The Disrespect of Our Elders: Have We Lost Our Minds?

Pataki. Oni mi Ojo Aiku, Owewe Marun, Odun Egbawa Mokanlelogun, Merindilogorin Ojo Igba Ooru.

Translate: Diary. Today is Sunday, September 5th, 2021. It is 76 days into Summer Solstice.

The moon is new in Virgo, ideal for new practical beginnings. The world is in Oya’s whirlwind. Changes for the better are slowly sprouting...while much is being lost. Some of what is being lost are values I see a need to preserve. The respect of our elders is one of them. I take pen to pad, and scribe this letter from my heart to my people.

Dear Villagers,

I manifest this finds you all well. Lately, my spirit has been troubled with seeing too many incidents in which our youth are comfortably disrespecting our elders. It is a fast spreading trend that will lead our people nowhere fast if it doesn’t stop. It truly breaks my heart for many reasons. I mean, have we forgotten? Have we lost our minds? Have we forgotten that the elders that walk among us LIVED through many of the same atrocities that we re-enact in movies, literally PRETENDING we know what their struggle was like? Have we forgotten that they LIVED through times we only read about? Now that we are facing more blatantly trying times today, it seems we need their wisdom more than ever. We need the wisdom of the elders, especially those that spent their lives being freedom fighters and spiritualists long before such things became a social trend.

We, as a people have endured much. When it comes to our elders, we must understand that our elders are the generation closest to our ancestors, who lived as geniuses forced into slavery. There were no mental health provisions then. They were not in the age of information, as we are. They had no way to process all that was done to them. They were just set free behind enemy lines, left to figure out how to survive. They relied mainly on instinct and faith as educational opportunities slowly opened. Sure, it may have led to heavy religious dogma and strict governance, but they mastered what they had to work with. Somehow, they managed to own businesses and land, with wages from low paying jobs. They still lived with a degree of class and honor, in which much of it is missing in today’s generation. The funny thing is, we have more to work with than they did. You know, the accomplishments of our wise elders measure far greater than ours due to the obstacles they overcame. They overcame a lot to reach the place here and now teach us, if we are humble enough to ask. Many of our elders are walking libraries of wisdom, awaiting to share with those who will respect it enough to receive it, apply it, and carry it on to the next generation. We must keep in mind that they didn’t have Google, or Youtube, or access to the information that we have access to today. Knowledge does not supercede wisdom. Knowledge comes from reading and comprehension, Wisdom comes from experience. Some things the Spirit learns do not need re-searching for. Their job was to get us here alive to go to the next level. If you are alive to read this, they did their job. It was never to be perfect, as perfection is something no human being can give. So we need not ever think our discoveries in evolution give us the right to discard their wisdom. The honor of our elders is a major cornerstone of indigenous traditions. If that cornerstone is removed, our entire structure will fall...no matter how intellectualized it may seem. When we do something so unwise, we burn the bridges to our own wisdom. All the while, we live in a land that loves our ignorance. Although there are missteps our elders may have taken, it is unfair to ignore the things that they did right. This leads to my next point.

As we all know, there is a difference between elders and olders. An older is a person of elderly age that exudes imbalance instead of wisdom, or so the youth define. Olders are those responsible for many of the imbalanced teachings that we as the youth have to evolve in our being. They taught the most carnal of teachings, and thus created the most need for descendants to evolve. You can read that part again. When we encounter olders, its a good thing to keep in mind that as we have those around us that are not growing and evolving. The same polarity applied to the times when our elders were youth. As far as dealing with olders are concerned, I feel empathy for them. Why? They are an example of people who didn’t have the mental or spiritual strength or desire to evolve. They have gone through too much just living here in this land, and they represent what spiritual succumb looks like. To me, it says more about the things they suffered that compelled their spirits to invert. The least we can do is show understanding for that, whether we agree or not. People do the best they can with what they know. I still give them respect, even if the only respect I can give is respectable distance. Yet, I still give thanks for them...for teaching what not to become. They have their ways of making our duty to evolve more clear.

No matter how upset we may get with our elders or olders, we must always remember that they have seen more sunrises than we. By no means am I encouraging the enabling of abuse from olders...at all. Its just that there are ways to stand your ground and protect your spirit without being disrespectful. We don’t have to disrespect to disagree. We will not agree with everything our elders or olders say and do, simply because we were born to evolve them, not become them. It would just serve our spirits well to remember that we cannot evolve if we dispose of the stem that we evolve from. Furthermore, it doesn’t make sense to wait until an elder becomes an ancestor to show honor and respect when that could and should be done while they are here to receive it. We must keep in mind that when we disgrace our elders, we disappoint our ancestors. Yet we pour libations and talk a good game about honoring the ancestors. How can we pray to the ancestors for wisdom and protection while disrespecting our elders? What's wrong with this picture? Have we lost our minds?

In closing, let’s keep in mind that the process of evolution requires us to preserve the wisdom of those who walked the roads of life before us, while changing the imbalances we may have inherited from them within ourselves. Without the wisdom of our elders and the lessons from our olders, we are left to the wind, falling for any articulated debauchery that is well enough intellectualized. We cannot afford that disconnect. Moment of truth. One day, we will be the elders that the youth will have to evolve from. Karmically, they way that we treat our elders is the way we sign up to be treated when we become elders. When that time comes, think of how you would feel if those who came behind you disrespected you...after all the blood, sweat, tears, inner and outer work you’ve done to create a better you...in the name of creating a better world for them. Welcome to our elders’ world. Let’s check up on that, Villagers.

Ase in Love,

iiiYansaje T. Muse

(Iya Odujinmi Oyabunmi Funimole Abimbola)

P.S. If you would like to hear the vocal recording of this letter, please beam up (tune in) to 222.9 The Mothership, your Mystic Haven on the Airwaves. It is a radio station created by yours truly!