FootprintsintheWind.com

There is whole-making when we get the conversation going in even the smallest degree, such as by inviting more talk about emergency medical.

There is whole-making when we converse about eldering, about the needs of the next generations, about what we can do for the good of the tribe.

Then let us query each other about the things we think need to be done in the world, and what our grandchildren are about in their lives, what gifts we have to give to them and the world—especially beyond money.

Here is a conversation with nuances toward eldering: taking a larger, longer view. It means engaging children and grandchildren now.

:- Doug.

What is eldering? Helping the next generations. Making a contribution to the good of the world. Engaging the conversation.

:- Doug.

I start by placing my attention on whole-making: then I bring this family’s attention to their whole-making.

:- Doug.

I seek to be more than a technician
some day an elder; now but
someone offering ear & hand

:- Doug.

Let all be simple: so we pray
Yet life will not, and complex throws
Herself into our arms to love

:- Doug.

Were I a fly on the wall
I’d have seen
Out of vision, creation
Not blueprints—a glimmer,
A hope, a shadow disappearing
Around the corner, A lover beckoning,
a haunting voice in the wilderness,
a song:
Out of vision, creation

:- Doug.

What are the dimensions of me?
Three at least, I hope
Length is here in lawyer
Depth in poet
Broad of course is community
Which with conversation I disorganize!
Then there is grandfather
And perhaps elder

:- Doug.

Out of children’s day
weave a story tapestry
fresh shapes of I-sight

:- Doug.

For all I am looking for their original eyes. What is real, what is the coeur of each of them?

:- Doug.

If we would elder
must we first look into our
original eyes?

:- Doug.

You puttin’ on a face?
Yup.
Which one?

:- Doug.

Footprints in the Wind^sm # 1174

No new taxes—on whom?

You say we are taxed enough already; you will stand for no new taxes.

But the reduction of help to the fragile elderly, or the helpless infant, or others like them who have no where else to turn, is on them and their right to live nothing but a tax.

So then upon whom do you choose to place your new taxes?

And what makes you think the culprit causing new taxes is anyone but you?

So taxes are a matter of whose ox is being gored, and you, even you, have to choose.

Please pass it on.

© c 2011, Learning Works, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Easy reprint permissions: 574/291-0022, or by e-mail to mailto:Doug AT FootprintsInTheWind.com. Back issues available at http://www.FootprintsintheWind.com

Substitutes:
Would the water to rinse
my hands of soap
be less if I just let it run, or
if I rubbed them quickly?
How can I know while it’s running
down the drain?
We could count the seconds:
Time could stand for water!
But does it?

:- Doug.

Fortunate to have not the money
to “retire”
For now the world opens to me
its secrets
And among all these “serious” things
I play

:- Doug.

You watchin’ the news?
So is the world gonna hold together
till mornin’?
Or is it apt to fly off
in all directions?

:- Doug.

What I don’t know
about G*d
would fill libraries
much of it
I imagine is true

:- Doug.

One side: The government can make it better
Other: Less government is better government
See: both say the answer is government

:- Doug.

People everlastingly complain
The food here’s lousy
Taxed enough already

:- Doug.

Giving
‘s the
thing

:- Doug.

I counsel with the elders.

:- Doug.

Don’t give undue attention
To those who will throw the stones
You know they will throw stones
And where and at you
Just keep giving your gift

:- Doug.

No blues no greys no uniforms
In today’s Civil War
We have blacks & whites
Reds & yellows
& Those who came later & back home
& Those who can never belong
& Us, who belong to all

:- Doug.

When we begin to see
There are things
We do not understand
Then we are near to the one
When we begin to see
We do not see
The connections among us
& do not understand
Then we begin to see
The one we do not understand

:- Doug.