Stuck in Rewind
I know an old man who is excellent in making videos. He often speaks loudly as if conversing with another person atop a far-off mountain . A lot of people avoid him because he tends to engage them in long-winded conversations where he always emerges right anyway. They call him old-school and passé.
I will not play the hyprocrite and say that I enjoy his tirades and his one-sided point of view, but I will not shut up until I defend him a little too. In the short months I knew him, my ears are ringing with the number of times he will come out of his secluded cubicle and exclaim anger / amazement / befuddlement about one topic or another. Everyone else will smile and nod and let him run out of steam. I usually end up being the bearer of the yoke because I cannot pretend not to hear him. Seeing that I’m the only one listening, he’ll beam down on me and continue his yarn. I can’t bring myself to be rude because, 1) he’s old, and 2) sometimes, it’s interesting, what he says.
Like today, he came out of his room with wide-eyed amusement and started talking even before he knew there were people in our room. As it turned out, I was alone. Huh. He was so amazed with an email he received about Warren Buffet. He started sharing what was in the email and he spoke as if clearly enamored by the enigmatic business savant. And you know what? It was interesting!
I will also never forget the day he caught me crying alone in the office missing my parents. He tried to comfort me, and the next day, he lent me a book entitled Dispel the Darkness ---- and you know what? It helped.
He can be irritating and brash most times, I so know. But am I the only one who can see the excited little school boy that emerges whenever something catches his interest? Or the stiff grandfather trying to be soft to a sobbing grandchild?
I’m going on and on about him today because I happened to peek into his room and he was watching one of the videos he made recently. He used the song Pinoy Big Brother to showcase our recent activities. Actually, he watches this video a lot. And today, he looked indefinitely sad, watching it.
Ewan ko, baka drama ko lang ito, but I think I saw something there. I think he’s sad because that video was his bid, his effort to update himself in new videographing styles. He looked tired and wizened, just about to give up in keeping up with modern times. But again, I may be wrong. Baka gutom lang siya. Baka talaga ako lang yun.
I will not play the hyprocrite and say that I enjoy his tirades and his one-sided point of view, but I will not shut up until I defend him a little too. In the short months I knew him, my ears are ringing with the number of times he will come out of his secluded cubicle and exclaim anger / amazement / befuddlement about one topic or another. Everyone else will smile and nod and let him run out of steam. I usually end up being the bearer of the yoke because I cannot pretend not to hear him. Seeing that I’m the only one listening, he’ll beam down on me and continue his yarn. I can’t bring myself to be rude because, 1) he’s old, and 2) sometimes, it’s interesting, what he says.
Like today, he came out of his room with wide-eyed amusement and started talking even before he knew there were people in our room. As it turned out, I was alone. Huh. He was so amazed with an email he received about Warren Buffet. He started sharing what was in the email and he spoke as if clearly enamored by the enigmatic business savant. And you know what? It was interesting!
I will also never forget the day he caught me crying alone in the office missing my parents. He tried to comfort me, and the next day, he lent me a book entitled Dispel the Darkness ---- and you know what? It helped.
He can be irritating and brash most times, I so know. But am I the only one who can see the excited little school boy that emerges whenever something catches his interest? Or the stiff grandfather trying to be soft to a sobbing grandchild?
I’m going on and on about him today because I happened to peek into his room and he was watching one of the videos he made recently. He used the song Pinoy Big Brother to showcase our recent activities. Actually, he watches this video a lot. And today, he looked indefinitely sad, watching it.
Ewan ko, baka drama ko lang ito, but I think I saw something there. I think he’s sad because that video was his bid, his effort to update himself in new videographing styles. He looked tired and wizened, just about to give up in keeping up with modern times. But again, I may be wrong. Baka gutom lang siya. Baka talaga ako lang yun.
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