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Conservatism, Reaction, and the Elder's Responsibility: A Message to My Age Grade

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Conservatism, Reaction, and the Elder's Responsibility: A Message to My Age Grade Great Day, Fam. This one right here? It’s not for everyone. If you’re not at or approaching Eldership—defined in our tribe as about 55 years old and up—you might not feel all of this. But if you’re curious, or if you’re one of those younger souls already walking with wisdom, you’re welcome to keep reading. This message is for the Elders. For those of us who should know better. And yes—I’m including myself. Let’s Start With the Mirror I’ve got to confess something. I’ve been guilty. Guilty of being reactionary. Guilty of falling into the trap of conservatism. Guilty of romanticizing the past. Guilty of looking at our young people and calling them “soft”—as if we were born warriors, as if we didn’t have to become who we are through fire, failure, and guidance. Many of us Elders are stuck in a loop. We remember only the highlights of our youth—the toughest times we survived, the boldest moments ...

 

Don’t Lose What You Have For Imaginary Gains


Here is another folktale about losing ourselves in pursuit of something that is not ours, and truly can never be. We to birds that were gifted with the ability to sing, that became enamored with the neigh of a horse. When I first heard this one I could do nothing but laugh because I had been caught in situations like this. 


The swan and kite in the story fell in love not necessarily the sound of the neigh, but they may have fell in love with the sense of pride in which the horse did it. I believe that they confused the two. They really wanted the pride that the horse put behind the neigh, and not the neigh. Many of us get caught in this trap. We confuse the exterior with the internal and think that we want what the other person has. We begin to imitate, but we don’t get the same response that the original received. It is hard for us to understand that “it is not the close that makes the man, it is the man that makes the close”. 


“The kites of olden times, as well as the Swans, had the privilege of song. But having heard the neigh of the horse, they were so enchanted with the sound, that they tried to imitate it; and, in trying to neigh, they forgot how to sing.”

Poor dumb creatures, giving up what the Creator has given them to sound like a horse. I know you may be laughing, but how many of your gifts have you given up for the neigh of the horse? How much of your life belongs to someone else? I am personally guilty of this sin here. So please don’t think that I am calling you out. Ut take some to recognize how many gifts you have surrendered to be like some else. This takes some true soul searching and honesty but I know you can do it.


The other piece that I need to mention is that we need to start exposing our youth to these stories so that they don’t fall into these traps that the world has been recycling through time. The one thing that I am sure of since I started using these proverbs is that we have not changed as human beings. We doing the same $#!+ in a new time.


Listen to "FFGF- The Kites And The Swans (200th show)" on Spreaker.

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