Point from this commons
Some words don’t speak to some people. So we need to get beneath words to what the words point to, speak and point from this commons.
:- Doug.
Archive for the 'Conversations' Category
They cannot hear those words
You say there are no words to say the deep things. Maybe there are, and the ones you are speaking to cannot hear those words.
:- Doug.
Our responsibility at stake
If somewhere in here we see responsibility, our responsibility, what is at stake?
:- Doug.
You thought you were the one
In all your years you thought you were the one
From here it’s otherwise: one life, just life
:- Doug.
A haunting song
Choose a haunting song, borrow its point of view, and its beat or rhyme for your story.
:- Doug.
Story ending in 300 years
Tell a story whose ending is told in the 300-year grandchild elders’ lives.
:- Doug.
Wild unwanted places?
How do we determine what our message is and ought to be?
—Prophecy: what message do you resist?
—Wild: what has driven you to wild unwanted places?
:- Doug.
Draw pictures, elders!
Help us draw pictures of some elders active 300 years from today. Of what are they made? What do they wear? What are they doing? What colors are they? How do they move in doing the work of eldering? Why do they feel called to elder? What do the people around them look like? How do people treat them? What physical characteristics do they have? Hair, eyes, hands, brains, hearts?
:- Doug.
Concoct a dilemma
Can we concoct a story for the grandchildren’s grandchildren right now? Give the first character your middle name. How would we describe the first character? The second? What will they do? What dilemma will they face?
:- Doug.
Let the younger ones see
Let the younger ones see how you do your eldering so they can see what they want to do when it is their turn.
:- Doug.
Help us find projects
We can ask others to think of the grandchildren’s grandchildren. We can bring our attention to bear. We can ask each other to get busy with us. To help us find projects for the grandchildren’s grandchildren.
:- Doug.
Farthest back in your family tree?
Who is the person farthest back in your family tree whom you know or know about? What was memorable about them? Whom do you want to be to your grandchildren’s grandchildren?
:- Doug.
So few elders so many old?
Why do we have so few elders among so many old people? What would you have to unlearn to be an elder for your grandchildren’s children?
:- Doug.
Today to help them get it?
What do you want for your grandchildren’s grandchildren? What can you do today to help them get it?
:- Doug.
A story remembering project
A story remembering project. What can we do to engage the grandchildren? Could you grab a grandchild or two and tell a story? What’s your secret for telling stories to your grandchildren, for getting their attention? If it is difficult, let’s come up with some ideas of how we might get their engagement? What did your grandmother do that got you listening?
Maybe when you are obliged to stay home, you could get on a video conference with some home school kids and do this.
:- Doug.
More to do to stay at home
People want to get back to as near normal as they can. We don’t like the upset and the constant reminders of the upset. Most of us are well. A few of us are very sick and may be dying. How do we sit with the dying if they are quarantined? What a way to die. Perhaps video conferencing.
We have more to do to stay at home. Taking more care and thought and emotional energy simply to decide to go shopping for groceries or other necessities. I did not get to that spare room I thought I’d straighten. My stomach tightens when I think of the crisis—I know because I just let go. How are we getting through it? What are we facing these days?
:- Doug.
Pandemic matters?
Do we want this pandemic to be an interruption, or a beginning of what matters?
:- Doug.
