Honoring Elders.
There are a lot of buzz phrases that have been popularized. One of them is "honoring your ancestors". The phrase has been around in sub-communities for ages. This notion has gained momentum and is now very much in vogue among us millennials 🌌.
Some people honor ancestors by praying to them, pouring libations, lighting white candles, dedicating successes and achievements to them, making altars, and holding "services" for them.
While recognizing our ancestry and acknowledging where we come from has its place, it's important that we spend time with the elders we have in our lives now. Life is so busy. It's easy for us to look at our schedule and to think that we don't have time to bring that aging aunt some strawberries, to carry that relative in the nursing home some flowers, or to go "sit" with our grandfather while he watches TV.
Okay, to go sit with someone who may not hear very well, probably has a fuzzy memory, keeps on reminding you of embarrassing adolescent mishaps, and insists on you eating a piece of old ribbon candy from the glass bowl on the coffee table, does not seem too enticing 😣.
Some people honor ancestors by praying to them, pouring libations, lighting white candles, dedicating successes and achievements to them, making altars, and holding "services" for them.
While recognizing our ancestry and acknowledging where we come from has its place, it's important that we spend time with the elders we have in our lives now. Life is so busy. It's easy for us to look at our schedule and to think that we don't have time to bring that aging aunt some strawberries, to carry that relative in the nursing home some flowers, or to go "sit" with our grandfather while he watches TV.
Okay, to go sit with someone who may not hear very well, probably has a fuzzy memory, keeps on reminding you of embarrassing adolescent mishaps, and insists on you eating a piece of old ribbon candy from the glass bowl on the coffee table, does not seem too enticing 😣.
Older people almost seem to be from a different planet, not rushing around, and moving ever so slowly and intentionally. They come from the era of no seat-belts, plastic covered couches, and television with only three channels. These folks didn't have Google Maps. When they went on road trips they unfolded humongous paper maps and if they got lost they stopped at gas stations to get directions. Things were just different for them, so different that it almost seems like they have no idea about what we experience nowadays. Is their wisdom even relevant?
OF COURSE IT IS! Start asking your elders about family members, their own childhoods, and what life was like when they grew up. It's a journey of self-discovery and a mini history lesson for us (it's amazing to hear them talk about living through the things we've only experienced through textbooks).
OF COURSE IT IS! Start asking your elders about family members, their own childhoods, and what life was like when they grew up. It's a journey of self-discovery and a mini history lesson for us (it's amazing to hear them talk about living through the things we've only experienced through textbooks).
By doing these things we learn to understand ourselves better and it is a way to help them know they're still relevant, loved, and appreciated.
THAT is HONOR. The old church mothers used to sing a song saying, "Give me my flowers while I yet live." It meant don't wait until they're in the casket to give them honor and talk about how wonderful they were, SHOW THEM THAT NOW! It'll be more useful to 'em down here I'm sure.
OUR ELDERS HAVE a lot of stories inside of them that are so interesting. Some things they may not have recalled for years. Just pieces of knowledge and wisdom shoved to the corners of times-passed; still valuable just the same. We have rich, colorful histories with POWERFUL narratives. It's important for us to keep the stories of our ancestors alive by preserving them. As we preserve the stories they become a part of us.
Time is precious and it means so much to our elders when we spend some of our time with them: sitting, listening, learning, HONORING.
OUR ELDERS HAVE a lot of stories inside of them that are so interesting. Some things they may not have recalled for years. Just pieces of knowledge and wisdom shoved to the corners of times-passed; still valuable just the same. We have rich, colorful histories with POWERFUL narratives. It's important for us to keep the stories of our ancestors alive by preserving them. As we preserve the stories they become a part of us.
Time is precious and it means so much to our elders when we spend some of our time with them: sitting, listening, learning, HONORING.
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