Let's admit it, many elders of the present do not have or cannot possess the virtues of elders of 20 years ago. Most of the elders in the past 20 years are the last of a dying breed. I would like to pinpoint the elderly Native population between their 80's and 90's. Believe me, I've talked and visited many of this population for some years now. Okay, what am I trying to say...
Elders were the police of the community. Elders were the police of the community - point-blank. The elders that I am referring to were immersed in tribal cultures and disciplines that allowed them to be beacons of light from their young age to middle age to old age. They were groomed to be elders and disciplined elders is what they became. As they became elders they did not see themselves or did not glorify that they were an elder. These elders did not act or say that they were smarter than you or that they were the only ones to listen to, THEY KNEW THEY WERE ELDERS. Being an elder was a way of thinking, acting, and loving their community. They were not afraid of putting you or your family in their place. When they did put you in your place, they would sit and talk with you, they would not judge you or put their outlook on the world on a pedestal. They would counsel you and ask you what your thoughts were on the community and the world. They would be able to relate the traditions of the tribe both, in the white world and the tribal world. By sitting and visiting with you, these elders would listen to you and give you advice to guide you, train you, and discipline you. These elders would look past your insecurities and flaws and offer their knowledge to help assist you to relate to tribal thinking, actions, and love, all of which are needed in order to live a happy and humble life. All of which is needed to survive in a world that spreads deceit and lies on a daily basis.
These same elders would watch you and your soul. They would be able to look into and unto your soul and relate your actions as a human being and tell you if you were living a good life or where you needed to improve in your identity to help expedite the natural - traditional thought processes. If these elders suspected that you were untruthful or pulling the wool over their eyes, then they would challenge your train of thought. Mind you that these elders would switch their tone, to be able to get the lie or deceitful way of thinking out of your soul. These elders would not get pissed off, they merely would have to revert to 'yelling.' in order to get you to see the light that they wanted you to see or experience. (Yelling has been misinterpreted within our own people- someday I will tell you about it)
These elders would know how much they were capable of assisting you. They would know if you needed to see a healer or a person that had tools to communicate with the Spirits, in order to guide you. If given permission, our elders would make contact with a medicine man or woman and guide you through the process.(Ask me about HIPAA- A sheer joke in tribal worlds) Our elders would reassure you and your soul that you were safe, loved, and nurtured. They would make sure that you knew what you were getting yourself into. They then would go into their professional elder epistemology and begin to tell you a story, a story about their first experience into what you were getting yourself into. Through this storytelling event, our elders would tell you many things about their first experiences about the event you were going to witness first hand. As the elders would expel their story to you, you would find your self lost and in awe to what was being expelled. The elder at this time would be in sync with your soul and because they were in sync, listening to them would make you forget yourself and your problems. By continuing to listen to the elder, you would start to gain a better experience of your self and the road that you may or may have not have chosen.
Where ever you are in your life, every day that you are living - you are becoming that much closer to an elder. If you do not get ahold of the life that you traded for our traditional elder epistemology, you will not be living the teachings that we were given by the Great Spirit. It's up to you (booch get gin) how you want to incorporate an elder way of thinking. Many of our elders have lost their true identity in this western world and need our love and commitment to help assist, guide and show them that they are our true wisdom keepers. Our tribal worlds have become stagnant and rid of true elder epistemology. As you grow, so to should our elders. Our elder's lives have been merely erased of true elder epistemology and it is up to us to love and grow with them to become the true elders once again.
Have you traded your elder hand for a dumbed-down, know everything type of lifestyle? I hope not, because our tribal worlds need to get back to the elders and the wisdom that they possess.
Jason Lee
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