”Never buy cheap goods! There’s always something amiss about it,” exclaims Thomas. At the same time he claims that it’s never too late to do things that you failed to do when you were young. ”I was wiser when I was younger,” says David. ”Then I was careful; now I’m a lot more daring.” That’s how the talk went this evening in Kungälv. Saturday, Twentiethday Knut in the Swedish Christmas calendar, dialogue activists gathered at Bengt Lagerholm’s at Östra Gatan in the light of the GREEN LAMP to talk openly about things close to their hearts.
”We had planned to be different generations,” said Tatiana Pismenskaya, who initiated the project. ”Because I’m convinced that there’s a lot to learn when talking over generational boundaries.” She lives in Älvängen and studies at Kulturverkstan in Gothenburg. ”It was a pity that the young people we invited were unable to attend. So we were almost only retired people this time,” she said with a little laugh. ”The conversation got a different direction, which was very exciting!”
The Green Lamp has started in Dals Långed, two weeks ago, and now it had a new start in Kungälv. In Dalsland there will be a continuation in Nössemark. Then Falkenberg is next in turn. The idea is to gather people from different generations and different walks of life around issues important to the participants. ”The Green Lamp means green light for all questions and subjects,” says Tatiana. ”When we gather for the Green Lamp,” she says, ”everyone brings a small lamp to give someone in the company as a symbol of open dialogue as a source of light.”
The conversation this evening touched on existential as well as practical questions.
”Is there anything you regret that you didn’t do when you were young and had the power and ability?”
”I regret never having tried any extreme sports activity. Especially that I never jumped parachute, though I had the opportunity and the will,” one of the participants said.
”I regret calling it off when I had decided to learn to play the cello,” said another. ”Why did I do that? I was there to pick up the loan instrument. My teacher had arranged it. My dad had driven me there. But I turned in the doorway for there were a lot of people in funeral clothes. And I did not come back. I was 11 then ”.
”Will you keep regretting it!” asks Thomas. ”Or why not try to play the cello now that you have the time?!
This was the way questions fell this evening. ”What’s it like to be retired?”
”I have my hopes and my fears about it. We’ll never be younger, but we’ll no doubt get older. Does that mean we get wiser? ”
”Not necessarily. Maybe if we learn to listen. To both the young and the old. ”
”We’ll try that next time,” says Tatiana.