Elder Wisdom -Part II

"None of us is getting out of this world alive." - Albyrta H. Gavin

My grandmother along with my mother were two of the wisest people I've known. Both possessed what the ol' folks in the south would call "mother wit." Both were full of stories and if you listened closely there was a practicality as well as the sense of a deeper, metaphysical truth lurking just behind the words. I've tried to emulate their example. Both were long-lived. But longevity doesn't automatically bestow wisdom. Nor does it denote Eldership.

What Are The Qualities of an Elder? Let's explore that question.

What follows is not original to me. While doing research on the topic a few years ago I came across these concepts articulated below, which seems to have resulted from a public forum in Perth, Australia facilitated by Andrew Horabin founder of Bullshift.

Eldership is about two things: qualities and roles.

A person may have the qualities of an Elder, but not be filling any Eldership role. Or a person may attempt to fulfill the role of Eldership without the qualities.

We think true Eldership only happens when a person with the qualities fulfils the role.

Some of the possible qualities of an Elder:
LIFE
Their life experiences have led to deep learning.
GENEROSITY
They are willing and able to give of themselves.
ACCEPTANCE
They have come to accept life as it is, including their current condition, mistakes or injuries of the past and the insecurity of the future.
ACTIVITY
They are still active in life.
CONNECTION
They are connected to nature/spirit and to community.
FREEDOM
They have the freedom to speak their mind because they are no longer seeking to ascend in life and do not need to be concerned with the politics of success. They are also not attached to much.
COURAGE
They are willing to stand up and speak out. And they have the courage to face their own lives as is.
SELF-VALIDATION
They have a deep appreciation of their own self and while they may enjoy the validation of others, they do not seek it in the way younger men and women do. Their validation comes from the Spirit or from within.
JOI DE VIVRE
They have an easy joy for life.
PRIORITIES
They have developed a sense of what is – and is not – important.
CURIOSITY
They are still curious, still interested, still fascinated by life, still learning.
HOPE
Despite the darkness in the world or of their own life experience, they have hope.
CALMNESS
They are not afraid, not hassled, not rushed.
AWARENESS
They have developed a keen awareness of their own self (psyche, personality, mind, shadow, etc). They may not have a perfect or complete understanding, but they have dedicated themselves to self-awareness – to “know thyself”.
EMPATHY
They can sense and feel and understand the feelings of others.
COMPASSION
They are sensitive, forgiving and compassionate.
MORTALITY
They are aware of and actively developing a final relationship with dying. They can face death, eyes open. They can think and talk about it. It is safe to explore death in their presence – and develop a deeper appreciation of life.
LISTENING
They listen. Actively. Carefully. Lovingly. They know when to speak, when to ask questions and when to be silent.
SAFETY
They bring a spiritually grounded safety to relationships and interactions.
CONTEMPLATION
They relish and require silence and contemplation – as distinct from passivity, boredom or listless inaction.
ACTION
They know when to act or speak and their actions are grounded in that depth of contemplation.
RESOLUTION
They have mostly resolved the grievances, hurts, mistakes and lost opportunities of their lives. They are not still kicking themselves or mentally imprisoning others for the past. As well as they are able, they have learnt from those things, healed and left those things behind.
RESPECT
They respect others and are respected by others.
HEALING
They may be able to bring healing arts to new or old wounds.
ALCHEMY
They have the capacity to affect, influence or lead transformation in conflicts, situations or individuals.
GRACE
Hard to define. But true Elders have got it.

Now into my 7th decade emulating these Elderhip qualities that my mother and grandmother both inculcated seems to me to be a worthwhile undertaking.

"Old age ain't for sissies." - Mom

An Auspicious Year

"In 1619, “20. and odd Negroes” arrived off the coast of Virginia, where they were “bought for victualle” by labor-hungry English colonists," so begins an article by Michael Gausco titled: The Misguided Focus on 1619 as the Beginning of Slavery in the U.S. Damages our Understanding of American History, published at Smithsonian.com.

As we begin this auspicious year in African American History, the 400th anniversary of that landing at Point Comfort, it is important that we look at the history and status not just of "blacks" here in North America, but throughout the Diaspora.

We are now in the 5th year, the half way point in the UN's International Decade for the People of African Descent. As the IDPAD website informs us that:

In proclaiming this Decade, the international community is recognizing that people of African descent represent a distinct group whose human rights must be promoted and protected. Around 200 million people identifying themselves as being of African descent live in the Americas. Many millions more live in other parts of the world, outside of the African continent.

Most of these modern day Diasporic Africans came to inhabit their current circumstance as a result the world economic engine of the 15th through the 19th centuries, the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. Most of those ancestors began their journey to the West "in the interior of Africa with his or her capture as a prize of war, as tribute given by a weak tribal state to a more powerful one, or by outright kidnapping by local traders," about 11 million in all.

Just imagine all of the stories, of love and loss, triumph and sacrifice, conflict and adventure that are waiting to be told generated by that human experience and the history that came before. The Eurocentric nature of the commercial media industry has yet to discover and may never fully embrace the centrality of the Black Experience to our modern state of affairs.

So as we commemorate this 400th anniversary of that Point Comfort embarkation let's also remember to celebrate and embrace the midway point of the International Decade for the People of African Descent.

Walt Gavin is a writer, producer, author, and 'race man,' , the driving force behind Gavin Media Nu World.

February 20th Issue, 2019

The Metamorphosis

USA Today

2019