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A Dinosaur's Tale

By Arthur J Miller

I am a Dinosaur, some say. A thing of the past, not realizing my own extinction. The young must push forward as the older steps aside, they seem to think. But as I responded back; if I am a dinosaur then I am a T-Rex with nice sharp teeth out to bite the ass of any young whippersnapper that comes within my range. I will not ride off into the sunset, nor will my attitude mellow with age. In other words, I am a dinosaur with an attitude.

I do not argue with the young over their desire of wanting to create something new. It has been forever the natural path of each generation to add their mark to the continuing historical social struggle. And to the old that seek to stand in the way of the young, to ignore them, to reject them, to write them off for no other reason than age, I say to you that you are nothing more than a death cult.

The dominate eurocentic culture tends to isolate things into historical events. And each event is viewed as either a success or failure within the confines of that isolation. The event could be a movement, a generation, an organization, a cultural expression, or what not.

But that is not this dino's view of the way things are. I see what people call history as a continuous path. All things past, present and in the future are connected. Something that may seem to be a failure in the isolation of a moment in time, could be a learning experience that leads to greater things.

In the continuous struggle, the old pass on to the young that which was passed on to them and that which they added to the struggle, the young bring in new ideas and energy that marks the struggle in which they too pass on to the next generation. In that a balance exists between the old, the new and things still to come.

In some Native teachings, people are asked to look to the seventh generation to come in deciding their course of action. That means that we should look at the effect we have on the future. In this eurocentic world of instant gratification, the idea of the seventh generation is a revolutionary idea. Evolutionary cause and effect, the past, present and future cannot be separated.

In the eurocentic society many of the old are held in confinement, incarcerated under a death sentence for the crime of age. Abused, neglected and rejected, by those that seem to not understand that the day will come when they will also face the same fate.

For those among the young who cannot see their future before their eyes, and believe that the old are only a pain in the ass: To you I say this, turn around and bend over and let me show you with my dinosaur teeth what a real pain in the ass can feel like.