Interview on an elderly about their college days
The person chosen for the interview was my neighbor’s grandfather, who has been a very good friend of my family for over two decades. His name is Anthony and he is 70 years old now. I contacted Anthony about the interview and he gladly accepted saying that he would at around 1900 hrs the following day for the interview. I was able to get lots of information about his college days and various other things which happened and which influenced his life. I am going to discuss about Anthony’s life, during his college days and I am going to compare them with my own college days.
Anthony was around 17 or 18 according to him when he went to college. He was from a family which had a settled small business. Unlike many other people of his age, Anthony had great interest in doing to college for Journalism course. He said everybody thought he was crazy to even think of such a subject as it was pretty tricky and a new one. He said he would have joined in a far off college if he got into Journalism course but, he feels his beliefs, his family’s beliefs played a great part in him not selecting Journalism and instead selecting Mathematics.
He repeatedly mentioned that not selecting Journalism was a good step and at the same a bad step. Coming from a family with business background, he was always expected to start off a small business and earn money at a very young age. Anthony even mentioned that he valued and believed his family and the society around him so much that he wanted to do both studies and also start a business to make his family proud.
Through his words I understood one thing that he really had to change his views, beliefs and hopes because of one thing he witnessed during his college days. He had high hopes and believed he could start a newspaper stand and had the entire things ready for him start one. But, as always, in his words, “things do not happen the way they are meant to be”, a national Crisis ensured that his plans to start a newspaper stand got shelved. He mentioned that those Cuban Missile Crisis days, really showed a great impact on his life and his hopes and beliefs had to be changed for good or for bad.
Just as many middle aged people like his parents during those days, everybody was scared to be apart from their family even for a few moments as they hardly had any knowledge when a nuclear war would erupt. His words implied that in his days, earning money was much important regardless of the fact how you earned it. He said people hardly valued education in his society and they always everybody to earn at a young age. But, when Anthony thought his chance had come, the crisis has erupted and he had to lose all his hopes, destroy his beliefs and believe in activities he could previously do.
Those Crisis days helped Anthony understand the value of education and he quoted that he would have started off a business had his parents had some education and understood that the crisis would not happen. I felt that he had to impress or fight with his family to make them aware that he could do well and he could withstand things.
He mentioned, he would always think of things in a positive manner but he would never try to sort those things to make them positive. He said his views were so complicated that once something would go wrong, he would just think that was supposed to go wrong and leave them as they were. I feel President Kennedy’s work during those crisis days made Anthony to start thinking that everything could have a positive end. His views looked to have changed according to him and he started off some things which he thought would only have negative end. He was really glad that a slight change in his views and beliefs made him a better person with a happy family for some time.
In his days, he says he was really fortunate to have a family with great values, beliefs, activities and hopes. He was happy and also a little sad to say that his family always had dinner together and exchanged knowledge about his college and various other things and his family would always pray for good things. He showed sadness because he felt all the present day families or most of the present day families have lost their values, hopes, and activities. He felt his own family had lost all those beliefs, hopes and everything he ever saw in a family in his days. He felt even his values, beliefs and hopes have gradually changed over the ages. He thought, previously, he never changed a little and he always thought his beliefs, values and hopes have always been the same but gradually, he was able to access that there was change in him and his views, hopes and beliefs. He would always put his family in first place previously and he would always hope that there would always be good at the end of everything. He felt he was really a family oriented man, but, due to the economic conditions and the social society, he had to prefer earning money over family to keep his family happy and also to have a better social status. Anthony successfully completed his college and was able to secure a masters degree in Mathematics. He was earning good money but it was really not enough to secure a good social status. So Anthony ultimately had to lose his hopes and beliefs had to do overtime by conducting coaching classes. He felt had to evaluate everything based on their negative or bad aspects and this gradually led him to have no hopes on good and lose all beliefs.
And yet Anthony, felt change is good. But he was always scared of change. He would always feel that any change would ultimately lead to a negative result. But, he later felt in life there would always be two sides, some things will show a positive effect if there is a change and some things will show a negative effect if there is a change. Ultimately, he thinks there should always be change.
He felt women were always important but in his days, women did not have many expectations. Society would hardly expect anything from women. Women were always looked over as someone who would be better off if they remained in their respective homes. But, in his case, he had only good thoughts and expectations about women. He would always encourage his sisters to achieve something. There were no real expectations in case of his sisters neither from his family nor the society. Everybody thought they would get married and settle into their lives. But, he encouraged all the women associated with in his life. His younger sister attained a college degree in his favorite field of journalism through his encouragement and pursued a career in journalism to great effect. She did not have any expectations from anybody other than me and this led her to being called a successful woman. He felt through his encouragement his elder sister completed her college studies and this helped her in designing a nice life for her family. He felt many women in his days were under looked and this led to differences in the gender society. Women, in his days had no expectations and when encouraged, they would attain great heights. But, sadly he felt that was not recognized by the society.
And then Anthony continued the topic to religion. He felt religion was always important in the society. Everybody in the society would believe that religion would carve a person into good human being. Everybody would regularly attend their respective places of worship. They would regularly pray for the good being of the world as everybody would think that religion and religious beliefs would protect everybody. He says his religious beliefs were plain simple. He would always pray to clear off his tensions or he mentioned that he would get better ideas on solving problems after praying.
Anthony was really helpful in lending his thoughts. By interviewing him, I was able to find some marked changes in the society and the lives we have now. I could access my life based on his. This led me to compare his experiences and his life during his college days with mine.
Anthony was interested in one particular subject but he was unable to go for it. In my case or anybody of this age, have the luck to select any subject they want and in my case I was always glad to move to any area to get into the subject of my liking. Education as everybody see has become an important part of every individual’s life. In present day, most people would not survive with their careers if they chose any subject other than the subject they love or they would not be very successful. People always think working hard on any subject would make a person perfect in that subject but, a person can only be a true master if they chose the subject they love.
People of Anthony’s days had great values for their families. Nowadays, most people hardly get any time to spend with their family. I hardly share anything about my experiences in college with my family. Family values lost their total meaning and family beliefs depend mainly on the luxuries they get. Any family activity in present day would involve playing a game for a couple of minutes.
According to Anthony a person was judged by the money earned. Earning money in any way to gain social status sounded like a bad example and currently I am happy that I am not judged by the money I earn but the education I attain. Even in case of many people of this age, I believe, they are not expected to earn money while studying. People of these days are extremely lucky as they can complete their education and then start thinking about earning money. I consider myself to be in a better position than Anthony was during college as I could feel he was really pressured into earning money and at the same time to attend college.
I think, I really need to think like Anthony, in hoping for a positive thing at the end of everything. People have a tendency to lose hope, if they see a result they do not like and hardly bother to correct it. People of my age, usually lose hope when things do not slightly go their way. If anybody could wait till the end of things, there would always be chance to attaining the best rather than stopping it in the middle.
Anthony was absolutely correct when he said change was good sometimes and bad sometimes. Change has carved people into extraordinary beings and some people have also been quiet opposite of it. Honestly, in present age, a change should always be expected as a person without any self change, would halt their development.
In the present age, men and women are always given the same opportunities and they would always have the same expectations. Women attained a great social status in the present age after going through many difficulties over the ages. In this matter, Anthony’s days can be considered as backward but, Anthony was personally a believer in women and he may even be considered as an inspiration for college kids as he supported the development of women when the society hardly cared.
Religious beliefs were more or less forgotten and in my case, I would hardly pray or go to worship. I always thought religion would set back every individual but, by Anthony’s words, I now understand that praying is good to have peace of mind. People should also start thinking that having religious beliefs doesn’t make a person backward, but they can give a person enough peace to keep them happy. Religious beliefs if followed according to their true preaching, a person can attain great knowledge and can develop well.
An interview on an elderly made me feel like world has always showed a change. Previously there was a change for few hundred years and then it became few decades and in case of Anthony change in beliefs, values, etc., had a change within a few years.
