The veteran professors of the prestigious faculty used to eat together in the student bar for more than a quarter of a century. That rejuvenated them because at certain ages youth is only acquired by contact; he cultivated his fame as cool colleagues; and, in addition, the price was very affordable for those who, like them, already felt the breath of an upcoming retirement behind their backs. Although they had spent a quarter of a century repeating the notes they developed when they wrote their thesis, they were convinced of “being up to date” for having seen all the Emmy, Goya and Oscar winning series and movies. The Ukraine crisis made them dream of going back to the hectic days of Noto the war, but the matter continued as it was and their conversation went through the usual commonplaces. A bit of politics; some soccer.
Until Joaquín, tired of hearing his colleagues say that it was incomprehensible that communication students did not read newspapers, nor did they attend the sessions on Polish cinema that the film professor had organized after three years of paid trips to Warsaw; who were only enthusiastic about silly series like the squid game and that they preferred to listen to the latest rapper in fashion before discovering the glorious Pink Floyd discography, raised his voice to wield a different theory than the official one at that table. Look, he began timidly, these young people are going to live twenty years longer than us on average, so they will get to where we have come and even improve on us, but they will do it later, because they will have more time than us. We are not better, nor have we ever been. They are not worse, nor will they ever be. It happens that they have more time and less urgency than us.
Everyone was silent until Mayte, the waitress, asked them about dessert. Some ordered flan, others ice cream and only one remembered the high glucose level of his last test. Next to him, a group of young students shouted with joy watching YouTube videos. Joaquin thought about his theory. He reassured her, but concluded that if he had more time, he wouldn’t waste it. That same afternoon he bought The Quijote and began to read it. She was already playing. Days later he told his students that journalism was a profession of Quixotes condemned to live in a time that was not theirs. And everyone attended him with interest because young people immediately identify when they are in front of someone who tells them the truth.
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