The path of becoming an Elder demands effort … tending the garden even in the harvest years. Martin’s image of the path of the Tao te Ching offers us all a vision of growing old that cultivates meaningful and passionate lives.
One who has seen wildflowers
effortlessly blanket fields
each year for decades
does not become overly anxious
about what to eat or drink.
One who has for years
watched Maple tree
release its leaves each Autumn,
and regain them every Spring,
has no great fear of loss.
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One who has seen a thousand sunsets, each unique and unrepeatable, has little interest in society’s attempts to package, price, and sell baubles it calls beautiful.
Don’t believe the propaganda
of smiling gray-haired consumers
continuing their insane attempt to spend their way to happiness. You have become a sage and you live at peace with all of nature. All the beauty of the world is yours.
Bill Martin
The Sage’s Tao te Ching
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