change, and us

the reactionary just doesn’t get it

there is a difference 

between the conservative and the reactionary:

change comes at us faster than we can imagine,

just holding on to self can be tough,

yet we are tested by how we deal with change,

we teachers sometimes describe students as high maintenance,

wonderful and amazing but requiring us

to ride the roller-coaster with them,

and, maybe, to somehow wrench some control over the ride,

a conservative, to me, works to hold on to the best of the past

while boldly going into a future we can’t yet quite keen,

a reactionary, to me, just denies a different future is coming,

they reach up to stop the train,

to hold a past that cannot be held,

like a ghost, it slips out of their embrace,

I do mourn those who have gone before,

I do mourn the natural world we lose with our selfishness,

I do mourn losing all that feels comfortable to me,

and still I hope to remember well and also to see what’s coming,

to find the energy and vision for the high maintenance required

to ride the roller-coaster well.

by Henry H. Walker

May 28, ‘17