Yesterday I stood by a woman at the bus stop. She was no more than 5 feet tall, and I’m closer to 6. She stood straight and carried nothing except a large purse. She spoke cheerfully in a thick Scottish accent, looking for the bus with eyes that could see it far better than mine. She was eighty-eight.
She sat down on the bus, across from another woman, a mother whose child smiled at the older woman sitting across from him. He waved. She waved to him.
Today is a day to remember our elders. It’s a day to think about history and what we want to learn from it. However, we don’t need to set aside one particular day to think about the past. We can be reflective any time, and think about our past, present, and future in a quiet way.
Our culture is one that thinks about now. We think about now and we think about what’s coming up. Christmas. Holidays. Stress. Reflection is not necessarily our strong point as a culture, and I must confess that I am as guilty of this as the next person. Do this now. Do that tomorrow. Get through the to do list. Move on to the next thing. Stop to reflect sometimes, on vacation perhaps. Yes, I’m as guilty as the next person.
One of the ways that I slow down is by connecting with people who have something to say to me, particularly those from other generations. My generation tends to be busy. The generations that come after me seem even more wired and busy than I am. But small children and elders are not always as “wired” as we are. Connecting with those generations helps me to reflect.
Over the last few years, I have spent some time working with and learning from an intergenerational learning project called the Growing Traditions Project. It’s a program that brings different ages together, from children to the elderly. People of all ages share their enthusiasm for long-lost skills that we are trying to regain. They knit and crochet, they cook and can, they garden and they repair. These activities help us learn together. They help us be in the moment. They help us reflect on the importance of being together, different people of different ages, and learning together.
On this day when we remember, what are you doing to encourage your children to connect with those of other generations? What are you doing to encourage reflection and intentional slowing down?
Image Credit: oserlady