Profound Thought No. 26

Model : unknown

Profound Thought No. 26

first I looked and saw 

family like leaves, trees, fruit, root

then, a bud watered

Inspired by the book The Elegance of The Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, translated from the French. I often break the rules when it comes to creative tasks; that's why I mostly write free verse poetry as a Poet. Because who wants syllables, meters & rhyme to limit or stop creative efforts? Who needs excuses for reduced creativity and creative activity? Not I, said the poet. For Paloma, I'll follow the rules this time, although I'm writing this piece not because of a deadline I seek (I hope that isn't insensitive) but because I'm open to a journey of learning & sharing.

I have a question: What matters to you?

I thought it would take me a while to come up with my answer for this Profound Thought, but the answer came when I saw grandparents and two grandbabies. Grandma and grandpa walking with that flyness that comes with linen fits on hot Spring days as we await Summer, and I think about the next season in the distance. Then my attention comes to both grandkids, a granddaughter and a grandson looking cute and sharp as they do in the cutest kicks and sandals; cute outfits. The answer came to me. What matters to me is generations. How we share joy, how we share wisdom, how we share knowledge, how we find value, and share those seemingly insignificant things - the moments, laughter, time. What matters to me is time between generations, not how long between the birth and growth of one and the aging of the other, and the birth of another. Not the death of one and the growing and grieving of another, but time spent. Time spent alive, time spent in conversation, time spent laughing and breaking bread and walking places, and going places. It's pouring of ourselves, everything that we have for those closest to us and those connected to our paths for as long as we can, when we can, wherever we can.

What matters to me is that we all attain our form of wealth. For some people that won't be money, for some people that won't be families, for others it will be what fulfillment looks like to you. What you achieve between sunrise and sunset, how you feel from one happy new year to the next, for others it will be the significance of Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. What we do in each season, how we use each season, how we live, how we use the time, how we use the transitions between seasons to pour into ourselves, to learn ourselves, to refine ourselves, but more importantly to help each other grow, and help each other find themselves. How we create homes in ourselves first, then create safe spaces for others. What matters to me is that we all achieve our purpose, empty ourselves into this life from one generation to the next, and in each lifetime. And then, return to the Creator, empty, efficient, free. 

Conversations between generations are important. 'Children should be seen and not heard', a problematic statement if you ask me, a request to make the young mute while adults think, feel & talk. And so, voices die with the older generations. Knowledge, experience, wisdom, lessons learned, personal philosophies are lost; they are buried with the last generation that spoke. Conversation between the generations requires that we see each other, that we call each other by name or title (e.g., mom, ma, dad, pops, aunt, uncle, unc, etc.), that we look at each other and have those various inflections in our voices that make situations or moments memorable.

Sometimes, generations are parallel.

Sometimes the ache in our hearts is not for the kids we never had, but for the kids that surround us. In our communities, in our neighborhoods that we need to rescue from hopelessness. From feeling unworthy, from pain, from the harshness of the world that may judge or exclude them based on how they look, how they think, what they do or do not believe, where they think they can or cannot go. Sometimes, the heaviest aches in our hearts are for the things they go through that we may not always be aware of, but there's a deeper knowing that our presence means more to them than we may ever realize.

Sometimes generations are about being part of the village to help to raise somebody else's baby. To let somebody else's baby know that they have access to knowledge, wisdom, love, spaces and zones that are without judgement. Knowing they have somebody to go to when those in proximity are a little scary to approach. Sometimes generations are connected by the seemingly hard-to-understand, hard-to-connect things, but we must do what we must do. For each new day and each new moment is not promised, but the present is what we will always have, so, if you must, do it scared. If you must, do it fearful that you might be intrusive; do it regardless and be corrected later.

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