Wealthy

 

A friend and I have been having Zoom 'tea' and recently they mentioned they had a 'wealth of years'.

We talked about that for a bit and once again I was reminded that 'wealth' doesn't just always mean 'money' (whatever that is), but we can be 'wealthy' in more than financial means.

(And yes, I know this is an old photo - it's very hot here and I'm reminding myself that in six short months this will be the view out my window.)

So - wealth.  Plenty.  

Right now I have many things which I would consider to have a 'wealth' of...

My years.  I'm in my 70s, which means I have lived a pretty decent length of time.  I have seen things, lived through things that are 'history' to people younger than I am.  These things are not events known about because I've read about them, I have lived them.

I have a wealth of knowledge about a narrow spectrum of available knowledge.  But I also have research skills and I'm not afraid to go digging to find out more.

I have a wealth of optimism that we can survive, given our history.  Surely we can get through this...too interesting times?

I have a wealth of experiences - I've travelled, far more than I ever anticipated given I live halfway to the place on the map that says 'beyond here be dragons'.  It's ok now that I find I am not able to hop on a plane at dark o'clock and cross the continent to teach.  Because I also have a good internet connection and can now teach via the wealth of the internet.  Or visit with distant friends.

I have a wealth of friends.  

I have a wealth of stash.  Recently I told friends that given how much fine and very fine yarn I have I'll still be weaving at 105.  They thought that was a fine idea.  My body?  Not so much.

Too often we tend to equate 'wealth' with how many toys we have.  How much money we have in the bank.  

We treat 'maturity' as though that was a negative quality instead of a positive one.  Or, at least, the European model of values does.

We dismiss our elders as being irrelevant when they hold the key to survival - because they have survived this long in a world that - right now - seems to grow increasingly hostile.  And mostly they have seen this...stuff...happen before and may have some thoughts on how to avoid the looming darkness.

There is a meme going round that snarkily says that 'young' people should be given a rotary phone or standard drive vehicle or other last century technology with the instructions for how to use it written out in cursive.  As if that is some sort of 'gotcha'.  I don't like that meme.  It punches down, and that's never a good thing imho.  Because right now?  This very minute?  I'm waiting for a younger friend to come help me learn how to use my new 'smart' phone.

We will survive these times by helping each other, not by ridiculing and demeaning each other.

Let us celebrate our various kinds of 'wealth', including our diversity and lean on each other, not kick the legs out from under others.