In front of
Pau Donés
, the last image of
Pau Donés
before he died.
In the background, behind him, as an escort, another great of music, another who was taken by cancer,
Camarón de la Isla
.
Nobody wanted to leave, nobody wants to leave when you know you are leaving.
If you had to choose a word to describe
That You Give Me
,
Pau Donés'
last interview
before he died, for me it would be brutal.
And not a brutal one with a negative connotation, not at all, because the interview that
Pau Donés
granted and asked
his friend
Jordi Évole
is a life lesson, probably one of the greatest life lessons that people can remember having seen on television.
Each word, each gesture, each smile led to the same place, to life, to "live", to ask for an "encore" so that "the five years that I was studying Economics would change for five years at Berckley studying music."
But it was also an impressive lesson in death.
And not of death with pain and suffering, no, of the choice to
die "in peace"
, of the lesson of dying knowing that you are going to leave and that the
last legacy
you want to leave, among many others, is that, it is simply , if it is possible to speak of simplicity when speaking of life and death, a "thank you", the thanks of
Pau Donés
for everything that gave him life.
When they announced on laSexta that
That That You Give Me
was going to be broadcast,
I was very hesitant to see it or not.
A chill ran down my spine thinking that I didn't want to cry, that I didn't want to be saddened, that life is hard enough to see more hard.
However, what is most surprising about
That You Give Me
and what is most surprising about that
Pau Donés
aware that he was leaving is that you see him and I swear that only at the end, only when he chose the song that had to accompany the credits of
That which you give me
, I cried.
There I did cry as if there were no tomorrow, but as
Pau Donés
said well
during the interview "you have to cry, because crying is a demonstration of courage, that you are not ashamed to show yourself how you are, to demonstrate your humility".
"It was a long time since I saw something on television that impressed me so much," a friend wrote to me during the broadcast of the program.
Pau Donés
succeeded.
And you will think that during the interview
Pau Donés
, or even
Jordi Évole
cried at some point.
No. What
Pau Donés
pulls from you with each answer, with each reflection, with each lesson are dozens of smiles.
Smiles because
That which you give me
is a calm and peaceful goodbye for those who do not want to leave, but they know that the time has come and that it is time to give thanks, thanks to
life
, to those who lived with him, to whom he accompanied, to whom he made his last thoughts were for that, for nothing more than to
live
.
The last song of Pau Donés
"... I don't know if farewell is the word.
Thank you very much for everything
. What you give me is a song of gratitude because what life has given me has been great. I have been very good, I have had a great time, I've had better moments, tougher moments, but I thank anyone for life. As I have lived, I am super grateful. Thank you very much ", were the parting words of
Pau Donés
of That You Give Me.
In the middle of the valley, sitting on a rock, with his friend
Jordi Évole,
choosing and singing a song, the song that would put music to the credits.
"Where imagination took us
Where with closed eyes
Infinite fields can be seen
Where the first light was created I
germinate the blue sky seed
I will return to that place where I was born
Of sun, spike and desire
They are his hands in my hair
Of snow, hurricane and abysses
The site of my recreation ... "
No, he did not choose a song of his, he chose
Antonio Vega,
and even choosing a song to break, to break you, there was only a smile, the same smile that there was throughout the interview.
In
That You Give Me
Pau Donés
was already aware that he had little time left to live, exactly two weeks.
Maybe you expected to see
Pau Donés
pissed off -I would be- and, although at one point he reveals that yes, that he is angry with his cancer, the next thing is a new smile and a "that's what it is" follow, continue.
Pau Donés
wanted to live.
When
Jordi Évole
asks him how much more he would like to live, Pau Donés answers sharply that it is a long time, "but if I had to set a limit, I would ask to live to be 70 years old."
When
Jordi Évole
asks how film has laughed more, because the interview is life, but life in her large, but especially in
their little things
, those which sang Joan Manuel Serrat,
Pau Dones
him He responds that the film he has laughed the most with is
Peter Sellers'
El Guateque
.
"And do you want to see her these days? Do you want to laugh?" Asks
Évole
.
"Yes, of course I do. Laughing, crying.
I'm crying a lot these days.
In fact, when I called you, I was crying like a cupcake (...) And I love that, I love crying. I want to laugh, crying and above all, living now in this moment ".
Live
, the word.
How easily it is said and how little is valued.
"We are here, today is Wednesday. We are in a great place two friends.
Let's talk about life, things
."
What an easy way to start what was probably one of the toughest interviews
Jordi Évole
has had to face
and what was probably one of the toughest interviews ever seen on television.
But a hardness that leaves a good taste in the mouth, what a contradiction!
The bitter taste in the mouth of someone who is saying they want to live, but also knows that it will not be possible.
And the sweet taste of those who want to tell how wonderful their life was, what they learned from it, what they would like to continue living and how peaceful they are going to leave, even if they don't want to leave, even if they don't want to assume it.
That is the incredible thing about
That You Give Me
, which being the last song of
Pau Donés,
a brutal song to life, it is also an immense slap in the face with reality, the reality of someone who is dying.
The "little things" of Pau Donés
A
Pau Dones
does not care.
Of course it pisses him off, of course it makes him feel bad, "although I have no reason to be" -incredible-, but at that moment, on that Wednesday with
Jordi Évole
sitting in his house in Val d'Aran, he just wanted to talk , "talking to someone and now I'm at home, I'm resting, I just released a record, but I have cancer, I'm dying."
"What
I wanted is to end my days, I don't know how many there will be,
a month, two months, a week, whatever, having a conversation with someone. I wanted to try to give an image of ourselves that, maybe, people don't What is the image of ordinary people (...) I
needed to be able to explain my things to someone who I know will be able to listen to me
and who will know how to set up an interview without entering that world of artistic frivolity, because , deep down, you sweat it. "
And so begins the conversation of two ordinary people ...
During the interview, many things crossed my mind, too many, perhaps that was the intention of
Pau Donés
, that we reflect, that we open our eyes and realize that life, with good and bad, is the greatest gift you can have.
And I thought of all the times that I curse, I complain, I get angry with her.
And he was thinking of
Jordi Évole
, sitting there in front of his friend, doing what must have been one of his toughest interviews.
I put myself in his shoes and imagined that I would be unable to do one last interview with a friend who knows and I know that he is dying.
But then I saw
Pau Donés
, I listened to him and I said to myself, what a great gift he has given his friend, what a great gift he has given us all.
Dying or, rather, knowing that you are going to die is not easy for anyone, not for those who die or for those around them, but
Pau Donés
in
That You Give Me
turns the tables.
Turn death into one last song to life.
And it will sound like a very topical topic, but that thing
that you give me
is as simple and complicated at the same time as it is a hymn to life when you know that you are leaving.
The generosity of
Pau Donés
with That which you give me is indescribable.
And that is why the entire interview is full of phrases that we could burn ourselves.
Phrases like "nothing happens to the sick if we look sick."
Phrases like -and this should be heard by many in these times- "
life is four days and three have passed
. Damn, we are not here in a bad mood, we are here in a good mood, let's love each other."
Phrases like "when people are afraid of life, of things, of moving, of deciding and wanting and being loved is terrible."
Phrases like
"enjoy life and don't be afraid"
.
"What would you say to someone who has recently been diagnosed with cancer like yours?"
Jordi Évole
asked him
at one point in the interview.
"Nothing, enjoy life, do not worry. Take care, enjoy, have fun, ride your life for what you have, even if you do not know how much it is, you are well, comfortable and as happy as you can".
And that's how he looks.
He said in the interview that these days he was crying a lot and that he liked to cry, but in the whole interview there is not a single tear, not one.
Not when he talks about
his daughter
, the one who has taught him "to love" and "to show it."
Not even when he tells how at the beginning of his separation with his daughter's mother, his daughter rejected him because she thought he had abandoned them both.
Not when she talks about her hugs, about how she taught him to say "I love you", about her year in California enjoying just herself, both of them.
Live
, again.
Pau Donés: "I'm not afraid of dying"
When
Jordi Évole
asked him if he had a list of things he still had to do,
Pau Donés
replied that no, he did not.
Jordi Évole
insists on asking about the "little things" that may have remained in the pipeline.
Neither.
And with the "little things" that made him enjoy?
Those "little things" that go unnoticed in our lives and that when you are closer to losing them you realize that they are the reason for living.
What were
Pau Donés's
?
"Get up, see my daughter, prepare food, go to the river and then take a nap. Those are the little things that make me happy.
I choose to live and I am not afraid of dying
, because fear kills more than death" .
Pau Donés
wanted to go to the river to bathe with his daughter and his nephew, "although the water here is freezing";
I looked at the weather forecast every day to see when they could go.
Bathing in a river, getting up, taking a nap ...
Life
.
When at the end of the interview the scene of
That You Give Me
changes and you see
Jordi Évole
waiting in the valley, in
Pau Donés's
"paradise" for
the artist to arrive, you realize the allegory in that image , the allegory I have done everything I have wanted to do, but I want to continue doing things, I want to continue living.
The same allegory of the image of the two looking into infinity.
The same allegory of seeing him arrive driving the car himself and hearing
Jordi Évole
tell him "that's good for you."
The same as listening to him how he wants his end to be, without suffering;
how he wants his burial to be: "I don't want them to bury me. I am not a believer or a Catholic. The day I die, they may incinerate me, yes, to keep me in dust, in some ashes.
Let them throw me a little here and a little bit in my town
. "
The end.
"I have had a great time in life because what I have done I have liked a lot. And I have tried to enjoy it a lot and I think I have succeeded."
And he sang, his best goodbye for this lesson.
"... where our imagination took us / where with our eyes closed ..."
.
End
.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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