New Way

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I learned

in a Child Development Class

in the late 1960s

that a Baby or Child placed

in an institutional Setting

without interaction needed

would become retarded in growth.

My heart knew that was true.

While it is definitely better now,

we place Elders in Boxes

away from the River of their Lives

and those that they love.

An increasingly fast-paced

and foreign World

swirls and spins around them.

I wonder about the effects:

silence, confusion, disorientation,

dementia, and who knows what else?

So why do we do this?

They are part of us.

We are part of them.

Yes, we have issues,

those issues are in our faces

in critical transformation times,

and sometimes those issues are unresolved.

But surely there is a better way.

The more we cherish and honor them,

the more we cherish and honor our common humanity.

They have stories and wisdom

essential to helping us along the path.

We are looking for a new Way.

~~~~

Glinda Crawford, 2010

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