Why I'm Doing This
The honest first entry: what started this project, what I'm hoping to find, and what I'm already afraid of getting wrong.
This project didn’t begin with a grand idea.
It began with my Nanoo.
Some of my favorite memories are of sitting beside her for hours, listening to stories that seemed to belong to another world. Stories of hardship, resilience, faith, and the people she met along the way. When she wasn't telling stories, she was usually crocheting. I remember watching her hands move effortlessly, turning a simple ball of yarn into something beautiful. No matter how many times I saw it, it never ceased to amaze me.
At the time, I thought I was admiring her crocheting. Looking back, I think I was admiring her.
The patience she carried. The wisdom she spoke with. The countless experiences that had shaped the person sitting across from me. Every moment spent besides her seemed to teach me new things, without me even knowing.
What I Noticed
As I grew older, I found myself wondering how many stories like hers go unheard.
Not everyone has grandchildren sitting beside them for hours. Not everyone has someone willing to listen to the stories they've carried for decades. The more I paid attention, the more I noticed a quiet distance growing between generations.
I noticed how easy it was for younger people, including myself at times, to become absorbed in our own lives. I noticed how quickly we assume someone isn’t worthy of our time just because they don’t understand newer trends, or our “lingo”. And I noticed how many opportunities for connection pass by simply because neither side knows how to begin the conversation.
How many lessons, perspectives, and memories are we all losing not because they aren't valuable, but because nobody takes the time to ask?
Why It Matters to Me
Part of this comes from my faith.
As a Muslim, I was and still am taught that our elders are people to respect, cherish, and learn from. In Islam, kindness and patience are not optional virtues; they are responsibilities. Yet even within communities that value those principles, I have watched the gap between generations continue to widen.
And being passive in situations like these feels like a loss for everyone, disconnecting ourselves from our culture and our family.
The Plan
I don’t have a solid plan to fix our society within a snap of my fingers, but I do have a goal I hope to one day achieve, Inshallah. This project aims to listen to the lives of those who are pushed aside. Gain insight on their thoughts, and eventually encourage the forming of stronger bonds between us youth and the elderly.
Over the next few years, I hope to document conversations, experiences, reflections, and lessons learned along the way. Maybe I'll discover answers. Maybe I'll leave with even more questions.
Either way, I think the effort is worthwhile.
Because some of the most meaningful things I have ever learned came from sitting beside my grandmother while she crocheted, listening to stories that might otherwise have been forgotten by many generations of our family to come.
If this project accomplishes anything, I hope it encourages more moments like that.
Moments where somebody listens long enough to get to the good parts.
Entry 1 of the Reflections series. This is the journal of an ongoing project.