NOW I CAN LEAVE

When we talk about Benjamin Button and the immortal people of Gulliver´s travels, both of them are really complicated situations.

All of us know the story of Benjamin, a man who was born as an elderly one and becomes younger and younger with the passage of the years. This is very traumatic because you are always “the different one”. When children go to school, play and have fun, your body is an old man’s. Everybody looks at you as if you were a stranger and you can’t play with them in the same way because of your physical limitations. It’s also the moment for having experiences with friends, with girls, with everything in general, but you can’t do it as the rest does. On the other hand, when you have the experience of all your lived years, your appearance is of a child’s, so nobody will take you seriously. Your body and your age go on against human nature, so you will always feel different and, what is worse, alone.

The case of the immortal people of Gulliver’s travels is completely different. They can live their life in a normal way, but when they are as old as to die, they don’t die. In the beginning we can think that this is something good, the eternal life. We never die, we can live forever. Fantastic, but when people become very old, they naturally lose their abilities. As a result, they can’t enjoy life because they can do nothing and they feel completely useless. Moreover, you will be a problem for the members of your family because they ought to take care of you at anytime, and you will feel as a heavy burden for them.

I think life is wonderful, but it has its stages and you have to live and enjoy each one at its moment. If you’re lucky and become old, you will look back and think to yourself: I’m proud of everything I’ve  done in my life, and I’ve really enjoyed it. Now I can leave.

Alberto Suárez García