Talking About One Thing to Talk About Another

By Eduardo N. Cordovi Hernandez

HAVANA TIMES – I’ve already mentioned in my diary posts the gatherings we friends in the neighborhood hold, on any corner. Usually, they also take place on someone’s small porch, and sometimes they last all day, almost every day, reminiscent of the famous “hot corners” in Havana, where fans would argue about “baseball.”

In my neighborhood gatherings, the topics vary, though they are always the same: the latest in life, the country, and the world… and, although I don’t participate much and generally avoid them, they help me “recharge my batteries.” I end up thinking of ideas and reaching conclusions that wouldn’t have occurred to me had I not been there, listening to certain opinions expressed. On the flip side, it also saddens me to see so many people spending their lives in endless hours of trivial conversations, which often lead to quarrels that cause abrupt and painful estrangements for a long time, among people who have known each other since childhood.

This sad dynamic has made me hold back from participating because I’m someone who doesn’t take life too seriously. It seems healthier to be here like the tourists, who, since they are just passing through, don’t buy a house but rent one. They don’t buy a car; they take a taxi or rent one. They travel light, maybe buying some clothes, which they leave behind when they leave to someone.

I think that’s a good way to live, like a tourist. It’s fine to care for and maintain some things, but nothing should be more important than staying calm and dedicating yourself to the things that bring the most joy, avoiding arguments over issues we cannot resolve, refraining from giving opinions on matters we don’t know firsthand, or about people we have never met and probably never will.

During these Olympic days, in the trivial gathering of my neighborhood, just like on several influencer and YouTuber channels, I’ve heard different interpretations of the Cuban Greco-Roman wrestler Mijain Lopez. Although I’m not exactly a sports fan, just an occasional spectator, I watched the match where his fifth Olympic gold medal was at stake… I tuned into the television to watch his match, where his opponent was another Cuban representing Chile.

There I was, secretly hoping the other guy would win, not the Cuban representing Cuba. Simply because he was already famous enough worldwide, being a four-time champion, and the other one had none; and also, in some way, it bothered me that this rightful glory of being a five-time champion would be the subject of a vain pride that would be extended, extrapolated, appropriated, and manipulated as a triumph of something far removed from sports.

I felt vile; I felt bad for judging things that don’t really matter to me. I felt bad because, to me, the Olympic Games are just another way to lull people into passivity. And that’s why I sometimes make fun of anything, just for amusement, not to harm or offend anyone. Even of things considered very serious. I love finding details to laugh at in those clumsy things people end up killing and letting themselves be killed for.

A few days ago, I rewatched that phenomenal movie with Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand, The Way We Were from 1973, directed by Sydney Pollack. It’s considered a romantic film, but its main theme is communication. Here, it’s known as Nuestros años felices (Our Happy Years).

I don’t know why translators change movie titles. In Spain, it was released as Tal como éramos (As We Were), which I think is a better title than the former, but still vague, because the English title says: The Way We Were. The essence of the movie is “the way they were,” each of them, which did not include trying to understand each other. People don’t know what understanding means. It means: agreeing. And how hard it can be to agree with something that bothers us…

In the film, Robert Redford is the one who doesn’t take life too seriously; after all, no one has ever come out of it alive, and that’s why he could joke about things that were too serious for Streisand.

The way they were, the way they were, didn’t include space to realize that trying to fix the world is supreme stubbornness and that it was better to be like Redford, who leaned back a little and could laugh at something that really isn’t more important than we want it to be. You can even give it all the importance you want and still laugh. Laughter is a more human attribute than suffering, than sadness… than separation.

You can only agree on something: by understanding that something is inevitable. If you’re reading these words, it’s because they are black on a white background. They’re just colors; there’s nothing wrong with the color white or black. It’s the law of contrast. All the bad things that might exist in the world are just a backdrop to see other things. It’s an inseparable part of reality, like the two sides of a coin. Nothing is too much of anything that it can’t be laughable.

Read more from the diary of Ernesto N. Cordovi here.