Reflection for July 2023 – Frances Brown – Canberra Affiliate
For Our Elders – NAIDOC 2023
Elders, whether they are connected to you or not, are mostly treated with respect and sometimes reverence. The Elders in our lives – Grandparents; Aunts and Uncles and those special older people in our lives that we respect – play an important part of our story, reminding us of the stories of others from the past.
Our connection to storytelling is an innate thread that we have responded to since our birth. We grow on a foundation of tales from our parents and others that provide entertainment, education or instructional stories that help us grow and develop. These stories give us a sense of who we are, where we are from and how we fit in this world.
For Australia’s oldest continuous culture, storytelling has been crucial in passing down stories of creation and the dreamtime. Culture passed down through generations and preserved through stories, paintings, songs and dance. Our own bible is similar. The stories contained within, were once passed down verbally, eventually to be recorded in the written form. We take the lessons from the parables that are written about and learn and remember.
The stories that our Elders share with us, are our connection to our ancestors. Our own Grandparents and Aunties and Uncles share with us their lived experience in the hope that we respect the ancestors and the past, and live this life well, caring for ourselves, each other, and our environment. They play a crucial role in nurturing young ones.
Mary Potter inspired us to connect with the Jesus story, through Mary. What inspires and connects Affiliates and Associates today are the stories that have been handed down by the Sisters (also our Elders) about the work of Mary Potter and the graces she experienced. Previously when working with staff, an anecdote about Mary Potter or one of the Sisters always more eloquently explained the charism of the Sisters than my clumsy interpretations. Stories are an accessible and relatable modality for communication that humans respond well to.
Like our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders and our own Elders, we stand on their shoulders, supported by them to flourish in our lives. Our Elders have helped pave the way for what we have today: fruits of their sacrifice, their courage and their vision.
Standing on the Shoulders by Joyce Johnson Rouse sums up beautifully, our privilege that we have today because of those Elders – a responsibility one day for ourselves to also lead.
STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS by Joyce Johnson Rouse
I am standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before me
I am stronger for their courage,
I am wiser for their words
I am lifted by their longing for a fair and brighter future
I am grateful for their vision, for their toiling on this Earth
We are standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before us
They are saints and they are humans, they are angels, they are friends
We can see beyond the struggles and the troubles and the challenge
When we know that by our efforts things will be better in the end
They lift me higher than I could ever fly
Carrying my burdens away I imagine our world if they hadn’t tried
We wouldn’t be here celebrating today
I am standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before me
I am honoured by their passion for our liberty
I will stand a little taller, I will work a little longer
And my shoulders will be there to hold the ones who follow me
They lift me higher than I could ever fly
Carrying my burdens away I imagine our world if they hadn’t tried
We wouldn’t be so very blessed today
I am standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before me
I am honoured by their passion for our liberty
I will stand a little taller, I will work a little longer
And my shoulders will be there to hold the ones who follow me.
©1995 Rouse House Music, ASCAP. All rights reserved. www.earthmama.org
(click on the link below for the song)
