As always, Abu Michael sat cross-legged near his “Kanoun”, brazier. Alone this time. His grandchildren were not with him as before. Each of them sat distant from the other, attached to a screen in front of him, in a corner of the room. Some with an iPhone in their hands. Um Michael, didn’t bring the olive oil and za’atar (thyme) to put on the little wooden table in front of him, nor did she prepare the winter apricot jam like she used to do, year after year. She decided to disappear somewhere far away, leaving Abu Michael to face life all alone by himself. Decades had passed since she moved to the side of her Lord. Many events had happened since then, of which the latest was a pandemic that attacked the entire planet. Abu Michael caught the virus, but despite his old age he recovered quickly. For him, home quarantine had not become a way of life, but also a necessary precaution. Despite that, Abu Michael continued to cough and whenever he asked for a glass of water from his grandchildren, nobody paid attention. He would then suddenly start shouting in frustration:
“I’m losing my mind! Have mercy on me.”
It was only at that moment that his grandchildren were aware that he was asking for something. They got up, came to sit closer around him and started asking:
What’s wrong, Grandpa?
Abu Michael: Seeing you like this is driving me crazy!
Grandchildren: Why, Grandpa?
Abu Michel: I can hardly believe what I have seen throughout the ninety years that I have lived!
Grandchildren: What have you seen, Grandpa? Tell us, tell us please!
Abu Michael: When you start asking, you never stop nagging until I answer! All right, I shall tell you what I can remember of all that I have seen!
I saw electricity lighting my town after “centuries” of darkness.
I saw for the first time a car passing in our street after years of moving from one place to another on the backs of donkeys, camels, and horses.
I saw for the first time airplane roaring across the sky and thought if I raise my hand and wave at it, those aboard shall greet me back!
I witnessed launching the first rocket into space at a time when I thought that the world’s end where my olive tree in the field stands.
I saw for the first time astronauts landing on the moon at a time when I believed no human could ever reach that far.
I marveled at the invention of the telephone, and I still remember how I kept turning its receiver over a million times in my hands.
I saw the arrival of the automatic washing machine after years of watching how Um Michel’s hands are dry from scrubbing clothes with soap.
I saw the refrigerator in which we could barely afford to buy one lemon to put inside it.
I saw the television for the first time and often wondered how all those people I see behind the screen managed to sit inside it!
I saw the “video” player come and depart quickly depriving me of some time to understand why everyone rushed into shops to buy it.
I saw the computers which you don’t take out of your hands until you go to sleep at night.
I saw the “iPad”, which you keep holding to take pictures of me all the time!
I saw the “iPhone”, which has stolen your full attention to the extent that you do not recognize me anymore!
Can you imagine my dear grandchildren, all that I witnessed throughout my life?!
Can you realize now why your grandpa is about to lose his mind?!
Abu Michael
Published on May 27, 2021
