As elder women, we must do a better job at nurturing younger women. We have lived in our younger years making the decisions and choices we made to be positioned the way in which we are currently positioned. We did the very best we could with the circumstances we faced. Growing into womanhood and learning to stand in your own power can be quite the challenge, and we know this because we have lived through it. We also know that it was replenishing when we received love, support and encouragement from those women who came before us.
If we truly want to leave a legacy behind, we must accept that being an elder isn’t about correcting someone and flaunting what you know and have been through in the name of sharing wisdom. Wisdom often calls for us to be steady and strong in uplifting, encouraging and being of service to those who are younger. There is no room for envy or malice concerning the blessings of our youth. That way of thinking is poisoned fruit and we cannot expect to survive as a people if we continue to serve poison to the young. It is something that is contributing to tearing our communities, tribes, and families apart. As women we know how to use our power to create or destroy accordingly. Let us utilize this ability with true wisdom.
Let us strive to be the support that we needed and in many cases was given in order to establish the esteemed lives we enjoy. If we are not willing to do that with compassion and understanding, then we should move aside and continue to expect the compassion that we refuse to show (see what I did there?)
We must decolonize. We must tell the truth about ourselves. We must question the source of the beliefs that keep us enslaved. We must release them, and understand that we have the power to change ourselves. Ase!
Ifayinka 