In Time

Saul Bellow´s Seize the Day has as a main character a man named Tommy Wilhem, or at least that is what he calls himself. His real name is Wilhem Adler, but his relationship with his father is such that he has changed his family name. Dr.Adler is described by his son as a fearsome man, a retired doctor who was as cold to his son as to the rest of his patients, an aging man. Oddly enough, Dr. Adler immediately remembered me of my own grandfather. He too is a retired doctor, and a great one at that. Although my father has never changed his name, he does admit that their relationship was tough, due to the fact that my father´s grades never met such a prominent man´s expectations. But if I ever met Wilhem I would give him some advice, or at least tell him what lies ahead. As Wilhelm mentioned, his father was pushing eighty. My grandfather will be ninety in one month, but some five years back he suffered a health collapse. He went from having breakfast with his children, traveling and working every single day to staring at a T.V. every day, not being able to walk alone, and forgetting the names of his children and the fact that his wife passed away some twenty years ago. Somehow, when I look at my grandfather it is hard to picture the impressive man that Dr. Raúl Paredes used to be, winning national awards and scaring my uncles and aunts to the death. He does not meet like an agreeable man, just like Dr. Adler. But the fact is that even the scariest, most prominent men will always meet the end and soon, with old age, become old fart bags that will be forgotten soon.