Native Vs Native

 

It was winter,
golden sunlight spilling gently
across the courtyard.
Chairs were drawn close,
walking sticks resting like tired companions,
their shadows stretched
over the ground like old memories.



The elders sat together,
lamenting today’s technology.
One complained about Maggi,
another about mobile phones and WhatsApp,
someone spoke fearfully
of artificial intelligence.

And then the familiar line surfaced:
“Good that we grew old
before all this arrived.”

Among them sat the wisest old man,
joining the gathering for the first time.
Quiet, attentive,
a soft smile resting on his face.

His smile unsettled the others.
They asked him why.

Unhurried,
as if holding time in his palms,
he said—
Julius Maggi was born in 1867.
The man who invented the mobile phone
was born a century ago.
WhatsApp’s creator
belongs to our own generation.
Those building AI today
are our contemporaries.

The things we curse,
he said,
are born of our own minds.
And the environment
that now threatens the world—
our fingerprints
are all over it.

With time,
we have grown shameless,
placing the crown of our mistakes
on the heads of the younger generation.

From Gen Z, he said,
there is hope.
They are digital natives—
raised with the internet,
growing up with smartphones,
unafraid to ask questions,
unwilling to remain silent.

A strange stillness
settled over the courtyard.
Heads bowed onto walking sticks,
they listened,
absorbing every word.

When they finally looked up,
the wise man
was gone.

Perhaps
he had already walked
toward the future,
where hope
still breathes.

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