There's a poem called The World's Greatest Tricycle Rider, by C.K. Williams. The poem tells of a wildman inside, one who rides with no hands, upside, fearless. But the wildman is growing older, and the poet worries that because he has not shared his wisdom with the rider inside, the poor wildman is doomed to ride again and again around the same block.
Growing older is accompanied by so many clichés, it's comical. Is there any new thought under the sun about the losses of aging? When I read this poem for the first time this last week, it caused little lights in my brain to spark some new ideas. New to me, at any rate.
What if clinging to the ways I've always been, the abilities I've always had, is actually holding me back from the progress I can make at this time in my life? What if grieving the loss of strength keeps me from trying something new that makes better use of my current state? What if I'm actually better at things I've not tried than at riding the tricycle around and around the block, my feet overshooting the pedals? And, what if there is great joy to be found in trying the new, joy that would mitigate the sense of loss?
They say (don't you love "them") you can't go home again. I understand that it is because time has changed us, even if time has skipped over the actual physical place we grew up. And time has taken away people we love who inhabited our home with us. So, what if we free ourselves from the need to do the impossible, and open our hearts to the home around us? What if we look for ways to make this older body our home, make this group of people our home?
This process of setting the child inside free to love this place and time is a conscious decision. It must be a journey of the spirit that makes this time of life as precious, as productive, as important to our souls as our youth. In a society that idolizes youth, it can seem counterintuitive. Allow ourselves to celebrate aging? To cherish the life left to us instead of longing for the power and beauty of our youth? It might take some work. It might take giving that wildman a two wheeler. But think how much more comfortable he will be with a bike that fits!
