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The Old Laughing Lady
I've been listening to Neil Young today, as I prepare some flower gardens for the winter months. I planted some of them, while others are from those who lived here before. One lady who resided here in the 1940s planted flowers around the boundary of the lawn, covering over 1,000 yards. She died here in the house in 1951; some residents in the 1980s used a lot of her flowers in their landscaping business, though a good many remain and have spread.
I get three wheelbarrows full of contributions to the compost pile, as well as a couple of handfuls of plants I will use for tea during the winter. I also pick four hot peppers for my oldest son, who will be cooking out at the fire pit with me tonight, watching the full moon. We have a good supply of firewood on hand, thanks to my younger boy. And there is plenty of kindling from a wooded section where the ground is covered with myrtle.
There are times when I find it frustrating that I can't do as much work as I could as a young man. Today isn't one of them. I'm content to do a little today, and a little more another day, and again another. And so I take a break and watch some news reports on a young lady named Greta Thunberg. I have read about her, of course, but an Elder told me to watch a few film clips of her being interviewed. She spoke about Greta's gift and her call to consciousness.
I started thinking about the goodness and decency of the youth who have joined with her in a call to action. School students. College students. University students. They remind me of my own children. I think of the old croquet balls that my dogs found in the myrtle over the past few days, and remember watching my kids playing various games, much like the lady gardener must have enjoyed seeing her children play on the lawn. Childhood should not be spent despairing about the horrors that human beings have inflicted upon the environment.
The next thing I know, my younger son is tapping my arm, singing, “Waking Up is Hard to Do.” He reminds me that I wanted to get up early to go to ceremony. A quick call to my friend, who says the fire is raging and the rocks are starting to glow, and the ride blend together – I'm focused more on the message of Greta. The media attention she is getting would be tough for almost any 16 year old. But she is strong, and has a gift.
My friend had called me a week ago, saying it was time to prepare to work at the grass roots' level for 2020, with an environmental message being central. He went to New Hampshire to get fifty nice pieces of granite for today. He runs the ceremony so that I can focus. My son will bring in the stones. They glow in the dark lodge.
I am thinking about Onondaga Chief Paul Waterman. He used to encourage me to organize those on the margins of society, with confidence that leadership would rise within them. And some human qualities found among the marginalized that are considered burdens by “proper” society actually become strengths. Society heals as individuals heal, he said, and it cannot be otherwise.
Rubin used to say that all of organic life on this planet exists entirely for the Earth's purpose. That human beings are the highest level of consciousness on Earth, but that if we remain merely mechanical, we will self-destruct by damaging the environment and all living things we share it with. He often talked about the need for people to heal, as part of the positive potential of evolution.
After four hours, we leave the lodge. My friend tells me that I look better than I had the last time. I tell him that I've been training to compete in the “50+” Golden Gloves in 2020. For a brief second, he suspects that I might be serious. I tell him that when I was a kid, I loved to listen to old people, and now that I'm an old person, I learn more listening to kids. And that there's a bigger bout coming up.
Back home, I go out into the garden area of my front lawn. I think the lady who planted those flowers and shrubs would approve of my effort to keep it going. Tomorrow I will concentrate on a small rose garden. For now, I watch the sun go down, and listen to the noises one hears in the woods when it gets dark.
A few hours later, I go inside and watch some of the weekend's news. As always, I am repulsed by reports regarding Trump, as I consider him to be profoundly immoral. Much the same for all those who support and enable him. But I'm fully confident that we are going to take care of business between now and November, 2020.
14 replies
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I think of you in your ceremonies -- so very meaningful. 
But I'm fully confident that we are going to take care of business between now and November, 2020.
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