Celebrating Seasons

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My name is Glinda

and I come from

a very strange Tribe.

Rather than cherishing

all Stages of the Life Cycle,

the People of my Tribe

elevate Young Adulthood,

holding it in highest Regard.

Its Physical Standard

and High Speed Chases

without consideration

of Consequence

become the Marker

upon which all is judged.

It is as if Life

begins and ends

in Young Adulthood.

Consequently,

Children

are trained to look

and act like

they are "all growed up".

Middle and Ageing Adults

go to extended efforts

to appear Young,

in what they wear

and in painted Hair.

You name it.

The results are

quite bizarre.

Whole industries

are created to appear

what one is not:

Young.

The Frail Elder's

only crime

against the Tribe,

is that they can

no longer play

that game.

With their Physical Limitations

and inclination

to think out of that Fashion,

they are seqestered on shelves,

Out of Sight,

Out of Mind.

While the Whole of my Tribe

seems intent on High Speed Chases

of the Latest Trendy Fancy,

the Elderly are labeled as stuck

in some kind of time warp

where none of us

now want to live.

As a result,

we distance ourselves

from them.

When will the People of my Tribe

begin to cherish

all stages of the Life Cycle

for the Beauty the Creator intended?

The 4 Seasons of Life---

Childhood and Youth,

Young Adulthood,

Middle Adulthood,

Late Adulthood and Elder---

all have

their Purpose

and their Beauty

in the Great Scheme of Things.

What kind of Bizarre Tribe

have we created

when we do not honor

the Sacred Balance of these Things?

What Damage has been done

to the Precious Psyches

of all of us

when we cannot honor

that which we are?

How may I live my Life

to honor these Sacred Gifts?

~~~~

Glinda Crawford, 2010

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