another humanity just for being kids.
And all we can do to dilute that feeling of estrangement…
of huge bag of the unknown…
of gravity confronting imperfection…
of unique event (oh! this you’re going through hasn’t happened to anyone – ever!)
of impatience before the speed of comprehension…
of being incomplete beings pretending to acquire access to a complete world…
of fear in the face of what’s next…
All we can do to dilute that:
will release stress from the matter,
Will relieve.
Have human words, compassionate, encouraging, hopeful ones.
Have the words you had wished for, had you received them or not.
– You are a newcomer, you’ll make mistakes, that’s life, it’s ok.
– We are a group, there will be different speeds, it’s alright.
– Sometimes you’ll feel you are the slowest, it happens to everyone, it’s not a big deal.
– You may feel there’s so much to learn, that it’s just too much, yes, you may feel that – but it’s not like that. It’s just that you are a newcomer.
© 2014, by Luis Pescetti
P.S.: To see the image in its original size, and to get to know the project started by Ivanke, an Argentinean illustrator, whom we strongly recommend you to check out: Pequeños Grandes Mundos (Small Big Worlds), click here
© Luis Pescetti