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Brad was seven and as how his Uncle Rick describes him, a voracious reader. I would often try to tuck him to bed but find him already asleep, surrounded by his favourite books, Horrible History of the World, 100 Great Leaders, and the Bible. It is easy to notice that his genre is history. He would normally bombard me with questions on history that are too stressful for me. I've never been a fan of history, until Brad forced me into it so that I can give sensible, if not accurate and factual, responses to his questions and satisfy his ever inquisitive mind.
One time, we were having a vacation in the cool and breezy Tagaytay, a province in the Philippines, located
50 kilometers south of its capital, Manila. Tagaytay is famous for its cool weather and the Taal Volcano, the second most active volcano in the country, and known as the volcano within a lake, within a volcano within a lake. I read that it was formed through one major eruption at the center of a lake, and since the lake itself is the crater of a prehistoric volcano, and within the lake, other eruptions have occurred producing more craters and micro-lakes. An amazing and unrivalled view, it has been the family’s favourite vacation place.
Brad woke up in a sunny, yet cool morning, and saw his Grandfather working on a crossword puzzle. His grandfather, whom he fondly calls Wowo, was 81 then. At that age, his mind was still very sharp, thanks to his crossword puzzles and book reading habits. He was also keen on tennis, world news, and self-therapy. He was very healthy, physically and mentally. You'll see this as you read along.
Brad approached Wowo and sat beside him. “Good morning, Brad.”, Wowo greeted him cheerfully. “Good morning, Wowo.”, Brad responded, seemingly haughty about the exchange of morning courtesy.
“Wowo…”, Brad spoke.
“Yes, Brad?”, Wowo replied.
“Do you know Adolf Hitler?”, Brad asked.
“Of course, who doesn’t know him?”, Wowo responded guilelessly.
“Huh, what a question to start a day.” I thought, while fixing the bed.
“Well, I have a question.”, Brad continued. “If he had millions of Jews killed during Holocaust, why is he considered a ‘great leader’?”, obviously referring to what he must have read in his 100 Great Leaders of the World book.
“Holocaust?”, I thought. “I was probably in College when I first heard that word.”, to my chagrin.
Wowo put down his crossword puzzle and pen and looked at Brad slightly astounded.
“Well, you have to know how the word “great” is used there. He was great in a sense that he was able to lead the German soldiers, the Nazi Party, for more than 10 years from 1934 to 1945. Let me tell you about it…”
“Oh no…”, I thought. If my Dad starts a conversation that way, expect it to last for at least half an hour. And I was not sure that is how I wanted to spend that lovely vacation, at least 30 minutes of it, before breakfast at that! Nevertheless, knowing Brad can’t sit still for more than 3 minutes, it became interesting how the stories will unfold, both about Hitler and Brad. My Mother, Husband, and Brother all thought the same way. So we all took our seats to be in such a unique enthrallment.
“I bet Brad will leave in a couple of minutes.”, I whispered to my husband.
"Couldn't agree more.", my husband said.
Wowo continued, “Hitler led the German army and invaded Poland in September 1939
that started World War II with the British and French declaring war against Germany. Germany, Japan, and Italy, formed the Axis Powers who fought against the Allied Forces, consisted of France, Poland and Great Britain, soon to be joined by the British Commonwealth (Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa).”
“Whew! Wowo still remembers the date and details.”, I thought with awe.
Time continued to tick and Wowo went on with his passionate narration of World War II with specific dates, names, and places that I can probably never memorize in my lifetime. Furthermore, and even more amazing, was that Brad remained in his seat, listening earnestly. It’s been 20 minutes, at the least!
In front of us were two people, one with ADHD, with an age gap of 74 years, talking about World War II in detail. I found that better than my favourite bread, bacon and eggs breakfast, even with hot cholocate tablea (Tabléas (or tableyas) are pure cacao beans that are dried, roasted, ground and then formed into tablets traditionally used in the Philippines to make hot chocolate.)!
“In June 1942, Hitler ordered the invasion of Russia, then called the Soviet Union. By the end of 1941, German forces and the European Axis powers occupied most of Europe and North Africa. But they failed to defeat Russia. They were unprepared and the extremely cold weather of Russia didn’t help them either. Finally, the entry of the United States into the war forced Germany onto the defensive and it suffered a series of escalating defeats. On 30 April 1945, Hitler killed himself with his wife, Eva Braun, to avoid capture by Russia’s Red Army.
Under Hitler, the Nazis killed more than 5 million Jews and millions of other victims whom
he deemed socially undesirable. They were also responsible for the killing of about 19 million civilians and prisoners of war. 29 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of military action in World War II. It was the deadliest conflict in our history.
Hitler was great, but in probably the most evil way.”, Wowo ended the narration that took about 35 minutes.
Then, we were all staring at Brad, waiting to see or hear from him. I was worried that he might erupt like Taal Volcano, having contained himself for 35 minutes, without uttering a word and hardly moving in his seat. But he continued to stare at his Wowo, perhaps with admiration, and to digest such huge amount of information that was just given him by dearly beloved grandfather.
Then, he sighed. “I see.”, Brad said with a soft voice, slowly nodding his head.
What he said next almost made us all fall off our seats.
“Okay, we’re done with Hitler. Can you now tell me about Benito Mussolini?”.
“Information overload!”, I thought. Let Brad and Wowo alone. Meantime, can’t wait for my bacon, eggs, and chocolate tablea. Hitler just made me so hungry.
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