By Shae Hadden
According to Dr. David
Suzuki, “it is not progress to use up the rightful legacy of our
children and grandchildren.” He opened the first Elders and the Environment Forum
on Monday in Vancouver, Canada with a keynote address that focused on
the role of elders in the environmental movement and how we can make a
difference: - Tell it like it is, find our voice and speak out
- Tell us all what is possible and keep us fixed on creating the future
- Remind
younger generations that true wealth is found in our relationships with
family, friends and neighbours (in community) and that people lived
full, rich lives long before we had all this ‘stuff’
- Teach children that the word ‘disposable’ is a ‘dirty word’
- Help
younger generations see how things are shifting environmentally in the
world by sharing the changes we have seen and are seeing in baselines
(for example, the differences in salmon runs between now and years
past)
- Challenge the perspective that views the natural world
as an ‘externality’ (as economists do), in which all the services that
ecosystems perform are irrelevant to calculations of value
- Teach
young people the values of thrift and stewardship by showing them how
to live in community (for example, teach them how fix things when they
are broken; how to compost, grow things, harvest and store food; how to
knit and sew and darn, etc.)
Dr. Suzuki’s message is not a
nostalgic call for a slower-paced lifestyle. It is a vital reminder
that we have had and can have fulfilling lives based on what we do with
other people. And that we can help heal our relationship with Mother
Earth while we’re at it. © 2009 Shae Hadden. All rights reserved.
Written by eldering at News
Tagged with:
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elders
environment
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relationship
By Shae Hadden | Bio
I
was in an interesting conversation recently about how we can interact
with people who hold different beliefs than ours. The question posed
was, “How can one be with someone whose beliefs are the antithesis of
our own?” An important inquiry to engage in, considering that a clash
of beliefs is at the heart of most conflict and strife between people.
Responses
from the group varied from escape (“We can’t be with them at all, so we
leave”) and avoidance (“We can’t be with them, so we avoid them”) to
pity (“The only way we can be with them is to think how sad it is that
they hold their beliefs”), and curiosity and compassion (“We can be
with them by observing their thoughts and relating to their essential
humanness”). Many in the conversation found it difficult to move beyond
pity. And yet, even pity is insufficient to resolve a conflict. For one
who pities still sees themselves as being ‘more’ or ‘better’ than those
they pity.
When we pity, what remains unspoken is sensed and
colors the relationship. I worked for a manager once whom I pitied, and
that contributed to increased antagonism between us—for it didn’t
create an opening for us to discuss what we shared in common and what
we both considered to be our birthright as humans. Basic things, such
as:
• Access to education and meaningful work
• Freedom of expression
• Safe places in which to live, raise children and grow old, and
• Access to sufficient resources (food, water, shelter, medical care) to be healthy.
We
clung to our beliefs as if they were what we knew to be ‘truth’.
Unfortunately, the relationship deteriorated and I chose to leave the
organization. I found out years later that she had eventually left
shortly thereafter. Neither of us got to have a conversation about what
we really cared about, because we were entrenched in our positions
about ‘what was so’.
One of my friends once pointed out to me
that, for them, beliefs are not knowledge. That seemed to me to be
self-evident at the time, but in l my recent conversation about
beliefs, I became aware that many confuse their lives by equating
beliefs with knowledge. Yet, it seems to me that when we collapse what
we hold to be ‘truth’ (our beliefs) onto what we think we ‘know’, we
shut down any possibility of anything else being ‘true’. When we cling
to what we believe and know as ‘truth’, then we destroy all chances for
peace.
According to leaders like the Dalai Lama, true
reconciliation (and perhaps the only peaceful way through the world of
differences we inhabit) is available to us through wholehearted
compassion. When we can see and interact with others as human Beings
(as individual souls having human experiences) instead of as a
maelstrom of beliefs, then perhaps we can begin to live together
peacefully. I’m certainly not advocating that we condone behaviors and
actions that destroy life in any way. However, setting ourselves up as
better than another because of what we believe is a covert form of
resisting their beliefs.
Perhaps what underlies our
difficulties as a species is a belief that it is not possible to
fulfill everyone’s birthright to the basic elements of life. This type
of thinking contributes to our disagreements over resources and rights
and creates the so-called battle between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have
nots’.
What if … we individually and collectively choose another belief?
What if … we see the world as being sufficient for all our needs—as long as we respect each other and the planet?
What if … we see it as our responsibility to each other and to future generations to base all our actions in this belief?
What if … we focus on collaborating instead of resisting each other?
Perhaps
we could develop a whole new set of beliefs from this—beliefs that
support and serve our collective future and the future of our world. © 2009 Shae Hadden. All rights reserved.
Written by eldering at Wisdom in Action
Tagged with:
belief
conflict
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By Shae Hadden
A friend shared corporate poet David Whyte's recent article "A Fire Inside: Thoughts on the Creativity of Winter"
with me. David uses a brilliant metaphor to explore the trauma of loss
prevalent in the global economic crisis. He speaks of a a fire burning
inside a home on a winter's day as being like an "internal, alchemical,
almost catalytic core of identity-making and decision-making....the
soul of an individual" existing within the winter of our current
economic crises. Many can equate with [ Read More]
Written by eldering at The Great Turning
Tagged with:
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creativity
david_whyte
future
trauma
By Shae Hadden | Bio
Spring
flowers bloom passionately on this sunny West Coast day, birds are
preparing nests for their young and people run madly by me as I sit by
the ocean and ponder what it takes to survive in these times. My search
for a place to live has not yet been entirely successful, and the
conversations I’ve had reveal both desperation and gnawing hesitation
in myself and others to actually put a stake in the
ground—metaphorically speaking—and declare that this is the future we
are committing to. It’s almost as if[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Fearless Aging
Tagged with:
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creativity
future
possibility
uncertainty
By Shae Hadden | Bio
I
haven’t lived through the Depression, or participated in a major global
conflict. Compared to many people on this planet, I haven’t had a lot
of difficulties in my life. But the challenges that I have faced I have
been able to survive. If you’d asked me a year ago what made that
possible, I would probably have said “sheer will power”. But I’m a
little older and a little wiser now. And my answer today has a quality
of serenity in it that wasn’t evident back then. Viewing the
future as[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Leadership
Tagged with:
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courage
future
perseverance
possibility
 By Shae Hadden | Bio
Someone was
telling me recently that some of Buddhist temples in Japan are guarded
by two fierce-looking demon-like figures. These guardians of ‘Truth’
are known as ‘Paradox’ and ‘Confusion’. These days, paradox and
confusion seem to be states I alternate between in my quest to discover
who I am and what future I want to create. If I’m not confused, then
I’m trying to embrace something that defies intuition. My ‘truth’ seems
elusive.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Learning
Tagged with:
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eldering
future
paradox
possibilities
By Shae Hadden | Bio
It’s
so easy to get ‘comfortable’ with the circumstances of our lives—even
when they are uncomfortable or when we can see that they may very
likely lead to discomfort. It’s almost natural, sometimes even
expected, that we complain about what’s ‘not right’ or ‘not perfect’ in
our lives. But complaining (to ourselves or others) doesn’t change
anything and we’re left ‘adapting’ ourselves to living with whatever is
contributing to our discomfort. [ Read More]
Written by eldering at Leadership
Tagged with:
choice
circumstances
comfort
complaining
future
possibility
victim
By Shae Hadden | Bio
I was reading an article about ethical wills
recently that got me wondering about what kind of legacy I might leave
behind if I were to die tomorrow. This type of ‘leave behind’
document—like diaries, journals, books, letters and photo albums—are
usually loving prepared over the course of several years. Nowadays, we
also have innumerable opportunities to record our lives and thoughts
online to share with friends and family. So why bother going to the
trouble of preparing an ethical will in addition to a legal will?[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Wisdom in Action
Tagged with:
conversation
ethical_will
future
wisdom
By Shae Hadden | Bio I'm intrigued by the popularity of online life expectancy
calculators. Like reading tea leaves, tarot cards or astrological
charts, many people seem to be fascinated with the idea of predicting
their future. This compulsion to 'know how much time we have' is
closely tied with a desire to re-engineer our lives to reduce or
eliminate aging altogether. As if each of us has an expiry date that we
can scan so we can know when we'll be used up! The concept of
'life expectancy' is based on statistical projections, which are based
on past history. When you think about it, the whole idea is based on
the premise that the past is an accurate predictor of the future. [ Read More]
Written by eldering at Fearless Aging
Tagged with:
aging
cure
future
life
senescence
time
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