Elders VS youth or elders AND youth

Nigerian Proverb:
Owo omode o to pepe, be t'agbalagbe o wo kengbe
Literal: A child's hands are too short to reach a high shelf, but the elder's hands too are too big to enter into a narrow gourd.


Real: Every member of society has his/her own roles to play to enable the society to operate in an orderly manner beneficial to all.

I'd heard this proverb before, but I wanted to talk about it today. Yesterday, we went to church and celebrated what I have dubbed "Bunny Sunday". I don't call it this in disrespect to the practice of the belief of the resurrection of Christ, but in acknowledgement of the lie it has become. Ase. I went to the church I grew up in basically to spend time with my family at dinner afterward. While at church I noticed something in a very different way.

The proverb above came into play because I saw how ignoring such an idea can cause dysfunction and imbalance. I am somewhere in a limbo between child and elder. At 33, I am really beginning to understand how much I DON'T know. When I think of elders, they are people full of wisdom, but wise enough to know that their wisdom is limited. They are willing to readily share what wisdom they have with others to ensure the transmission of knowledge. Old and elder, at least in my mind, are two completely different things. When I looked around I saw a lot of old people, but very few elders. Very few who have been formed by learning from their experiences. I have always said that I don't want my gray hair to come upon my head without the wisdom to go with it. I don't want to be a gray haired fool. Yesterday, made me realize that time is short and I need to strive even harder to reach my goal.

As for the youth, while they are responsible for their behavior, I have to admit that I believe that ball of wisdom transmission was dropped somewhere along the way. How do we expect to have reverent, intelligent, conscious youth and we are not willing to cut past all of the foolishness learned from this society? Our children want to be saved, but like anything else that has been allowed to get out of hand, finding the starting point for such an endeavor can SEEM to be quite the daunting task. At the end of the day, we just have to start somewhere. Begin by speaking to them. Spend time with them. Feed them if they are hungry. Go eat lunch with them. Hell, do something. Anything.

Basically, we all need to get on our jobs wherever we are in our journeys. We have to realize and acknowledge the value of the youth and the elder. Both are needed and they balance one another. We have forgotten our ways and we must remember them if we have any intentions of surviving. We cannot hold hands and sing Kum ba ya with other nations and people until we get ourselves repaired and built back up. We shouldn't even strive for such things.

Self preservation is the first law of survival. (a lesson I was taught and am still struggling to learn.)