I’m a little surprised to realize I was about ready to give up on my generation regarding work for justice. (I’m 75 years old). I increasingly find myself thinking and praying in terms of younger people.
During the years of my life, of nearly constant friction with Friends, I always, almost always believed we would eventually hear what God or the Spirit was saying to us, and find a way to do it.
Many things, many injustices, have become increasingly alarming now during these times of global disorder.
I’ve been researching and writing about channels into knowledge on this blog. Knowledge that will be needed to survive the extreme challenges that are coming at us.
What could be more important to Friends now, young and old, than to strengthen channels into knowledge between generations?
I believe young people are searching for stories of how others dealt with adversity. How communities were built. How people sacrificed for each other. We can make such stories more widely available. Perhaps more importantly, are older Friends asking younger Friends and children for their stories?
Are there new ideas to strengthen connections among younger and older Friends?
Historical Records
Most Quaker meetings have libraries and archives of historical records. I have the impression these records are underutilized, and could often be better organized. (That might be an understatement). There has been recent interest especially in Quakers and the Indian Boarding Schools.
Younger and older Friends can work together with such records. Older Friends can give the records historical context, and younger Friends have inquiring minds and technical skills.
Journaling Together
Shared Responsibilities
A younger and an older person could be paired to serve as co-clerks for meetings.
Scattergood students could be more involved in a Midyear meeting as they have a times in the past.
Shared Presence
Scattergood Friends School students have been visiting Bear Creek Meeting annually to help with projects.
Some Iowa Friends have stayed at the school while working at the Great Plains Action Society’s Urban Resilience Hub in Iowa City. Plans are for more involvement of students in the work of the Hub. Older Friends might offer ways to support those efforts, including participating in the work at the Hub themselves.
Camping
I remember a few summers in the 1960s when someone would choose an Iowa State Park. Then about twenty families would gather together there for a weekend of camping. Those were very popular.
Quietism versus Activism
For as long as I can remember, there have been tensions between those Quakers who emphasize spiritual/scriptural parts of Quakerism and those whose beliefs tend to be expressed in various types of nonviolent activism.
Quaker Stories Project
A collection of stories about Quakers can be found at the Quaker Stories Project.
Intergenerational
One of the most difficult things I’ve been learning about Native people is how the traumas from the past don’t remain there. They are passed from generation to generation. I see the effects in the lives of Native people I know today.
Lately I’ve been thinking about the intergenerational trauma in many of our Quaker meetings. Traumas often related to the same historical events as those that traumatized Native and Black peoples in this country’s history. A number of Friends have recognized we (Quakers) also need to work on our own healing.
An Awesome Vision
This just came to me. Wouldn’t it be an awesome vision for us to commit to coming together to make the current generation the one that stopped passing the traumas on? All the traumas of all the communities.
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