My dearest friend:
I miss you deeply as it has been almost a year since you choose to leave this world. There is such a tremendous pain I feel when I think about you. Sometimes your memories are all around me, like your gallon of Timmy's decaf coffee. haha. I think you surely got alittle caffeine in there. Lately, the memories are overwhelming my thinking and interfere with my life. I know that is not what you want ... so I will write about you and share what you have taught me.
But let me think clearly now ... What makes a good elder?
Here is what I saw in you ... you were so charasmatic and so loved by most if not all the people you came into contact with. How did you touch people so deeply? How did you make that connection to the children and families you worked with so selflessly? How did you bring people back to life with your zest for it ... life? Why did you do it? Often times in school they talk about transformational leadership, but what is that when it comes to an elder like yourself. To me it is the ability to lead in a way that inspires wellbeing or change in another. It is healing from the dysfunction of colonization and bringing into light your spirit ...
We'e (my namesake ... my teacher) this is what you have inspired in me.
It makes me think of what kind of elder I want to be ... someday.
Creator ... be with my friend and all the people he loved so deeply ...
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