Journeying with Starshine

I do not believe in forcing the young to do things mechanically.

I want them to learn good judgment. Live their actions on their own merit and discover its outcomes on their own terms. More than anything else.

One must never cease to counsel them though. Whether they like it or not. Our job as I see it is to plant the trees that one day shall line the trail. Their job is to pave the road of their own lives.

One must always make sure though, there is always time for the young - for more time. That they should never run out of better choices to make.

Likewise, one must never allow the young to wander too far off their trails that they should accidentally have a mortal encounter with the hidden beasts of the wild. As I have. As many in my generation have.

Yet if they still do, we must fight it off alongside them. I know I will.

And if any of our young Starshine should come ask us, what may lie ahead - around a corner, in the dark, we might with them look ahead together, make decisions jointly, and walk the way together for a while...

Until they find their own feet again. Until they feel safe.

But the road they shall pave into the wilderness shall be their own. They shall walk all the way through the barren desert into the land of their own dreaming. And claim it.

And their victory shall truly be theirs.
---<--@

Getting Clear

=^.^=

I am a believer in free choice. I was molded this way.
I believe in the importance of living your own experiences.

And of living up to them.

Our elders may offer up advice. Whether we listen or not.
They are like seeds they sow, you know, in the soil of young hearts.

As we live on. And in our soul, the orchard of our memories begin to grow.
We will one day recognize those truths, they wanted us to know.

These days, you see, I came to know better...
For all the choices I made. Right and wrong. The trail never fades.

Those words once said, you know. Come a time. They will in your life come aglow.
And in time, like the mighty seeds of tall and steadfast trees.

Their wisdom will in you grow.

For the road ahead seem tamer for me now. Along with the wanderer in me somehow.
Lined with those trees. Once not much higher than my knees. Planted a half-a-time ago.

These were the noble seeds of many truths placed in my soul long before.
Some from dear old voices I shall never upon this world hear evermore.

Now, upon this road I pave with my peers - siblings, cousins, and friends, I shall travel on.
From a time always near. As the stars become clear. By the memory of better things, I shall.

And so hallowed moments, never may it fade. With each fading year, may they only grow near.
For these are my lolos and lolas, my papa/s and my mom/s, ninongs and ninangs, titos and titas...

O the salt of so many tears! Shining together. Wept as one. From past to present gathered.

Thus, didst salt preserve. The memory. Coming sweetly now. From evil delivered somehow.
Ever with each hurt overgrown, by the fruits of wiser fears. Better came my days, getting clear.

---<--@