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| The "Bom Fim"neighborhood |
I see many elderly people walking
in the streets of "Bom Fim", the renowned Jewish neghborhood where I live in
Southern Brazil. Some are in their 80's, other already in their 90's. Some walk
alone, others with their caregivers or their family members. Most of them have
been living here for over 50 years. Not all of them are Jewish. But each of
them carry a particular set of memories, a history. I don't see them as old,
but as bearers of a past that doesn't exist anymore. They remember a type
of childhood that will be forgotten. They hold a specific kind of life
that is gone.
As time passes, these groups of
people will disappear, and the next one will arrive. Historical events will
build up one on top of another, and we will have even more things to remember.
History will inevitably be extended, information expanded - so things will make
sense.
For now I enjoy watching the
elders. They remind me of something familiar, like relatives I don't have
anymore. It makes me feel at home. And sometime in the future I might be one of
them, and I might enjoy watching youngsters, knowing I was one years ago.
