Maybe it was the aspiring poet in me or simply
because I have always been partially deaf, but even as a child I was easily
contented with my own company, especially with my head in a book or communing
with nature. While my mother was OK with this, my father was critical of what
he considered to be unbecoming for a boy. Thankfully, my brother was more
‘masculine’ so that took the heat off me a bit. Needless to say, my
relationship with my father was never a good one; there was no father-son
bonding, probably due his being a product of a generation scarred both by war
and even more misleading and misguided stereotypes than my own would see.
Children, of course, only come to understand such
things in time. Meanwhile, they can but rely on adults to point them in the
right direction; what is right for them, that is, not, the mentoring adult. Fortunately,
my mother was cut from a very different cloth to my father and I survive to
tell the tale.
I grew up with very mixed feelings about how I
should approach the world, family life and (not least) myself. Perhaps that is
why I love everything about the natural world; for all its unpredictability, it
exudes relatively less than its human counterpart. On the whole, nature also
suggests a greater sense - for me, anyway - of being on one’s side; at least,
not against anyone simply because he or she has a mind-body-spirit of their own
that may not be in sync with some socio-cultural-spiritual ‘norm’.
I grew up, too, believing that being gay was
abnormal simply because it was ‘different’ and was never more glad of the sense
of spirituality nature has always inspired in me. While my mother could not
have cared less, the same could not be said for the rest of my immediate family
nor even some people I looked upon as friends.
As a gay man in my 70’s now, I am so glad attitudes towards homosexuality
continue to change for the better in many countries, even among the more
discerning within intrinsically homophobic cultures. Alas, there is no room for
complacency; more education is needed about how -, whatever our colour, creed,
sex or sexuality - we are all part of
a common humanity and all, each in
our own way…different.
Reports of further legislation to re-enforce Equal
Opportunities and Political Correctness may well suggest steps in the right
direction in many respects, but you cannot legislate for bad attitude which, in
turn, invariably stems from ignorance of the issues involved and/or a
point-blank refusal to enter into any points of view other than one’s own.
Enter, Education… if only to show that
what is often taken for liberalism is, more often than not, plain common sense
in the absence of which any real (as in worthwhile) communication between
certain people, peoples and cultures is
likely to prove but illusory.
As for my scepticism, that remains part of who I am, too, and most likely always will. At
the same time, I am also a very positive thinking person; a contradiction, some
will say, but then what’s one more contradiction in a world whose elected (or
self-appointed) spokespersons contradict
themselves for much if not most of the time…?
Gay or Straight, Earth Mother is a friend and ally, but we (all) need to remember that - like most if not all of us - she will be pushed only so far before she will start hitting out if only in self-defence of all creatures great and small.
Gay or Straight, Earth Mother is a friend and ally, but we (all) need to remember that - like most if not all of us - she will be pushed only so far before she will start hitting out if only in self-defence of all creatures great and small.
FALLING IN WITH NATURE
I’ve
heard folks say I should get real,
and
I do as needs must…
Yet,
I love to talk to flowers,
let
them know I am here for them
and
care if they live or die
much
as I, too, could have someone
care
for me, watch out for me
as
I make my way through passages
of
time and space among crowds
jostling
to be first in line for whatever
best
is yet to come as rumoured
by
those assumed to be in the know
if
only because it would appear
they
have the ear of someone said
to
really count for something
in
a greater scheme of things as full
of
promise as sparing on detail
nor
so much as a mention of any Plan B
lest
investors in social conscience despair
of
profit margins
I’ve
heard folks say I should man up,
and
I do as needs must…
Yet,
I love to spread wings, fly
among
(all) birds over cities, towns,
and
dreary suburbs top heavy
with
killer-by-stealth pollution,
escape
to the countryside,
take
off with ducks, swans and the like
on
its waterways, nature’s answer
to
frantic airport runways…
comment
on city carbuncles, enthuse
about
country cottages, get angry
about
global warming, especially where
powers-that-be
in denial refusing
to
put it on various agendas just in case
they
lose votes (or face) among any
who
couldn’t really care less so long as
they
don’t miss out on rewards of a (very)
pecuniary
nature
I’ve
heard folks take me for a sceptic,
and
they would be right…
Yet,
I’ll believe a sunset’s promise
of
sunny (or stormy) days in the wings
before
I’ll trust a politician’s word
that
the shape of things to come is safe
if
not (quite) secure in party hands,
preferring
to take my cue from such cloud
and
bird formations as nature inspires
from
time to time by way of suggesting
we
make appropriate preparation, less need
for
reparation the powers-that-be
may
well have us make for what turns out
to
be their (only human) mistakes,
ours,
too, if only for hearing what we want
to
hear than what mind-spirit
would take us to task for, a falling in
with
the commoner (if only human) failings
of
contemporary society
Copyright R. N.
Taber 2017
