Tradition…

From Behind The Counter
Perspectives on the Landscape of Life
By DJ Note

“Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19:32

In the course of any given day I have the pleasure of meeting people of the older generation who have lived under various customs and differing traditions who fascinate, educate, and stimulate the sentimental ideals of this writer.

Recently, I spoke with a delightful elderly couple that reminisced about the societal changes, specifically moral and attitudinal that they’d witnessed over the past several decades. In a matter of minutes, we volleyed opinions of modern trends in dating, divorce, faith, and family. Just like a kitchen table conversation with old friends, the question of traditional values versus current attitudes eventually dominated.

Take marriage, for instance. It was only a few decades ago that divorce was considered taboo, an act carried out only in worst-case scenarios where adultery, abuse, (usually physical), or abandonment occurred. Today, with our “no-fault” attitudes, no one is held accountable and two people sadly walk away from what was once faithfully and lovingly vowed, before God and man, as a life commitment.

“And once-upon-a-time,” the elderly gentleman said, “the elderly were respected. Doesn’t appear to be that way with kids today. It’s too bad, they’re missing a lot. It’s a sad commentary.”

His comment got me to thinking about the famous icon of American art, Norman Rockwell, who helped define our culture by creating on canvas his devotion toward faith, family, and friends. He once said of his work, “…I was showing the America I knew.” I like to think I, at least, got in on the tail end of that homespun world. In years past, song-stylists and writers alike penned now-famous works that encouraged respect toward those longer-lived.

These elderly among us possess what the young cannot—the vast wisdom of their years and experience—and the youth need to be listening. The phrase has been coined, “Youth and ambition are no match for age and experience.” I’ve lived long enough now to see the value of that adage. History teaches that to heed the mistakes of the past is wisdom. We would do well to seek its lessons with wide-eyed enthusiasm and eager interest.

My two customers and I agreed that while not everyone experienced the idealism of the Leave It To Beaver lifestyle, there once was enough of that ideal, at least, hoped for that those popular television shows became well-watched reruns. And DVD sales of faith and family and traditional values are still going strong.

Faith, family, and friends—the phrase encompasses myriad hopes and dreams in the hearts of people everywhere. Who can resist participation in a good old-fashioned 4th of July picnic with beloved grandparents, favorite aunts and uncles, and playful cousins; a camp trip with family and friends; a backyard barbeque with long-time neighbors? It’s a condition, after all, deep inside the human heart, isn’t it—the need for acceptance, love, connectedness, and belonging? And the longer we live, the more desired it becomes.

Those who have “lived some,” are like pearls in an unopened oyster—treasures to be discovered—a wealth of life experiences just waiting to be shared. As I watched my elderly customers leave that day, I saw him slip his hand over hers. Their stride was shuffled, but their journey, like all journeys, worth-the-telling.

I love looking back at the good old days and learning about those souls who forged the way before us. It’s that love instilled in me as a youngster that inspired a work of poetry I dedicated to my grandmother, Helen Elizabeth McClure. At the age of one hundred and one, she left this life assured of eternity with her loving Savior. It’s this love of God, family and country that I, too, hope to pass on.

DJ Note writes from Eagle Point, Oregon.

Tradition
©djnote 1974

It’s strange to me the philosophy of the aging and the old,
It seems to be a tradition of all but this custom turns me cold.
For where would we be without our elders, the young people of today?
Where would we get the advise we need and who would guide the way?
The years of a person tells not their age, but the length of their time on this earth.
The years are there to symbolize their wisdom and strength and worth.
For are we not here to obtain one goal, to strive for a place by God’s side;
to live out our lives for our Lord up above, and not for the fun of the ride?
If this is so—the elders I’d say—are one step ahead of the young,
They are completing their journey to God, and the youth—they’ve only begun.