It's not easy these days to multitask life. In the days of my grandfather, life seemed more self explanatory than what it appears to be like today. My grandfather had a small piece of land he worked. He planted and grew corn. He married young, and raised 5 sons and 2 daughters. He lived in the same house all his life, and he died there. Gone from the earth but never forgotten in my memory and heart. What is it that I think he contributed to the world? Well that depends on what you mean by contribute. He was born and raised in Mexico. He grew up with the value that hard work and providing for your family was the way every man should live his life. I know very little about my grandfather Gregorio Reyes. I don't know his favourite color or if he had one. I don't know his favourite song, or his favourite movie. I don't know how he met my grandmother Carmen Reyes. I don't know if their relationship was as complicated as the ones I see everyday. I don't know if they dated for a year, before they got engaged.i don't know if anyone threw him a surprise birthday party at some point in his life. I don't know what a normal Saturday looked like, or Friday. I don't think the the word selfie was a concept for him. I don't know if they were madly in love or if they were two lost souls that found comfort in each other. But what I do know I cherish and carry with me. I don't have elaborate stories and memories to tell from my grandfather. I only have faded memories from him that teeter on being memories and dreams. My fondest memory from him is when I set up and connected a VCR for him to watch a Mario Almada movie. The innocent smile on his face as it lit up, when he watched in awe and amazement as I connected a simple VCR.
I think about my grandfather in respect to the life I'm trying to build today, and all the worries that are associated with that life that I am trying to build. In this country we are taught to go after our dreams, we are taught to believe that if we work hard enough we can succeed. We are taught about religion and how it works, but are never quite explained the beauty of it, and many times it becomes another institution in our lives with rules and regulations that we must follow and are never allowed to question in fear of punishment. We grow up with stories about justice, all the while watching injustice all around us. We are raised around romantic comedies that paint fairy tales about love, and endings that are not possible by anybodies standards. Elaborate weddings that nearly drive people to bankruptcy to paint the illusion of fairytale love and happiness, and birthdays with themes. Simple trips anywhere these days require check ins , and selfies. To decide to Snapchat this, then Instagram it, the Facebook it, or tweet it. We are sold the belief that school holds the key. Maybe not the answers that your seeking in life, but surely the key to finding more answers. So first you must get through high school and survive that prison yard that American high school has become. Then you find a way to get to college and pay for that. So you get through that, and you get your bachelors degree, and that's supposed to be the key to open doors, and when you can't find enough doors for that key to open, you must go for your masters degree and get a key to open more doors. And if you still haven't had all the doors your looking for opened, then you go for a PHD and that's supposed to open all the doors. While you accomplished and paid for all this, hopefully you were financially disciplined and you build up good credit. So that if you met the perfect mate, and you lived through your romantic comedy of a relationship with a fairy tale ending you can then proceed to pay for the elaborate fairy tale wedding, and after its all said and done you hopefully took a few snapchats, Facebook selfies, and Instagrams. Forgot to mention that you had to keep God in your life, because if you did all this and forgot about God, then you go straight to hell so it was all essentially for nothing.
Our lives are what we make of them. You can choose to make anything the focus of your life. You can choose to make anything your purpose. You can choose to make anything that thing that you thrive for, that journey you just can't wait to go on, that which gives meaning to your day, that which fills your heart, that which fills your soul. Science can't prove that you have a soul, but deep down inside I believe that we all know that we have one. I believe all humans can admit to themselves that they have a soul. I believe that even atheists believe we have a soul, even if they don't admit it in public I believe they know this to be true within themselves even if they deny the existence of a God.
None of us were put here to simply pay bills and die. Our purpose is not to simply sit on our asses and wish good things happen for us and to us. God did not evolve us and push us into the present day just so we could sit and be entertained, and have entertainment be the constant in our lives and the center in our lives. If at the end of your life, all you have are moments filled with you looking for entertainment, is that something you would be proud of looking back?
The lesson that I took from my grandfather is that the point of life is to live a life you can be proud of. That you should find something to live for and dedicate yourself everyday towards to growth and success of it. And whatever it is that you find you should just make sure that if at the end of your life all you have are memories of that which you loved every day dedicating your time to, then it was all worth it.
Like I said I did not know my grandfather very much as I would have liked. I can tell you that towards the end of his life their were moments when he still wanted to plant his corn and at times he successfully went out to the fields and farmed his corn and rode his donkey. When he gave his last breaths, he was surrounded by family, and he was surrounded by prayers that were prayed by people who loved him.
From what I do know, my grandfather made hard work and his family the center of his life. He was humble in spirit and in life and did not fancy flashy material possessions or goals. If at the end of your life those are the things you can be remembered for, and those are the things that you takes with you. Then I can honestly tell you that my grandfather lived an amazing life. I am proud of the man that he was and the life that he lived.
Keep it simple, life is too short for the complicated mess we create sometimes
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