Animals can communicate quite well. And they do. And generally speaking, they are ignored
Alice WalkerRead
Part of my ancestry is Cherokee. And in that tradition, you become an adult when you're 52.
Interpretation
In Cherokee tradition, adulthood is recognized later in life, specifically at the age of 52.
Alice Walker's quote reflects on the Cherokee tradition which defines adulthood at the age of 52, suggesting that wisdom and maturity are gained through life experiences rather than earlier milestones. This perspective invites reflection on cultural values and the importance of understanding time and personal growth in different contexts.
In practice
During a cultural presentation, I shared this quote to illustrate different philosophies on adulthood.
Animals can communicate quite well. And they do. And generally speaking, they are ignored
June Jordan, who died of cancer in 2002, was a brilliant, fierce, radical, and frequently furious poet. We were friends for thirty years. Not once in that time did she step back from what was transpiring politically and morally in the world. She spoke up, and led her students, whom she adored, to do the same.
On a spiritual level, it's as though with my sighted eye I see what's before me, and with my unsighted eye I see what's hidden. It's illuminated life more than darkened it.
I think 'The Color Purple' is so bursting with love, the need for connection, the showing of the need for connection around the globe.
How long will it take the citizens of the United States, one wonders, to recognize that the house their country bombed in Iraq is the same one they were living in until it was foreclosed?
One white man on the platform in South Carolina asked us where we were going--we had got off the train to get some fresh air and to dust the grit and dust out of our clothes. When we said Africa he looked offended and tickled too. Niggers going to Africa, he said to his wife. Now I have seen everything.
Keeping plenty of gold and jade in the palace makes no one able to defend it.
Things happen, people change,' is what Amanda said. For her that covered it. You wanted an explanation, and ending that would assign blame and dish up justice. You considered violence and you considered reconciliation . But what you are left with is a premonition of the way your life will fade behind you, like a book you have read too quickly, leaving a dwindling trail of images and emotions, until all you can remember is a name.
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
Man only plays when in the full meaning of the word he is a man, and he is only completely a man when he plays.
A man who says that no patriot should attack the war until it is over... is saying no good son should warn his mother of a cliff until she has fallen.
If you want to know what God thinks about money, just look at the people He gives it to.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.