Day 22 - All You Need is Love (sing the rest of the line yourselves!)
I can hear and see our young people being introduced to these new concepts, summaries, and acronyms, to describe the particularly unusual times they find themselves living through and the need for new ways of educating and providing leadership and modeling.
Acronyms like VUCA - Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. Yes, all of this, in my opinion, is absolutely true and accurate, and real and not made up, but it's also perspective and not necessary a bad or negative thing. It may well be an opportunity too. Our young people do need guidance and wisdom passed down from those who've also experienced these uncertainties in their pasts. They also need stories, myths, legends, space, and council to be able to widen out their vision, to see peripheral vision and perspective, and not just have or be expected to have their heads down in mobile phones, devises, or laptops. They, like we, need wilderness rites of passage, hero's journey models to navigate their own transitions, and carve out their own next steps, just like we needed it (whether we received it or not). But what they need beyond all this is love.
Unconditional love.
Beyond, rules, lessons, models, and teaching. To truly flourish, they need love, and we know that, deep inside ourselves. It trumps all other offerings. They don't need to know they are loved even, they need to feel it, feed from it, and let it do its job. This is my peace offering, today, tomorrow, and beyond (ohala). To know it, realize it, and offer it to my children and see the seeds of love grow and see others contribute their love also, as there can never be too much of it, I believe for children, young people, communities, and societies to thrive and flourish. It's not like pouring too much water where we can saturate the seeds' growth or too much sun, drying out the seed. There is never too much genuine love to harm a child or young person, who's finding their way in life, or anyone for that matter. Other offerings may include containment, open support, and guidance coming through from ancient wisdom on how to hold onto one's strengths and be open and vulnerable at the same time.
Like seaweed in a storm, knowing how to navigate, while recognizing the likes of VUCA do exist, and that's ok; it can make us even stronger. Seeing it, accepting it, and embracing it. By tilting one's head and being open to this peripheral perspective, it may even be seen or viewed as a mystery in the waiting, a unique opportunity for growth, celebrating the challenge, being open to be in and fill up new spaces, to be in a new type of wilderness, take it on with excitement, and optimism and all the time feeling the steadfastness like the seaweeds holdfast or anchor to a rock and to other members of the seaweed community in tumultuous tides, keeping it connected and confident to simply be.
Remembering the holdfast, and remembering we, are part of something greater than us, as an individual, alone to fend for ourselves, is so important. And this came to mind and contemplation during today's cycle in the countryside. Observing so many examples of Strength and vulnerability in the same places. Seeing the remanence of last year's summer wildfires that caused devastation to the wildlife and communities where I was cycling through, but knowing that they came through it, put the fires out eventually, and are still going. The trees are regrowing despite total tree carnage all around them. My heart and mind drifted to the absolutely tragic news coming through of more natural disasters not so far away, ripping through communities and whole towns and villages. No words could do justice to the immense suffering already caused, which will continue for some time, but also recognizing the best in humanity that in these darkest of moments can be brought out, where communities bind together, cling together to get through, support, be there, offer love, compassion, and rebuild.
We remember how to do this as it's in all of us to be remembered.
What's in the tank when we feel it's been completely emptied? Love, compassion, care, connectedness. So I complete my cycle on day 22 with less fear about the things I need to do, to protect, and provide for my two wee beautiful daughters and know, that by not 'just' loving them, but by truly Loving them, showing them love and giving them Love, they will shine, and knowing they have so much more love, from so many sources. Love for a 2- and 5-year-old is kryptonite. Attempting not to tell, give out, teach, or lecture but just show, demonstrate, mimic, and repeat. Love them, allow them to feel it, breathe it, experience it. I repeat to myself, "It doesn't even require them to know it," the foundation and scaffolding are there to discover it. Opening it wider, unconditional love are what we all need as societies, for ourselves, our ingroups, and outer groups.
Our so-called world leaders, particularly, who, for the most part, are clearly, from my current perspective, lacking it and in it. Facilitating and allowing those who are feeling lost, abandoned, or who chose to disconnect, to 're-member'. Re-Membering, ancestry, land, wisdom connection, and being part of a shared future is what can get us all, not just through but bring more peace to our world from the inside out.
Shane O'Connor
