Stumbling Through the Days Ahead
I met a friend for tea last week. Living in other states, the opportunity to visit face to face is rare, so we set aside several hours to reminisce about the past (we’ve been friends for decades), catch up on family dramas and achievements (luckily, mostly good), and laugh about getting older, events in the news, and life (you gotta laugh, right?)
I remember one of the first times my friend and I discussed the state of the world. We were riding bicycles near Santa Monica. I vaguely remember most of the details of the day except for one comment she made, “Well, you don’t have children, so it’s different.” Were we talking about climate change? Politics? The Rapture? (I know it wasn’t that one.) Her comment I remembered clear as day.
Jump ahead thirty some years to that recent afternoon at Starbucks. I said, “given the state of the world, this is one of the few times I can remember being glad I’m old!” When I was in my twenties, all I was worried about was making sure my lesson plans were in order for the week. By my thirties, having made a major move to the West Coast, my energies were in advancing my career in the entertainment industry. I was also discovering the experience that I came to know (through therapy) as my delayed adolescence! Hardly, earth shattering problems. Now, I read that young millennials suffer some form of major depression before they even reach their forties. Anyway, that’s what I meant by saying I was happy I was being “old.”
My friend’s response? “I guess that’s because you don’t have children.” (Again?)
Wrong. I have many family members and friends of different generations that I love and care deeply about. The fact that I now represent the family as an elder is a responsibility I don’t take lightly. Even if there was no one in my life, I care about the earth, its inhabitants, young and old, near and far. I want humankind to be well.
Is life tougher now with the constant din of social media? Are our senses manipulated endlessly? As a grown-up, I can put things in perspective, take a breath, and not panic and, hopefully, offer a viewpoint from years of experience. That’s what I meant.
Several years ago, I wrote a play on the life of Hazel Wolf, an amazing activist who initially championed for birds through the Audubon Society, and then expanded her influence to the awareness of climate change, even addressing the U.S. Congress.
Maybe her words uttered years ago may give some form of comfort as we stumble through the days ahead.
“I’m always scolding young people who get depressed. I’ve heard “Reagan did us in” or “Bush is a fraud, all is lost.” I’d say, “What do you mean, all is lost? We lived through Hoover, didn’t we? We lived through Nixon. We lived through things more impossible than Clinton. He’s here today, gone tomorrow. We’re going to be here forever, we and our ilk. We’ll keep struggling together. We lose a few, we gain a lot. Just hang in there. That might be helpful.”
I’m happy to count myself as one of Hazel’s “ilk.” We’ll keep struggling together. Just hang in there.