Human beings just want to be helpful. We read over and over again about the terrible things that we do to each other; I still believe as I've stated before as long as we know each other it changes everything.
It's a shame that the design of the modern world is to keep moving quickly; it becomes almost annoying to get to know each other. It's a bother! Thus pointing us toward isolation and separation and us vs. them. This is definitely the ego driven side of life. Someone once blamed the theory of the 90's as the cause of all this. They said it was the era of "everybody for themselves."'
I come originially from the Midwest, from the rich farmlands of southern Minnesota. Small talk is the king and at times people will stop their vehicles on the graveled roads and spend a good bit of time trying to decide about the rain that might come or then again might not come.
My father decided early that kind of life was not for him. His goal was to get away, far away and start the party. For years, he did not go back to Minnesota. Then amazingly enough he hit an age where trips back to Minnesota included renewing his high school roots, his college roots, and exploring friends he grew up with.
I can remember one summer going back to visit my grandfather's farm. We were at the farm in the town of 216 people and the three of us (My sister, my brother, and me) would walk to the proverbial little store in the tiny town. When we walked in the storeowner looked at us and exclaimed, "You must be Lemon's kids - welcome in!" We were in awe that they knew who we were.
So we got to see both sides. My grandparents and nephews and nieces in full bloom in the Midwest family and my dad trying to escape the situation.
I had probably 4 or 5 nieces all about the same age. Periodically they would gather together and spend the night at grandmother's old house. She had a big bedroom upstairs where they would have their 'slumber sleepovers.' At one point, my grandmother was going to repaint the room so they had pulled much of the wallpaper off the walls. During the sleepover the girls wrote things on the wall and a new tradition was born. For years, all the people who stayed overnight in the room wrote things. There were some quotes from a niece from the night before she got married. It became magical and there was even writing on the ceiling in places.
Prior to my grandmother passing away, that room was an absolute history of our family on the walls. It was magical.
It points out to all of us that tradition and family history is so important. When we lose it we almost are adrift in our presence in the world. It's difficult to remember where we came from and how we got here. Roots give us balance. Stop for a moment and think of all that it took to get you here to this spot. Realize this balance is part of our spiritual growh.
留言