My grandmother may God bless her soul was a very wise woman...she was illiterate, could not read, write, so that gave her ample time to contemplate...just shows that a formal education is not necessarily conducive to beneficial knowledge.
She was some fiery character too, a rebel in her own way, within the limits imposed by her own context, environment, and she refused to accept Bullshit from anyone...she didn't care who the person in front her was...she would say what she needed to say.
I think also the fact that she was illiterate, made her very intuitively alert, she could sense people, their motives, and their intentions...towards the end of her life, she was considered some sort of misfit, she could no longer fit anywhere with anyone...but I was somehow the exception. She always had her arms wide open for me...so I'd stay with her for many days, we would cook together, and she'd tell me stories, her lost hopes, her unfulfilled wishes, her broken desires, her smashed dreams....also other stories about people, people I knew, people who were related, her childhood, her parents, the home where she grew up, she'd describe it in great details to me....and after each of my "sessions" with her - she'd conclude with "rah el hwaya buka el kaleel" - meaning what has gone by is greater than what is left...
I suppose those who grow in age feel the same way - what is left is way less than what has gone...
