To Mine and to Yours
- Miguel Fernández
- Nov 19
- 3 min read
In each of us, there is a little of our parents, grandparents, and ancestors.
What is it like for a father, mother, or grandparent to see their child doing the same things they once did?
The same silly mistakes, the same gestures, the same discoveries, the same joys and sorrows.It is both a pleasure and a concern.
Sometimes it seems that children listen little to their parents, wanting to learn everything on their own.
Sometimes, it seems they are just as we once were.
Do those who listen more evolve faster? Or is it the opposite? Hard to say.
I write these words for the high school graduation yearbook of one of my grandsons.
Eighteen years old. Suddenly, I see myself sixty years ago, at the same kind of ceremony.
These are moments that lead us to philosophize…
Who are we? What are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?
Are we each just a heap of DNAs, gathered by chance into what we call a “person”?
Or are those chances the touch of God?
I am one of those who believe in the Divine chance, or the chance that is Divine.
We are a fleeting gathering of DNAs, struggling to survive for as long as we are allowed on this spaceship called Earth.
I share the vision of the theologian-philosopher Teilhard de Chardin, who saw humanity as evolving, improving itself, as befits a work whose core is love, cooperation, and mutual help, valuing the effort toward betterment.
It is much presumption, arrogance, and selfishness of “people”—temporary embodiments of these chances, to think they are something more than this heap of DNAs, justifying their frivolities with the saying, “You can’t take anything with you.”
DNA does not go away. DNA remains here, whether in children or in nephews and nieces.
Some sets of DNAs care about the “next generation,” and therefore, about themselves.
Those that improve themselves will endure.
Do not fall for the saying, “You can’t take anything with you, so spend it all.”
Probably invented by DNAs that, out of innocence or cunning, don’t want yours to compete with theirs.
Increase your knowledge, your education, your culture, and why not?your material well-being too, without extremes in any direction.
By the work of the Holy Trinity, within these arrangements of DNA, mine is present in one of you from this class.
To him, and to all his classmates, I wish health and joy in life—this incarnation.
May you help our DNAs to continue improving.
And when you too have children, nephews, or grandchildren—wherever our DNAs may still be, remember your responsibilities.
An excellent way to help is by setting good examples.
Even if you do not have children, your DNAs will still be out there somehow, and examples will still matter.
Hold your head high, but without arrogance.
Be ambitious and eager to conquer the world—but with care and respect for others.
Be creative, proactive, and take initiative.
Do not simply accept what you receive, and never grow complacent.
Be fearless, but with good sense.
Act with enthusiasm, but also with caution,
with firmness and strength, but also with kindness and ethics,
and above all, with love.
Not the sentimental, carnal, fake, or formal kind of love,but the love Jesus taught us,
Which is not easy, but without it, nothing is worthwhile.
Without love, and without Him, nothing is built, nothing improves.
Not love for yourself, but love for others, and for your DNA.
Eternal love.
We are all improving ourselves.
Good luck!
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