Truth be told, being a grandma is as close as we ever get to perfection.
– Bryna Nelson Paston
Aging in Place
I recently posted this to LinkedIn: I Wish Grandmas Ruled the World.
Imagine a Feminized Gerontocracy world, if you will. Where kindness, love, and greater good, were the goals. Do you remember how your grandmother made you feel? As if she had been waiting all day just to see you…Imagine how that might influence humanity.
Hurting people, hurt others, and at this point in history too many fall into this camp–and human societies the world over, are the collateral damage.
I want to live in a world where grandma energy rules the day, a world where we honor older women’s worth and wisdom. As I reluctantly watch the toxic news, I’m encouraged to see that principled mature women are standing up against authoritarianism, ironically, keeping alive the promise of democracy, our forefathers fought and died for.
Further Irony, women (not all) didn’t get to vote until 1920, and here they are the ones pushing back on those violating the Founders framework for America, while many men are submissively capitulating to them; and worse, enabling.
Seems women know what it’s like to not have a right, and once they do, they’re less willing to surrender it.
I include the story of Two Old Women, as a reminder of the value to society older women are. As of this moment in history they are the firewall between us and catastrophic disaster.
Call me naive, but we need older women’s wisdom now more than ever…
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Two Old Women
In her book, Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival (1993), author Velma Wallis in the tradition of the keepers of the stories, tells the Athabascan Indian legend passed on from mothers to daughters of the upper Yukon River.
The story is about the nomadic people of the Gwich’in, who belong to the Athabaska tribes that wandered the territories of Yukon River, the Porcupine River, and the Tanana Rivers. With the oncoming of a harsh winter and lack of food, the tribe decides to leave behind two old women in the snow-covered wilderness.
Abandoned and fearful, 75-year-old Sa’ (means star) and 80-year-old Ch’idzigyaak (means chickadee bird) are left with an elk’s skin (gift of guilt) and a hatchet (gift of hope) to die. In their desperation, they are faced with a choice point and decide it is better to die trying to survive. They first kill a squirrel using the hatchet, then trap rabbits, then manage to make themselves snowshoes, and eventually reach the river where their tribe had successfully fished in warmer seasons.
Each night the women dig snow caves and save embers to renew each day’s fire, so it never goes out–and successfully hides from other cannibalistic tribes. Over time they build up a generous supply of foods and store them away.
The next winter the weakened tribe returns to the area hungry and lacking, to find the old women have not only survived but thrived. Over time the women forgive the tribe for abandoning them and the group gains a new sense of survival.
From then on, the Gwich’in never leave their elderly behind. The tale is a beautiful message about the worth of older women to society.
See
Reimagining The Language of Ageism: Senior Moments, an Inspirational Coloring Book for Women Over 50.
To infuse your soul with positive messaging and get away from the toxic news for a few indulgent moments…Your soul will thank you!
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