“What could happen if we made the elderly National Treasures?”

JoshuaGorman showed up for this conversation. He and I, DanJoyner, decided to sit inside Quail and have the conversation. The space was as welcoming as the morning was brisk…

Hospitality was the focus of our initial contact with each other; we were two strangers who chose to show up at this place and time. We introduced ourselves and immediately embraced the power that came with our having chosen to occupy that space together. We each told our story about who we are and how we came to be at this place. We sang our song; our bubbles touched…

Telling my story gave me energy. Although I’ve told my story over and over, I’m amazed at the energy that comes from a story that’s told for the first time to a stranger. My story telling and connection experience was amplified because of Joshua’s gift of “listening” He gifted me with his listening as I told my story and contemplated the possibilities if the elderly were national treasures.

Much of our conversation was focused on the possibilities related to children. The idea being; if we made the elderly national treasures, we would treat children differently. “In what ways do the elderly create themselves through children?” Our conversation surfaced the strong connection between the elders and children, in some traditional communities. Some of Joshua’s current work involves “rites of passage” for young men in large urban centers. He had a keen sense of the roles of elders.

Our conversation generated more questions and more thinking about the connections between the hearts of elders and the hearts of children.

“What could happen if a group of us got interested in something and the next time we got together, we acted as though it existed?”” What can we create together that we cannot create alone?”