Raven Tricks , It's All Wrong, Yet It's All Right!


Among the folklore figures of some Haida clans of British Columbia, Raven nearly tops the totem, so to speak. Raven was the Creator of heaven and earth, which were in perfect harmony in the beginning because there was an open door between the two worlds. After he released mankind from a clamshell, Raven turned Teacher to provide man with the skills to thrive in paradise. However, Raven next turned Trickster, and cloaking himself in the black plumage of his often dark and always devious sense of humour, he flew off with the key to the door between the two worlds. Isolated in the physical world from spiritual guidance, mankind has never again achieved harmony in paradise. And from the treetops to this day, Raven croaks "Ha! Ha!"

Creator, Teacher, and Trickster - perhaps the Haida had it right. The older I become, the more I notice odd twists in the grand scheme of things.

· When you CAN sleep in because you no longer have to go to work, you CAN'T.
· The more you rely upon reminder lists, the less likely you will be able to find those lists when you need them.
· Spend half a day putting things away and you will spend the other half looking for them.
· The more you plan, the more there is to go wrong.
· When you can finally afford the things you need, you no longer need them.
· When you finally have the means to accumulate, it is time to downsize and disperse.
· What you most need, no amount of money can buy anyway.
· When you reach an understanding with your VCR, the world switches to DVDs.
· When you can indulge your passion for the exotic flavours of fancy restaurants, you get acid reflux.
· When you can make good use of a season's ski pass, your knees give out.
· When women finally develop full-figured bosoms, their faces have gone to hell.
· Women discover their get up and go just as the men flop to a stop.
· Senior women and men could cross dress without looking peculiar.

Once I stayed up late to watch a television program called "The Advantage of Aging." After morbidly fixing upon age-associated losses - spouse, health, independence, vision, hearing, mind, the discussion got around to a singular "advantage": "The years teach one to accept loss with grace and dignity." This show was surely a Trickster production!

I think I am beginning to understand. The years certainly teach us to roll with the punches, but I suspect a keen sense of irony has more to do with coping than grace or dignity. Will Rogers said, "If you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't have anything to laugh about when you are old." He understood Trickster Raven.

Indeed, when we drown out that old bird's devilish laughter with our own, we take the sting from even his ultimate irony: The BEST thing about growing old IS growing old - which is also the WORST thing about growing old. "Ha! Ha!"

Barb Shave       www.raventricks.com