Deep Roots

“All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

J.R. Tolkien

Today in Iqaluit, Nunavut the whole landscape is a beautiful glitter of frost. It's so lovely out that that idea of going into an office to work was truly repellent. So, I compromised and came into my office and started musing about those lines from Tolkien, “The old that is strong does not wither. Deep roots are not reached by the frost.” The ideas in that short passage are encouraging. How does one become strong as one ages? Weakness seems to be easily visible in the body, as it loses tone and muscle. What is encouraging is the idea of those deep and unseen roots. What is visible is not all there is to see, and perhaps as I age, what is easier to accept is that the invisible is potently powerful. An image of an iceberg flashes into my minds eye here – the idea that most of the iceberg as it floats serenely along, is underneath. The power of the iceberg, to impact, stop and perhaps submerge, other ideas is real. Perhaps the invisible “older woman” syndrome can be embraced in the sense that deep grounding keeps one from falling over as culture walks by without seeing. There is a triumphant scene from the series “Grace and Frankie” where, despite attempting to engage the attention of a young male sales clerk, he refuses to acknowledge them. This leads to Grace (Jane Fonda), having an emotional meltdown about her invisibility, while Frankie (Lily Tomlin), quietly pockets the item they wanted. Her action, (albeit societally unacceptable), was in fact, a creative response to invisibility. Opportunity in loss. A refusal to yield to common narratives. A breaking of the rules may be the greater necessity when culture threatens to overwhelm.