“So as the lifelong owner of one life, I have to say … it’s interesting that the only thing you have for life is life. It didn’t occur to me. … As the lifelong owner of one life, I must say that little is written about life …” Jan Werich, Big pre-scene (in Czech)
Life can be viewed from many different perspectives. Mostly depending on one’s age and what we did experience or not and what we learned or not. It is also important from whom we learn.
With the hindsight – and at the age of 65 – I easily assess my life so far. It’s easy to be a “general after a battle”. I already know what happened and how did it end. Now I can just wonder if I could have decided otherwise at some crossroads in my life. Of course I can’t change my life and I need to live it till the end. From now on, I will be my own “general afore the battle” and I wil make my decisions based on my age and my current life experiences.
Life experiences are non-transferable. Everyone living was born to someone, somewhere, at certain time. Later on he/she was experiencing puberty, becoming independent, working … the elderly were experiencing middle age crisis … getting old.
I, born in totalitarian Czechoslovakia, was lucky to experience the fall of the Berlin Wall, unfortunate that it only happened when I was an adult and had small children and could not travel so freely like a person without obligations. For a few years I lived in Germany, a little longer in England, some periods of my life I enjoyed more, other less, I survived lymphoma cancer … sometimes I was able to decide freely, other times, especially during the cancer treatment, I had to wait for the results. Only then I could gradually regain my energy lost through treatment. After six months of chemotherapy, I felt like I was eighty at the age of forty eight.
Cut to the present … I’m still alive. I created and now improve my home in a former cowhouse in Skalka near Nová Bystřice. I also want to have an international library here. In the future members of various bubbles could talk about their life experiences, hopefully finding out in personal meetings that “the other” is not as stupid as it may seem from the outside. Everyone has a story that could contribute to better understanding between people.
That’s why communication is important. We have to ask questions, look for evidence for our claims, cooperate. Therefore, we must be careful and avoid stereotypes when thinking of “the others”. It is probable that their lives took other paths, stopping at other crossroads and at different times. Along the way, they met other people, possibly the same, but at a different stage in their lives. I wish people would listen to each other more. Not in a sense of obedience, just listen to learn about other perspectives.