Grandfather Syndrome

Agadir – When a number of symptoms start to manifest themselves in the behavior of a young individual, the person is said to have the “grandfather syndrome.” Examples of such symptoms would be withdrawing from social activities, not taking part in sports activities, demonstrating signs of premature or artificial wisdom, adopting a too philosophical approach to life and shying away from making any sustained physical effort or any kind of risk taking. The list could be extended some more to cover all attitudes and ways to approach life old people or senior citizens do actually demonstrate.

Things that come with age such as physical transformations and psychological states of being are natural, acceptable and not in the least strange but what is outlandish, I would say, is when you meet young men and ladies suffering a noticeable decline in motivation coupled with steady drops in the level or degree of ambition. This may come about as a result of shocks; emotional or otherwise or from having to put up with repeated failures and frustrations. The absence of elevating factors or opportunities that could allow individuals to make it safely to the other end of the tunnel or help them achieve some sort of wished for breakthrough, contribute to sustaining their state of being.

The Arab world has its heavy share of the afore described syndrome. “Harimna” is the title of a certain chapter in the life of many Arab citizens. In modern standard Arabic, “Harimna” literally means “we are getting terribly old” and, according to the historical context in which it was produced, it may equally imply we have done so by missing so much along our itinerary or simply without having accomplished much. A well-known Arab TV channel was responsible for spreading this quote by a Tunisian café owner whose standard Arabic was quite remarkable. The phrase was such a successful sound bite it was echoed in all corners of the Arab world. All political implications aside, “Harimna,” in my view could be looked at as the equivalent or counterpart of the “grandfather Syndrome” in the west since a great number of young men and ladies in their prime in the Arab world would oftentimes tell you they were “getting terribly old” or at least they would explicitly complain they had the feeling they were aging so fast compared to what they could have achieved had the surrounding circumstances been better. There is, however, no way of knowing whether the circumstances or else individual attitudes were to blame.

In any case, some sort of remedy to this state of affairs has to be prescribed or suggested. So, how can frustrated individuals locked in the vicious circle the “grandfather syndrome” brings about, rise to the multiple challenges it poses, fight back to free themselves from its grip, do what it takes to take off once more and ultimately join the circle of winners?

These suggestions can help break the vicious circle, restore confidence and achieve success:

-Exercise vigorously and regularly

– Learn new skills and hone your old ones

– Remain optimistic

– Adopt a positive attitude in dealing with the world around you

– Master the ability to begin and follow through projects

– Get back on track and move on to achieve your long cherished dreams, but above all learn, retain and make use of this inspiring lesson from history.

“If an ant can do it, so can I,” this is the lesson Tamerlane learnt when his Army was routed in battle. Defeated, he had to escape and hide himself in a deserted barn. While feeling embattled, depressed and dejected, he caught sight of an ant carrying a kernel of corn. The grain outsized the ant, yet that did not in the least hinder the ant progression and resolve. Tamerlane watched carefully and counted the attempts the ant made to carry the kernel up and over the wall as it struggled each time and fell back. On the seventieth time he counted, the ant succeeded to climb with its load up and over the wall.

Success has never been a piece of cake and it will never be but at the same time it is no pie in the sky. It is possible whenever we are ready to pay the price it takes to materialize so it could speak louder than any words could do.