(Source: EVARISTO SA/AFP)

Anyone who says that “getting old is good” is either lying or being far more optimistic than they really are. Growing old is, at the most, acceptable, which means that we do not die – it’s good, or rather, great! – although the hangover gets worse with every drink.

I know, of course, that there are very good things approaching dawn. And one of them, perhaps, is the selectivity of relationships. As we get closer to the end – at least for those who are smart – we dedicate the last chapters to having a good time in the company of a weasel.

Yes, because there is no point in wasting time on who – or what – does not add anything to us, except for bad feelings and bad times. In particular, I literally followed this condition of life, and the only benefit is not that I started late.

A crude example is the removal of mediocrity and mediocrity. People living attached to the values ​​and customs of the last century were quickly erased from my daily life. Want to act like a cannibal? Okay, come on; but in a galaxy far, far away.

And well, the opposite is true. Just as I can’t stand them, they can’t stand me either. The difference is that I don’t give a damn about their lives and opinions, they are the opposite! Do not leave my columns and drool with anger behind my back and in WhatsApp groups.

These are mediocre and binary people who cannot see the world beyond yes and no. It is a species unable to live outside or separated from the bubbles it has entered – and which it can no longer leave – as it has blown up its surroundings.

How safe they feel in their little worlds, as long as everything is fine … everything is in order! However, if and when the callus is tightened, they will look away and find nothing but quantity without quality, which is useless during the puff.

Do you know a cousin, very nice people, now unbearable – a fanatical bolsonarist – and a great doctor who could help you? Or brother-in-law, a damn nice guy, but anti-Bolsonaro, a good lawyer who could also help you? So what is it. They already were. You fought them.

Do you know the neighbor you turned to for help when your house flooded and today you don’t talk anymore? Or a childhood friend, damn it!, who had the best adventures around you, but now you don’t want to know why he left?

So these will be the guys that you don’t have and won’t have anymore. Why? Yes, because you preferred and chose another “family”, other “friends”: ideologically close people, yes, but without the necessary connections to really be close to you.

When you get sick, instead of a “communist” relative, ask Bolsonaro for help. When you need money, instead of the ex-brother reacting, ask Lulu. When he dies, looking down from above, will Zap’s friends be at his funeral?

These are the people most concerned with protecting idle politicians; closed ranks in the name of extremist religion and obsolete dogmas; rejection of disagreements; does not tolerate different; demonize minorities, etc., which I cut out of my life and life.

On the contrary, regardless of the political, religious, gender, sports or barter choice – if such a choice does not contradict democratic, humanitarian and ethical values ​​- with others I have strengthened my ties and share my closeness with great pleasure.

Time will tell who was right and who was wrong. In the meantime, I know that I chose the right path. Who said that? Mirror! Family! Friends and pillow. As the song says, “It takes love to pulsate; you need peace to be able to smile; It needs rain to bloom.”