Tamela Georgi

It ’ s of a young woman with long hair , placing a flower in the barrel of a rifle . The soldier who holds the gun is standing by , his face an unforgiving stone .

I thought of how brave she was . I remember being afraid for her . That soldier could have shot her during those turbulent times .

She was protesting the war in Vietnam with flowers . Such childlike innocence , that gentle protest . At the time , our generation was in the springtime of our lives . Being young , we thought anything was possible . Sure , maybe we could even stop a war with a flower .

What happened to those vibrant young people in bell bottoms and fringed vests with flowers in their hair ?

We got jobs and we raised families . We tried to follow our dreams : the love we thought would last forever ( maybe it did ); the career we longed for ; the life we so optimistically planned .

Did our dreams come true ? Did new dreams take over ? It ’ s a good thing some of those dreams didn ’ t come true . Life , it seems , has a way of knowing what ’ s good for us in spite of us . Maybe things turned out in ways we could never have imagined , back then in the springtime of our lives .

And then came retirement . A time to wonder if the most meaningful part of life was over . What ’ s my job now ? I can ’ t change the world . I ’ m just one person . So why bother to do anything at all ?

One flower placed in a rifle barrel . Did it stop the Vietnam War ? Maybe not . But who knows how that image affected the psyche of the people ? Almost sixty years later , that picture is still etched in my brain . So who knows just how far-reaching that one act became ?

Maybe it ’ s not for us to decide how one small act of goodness will affect the world . Maybe it ’ s our job to just do it and let the world figure out the rest .

So go ahead . Help a neighbour . Volunteer in an animal shelter . Share your talents . Reach out . Be present in your world . Consider this : The things we do in retirement are every bit as important as what we did in our work life .

And never underestimate the power of a single flower .

After a career in journalism , Tamela Georgi became a teacher . Her favourite subjects were Englishas-a-second-language and career planning . In retirement , she does a little writing .

SUMMER 2024 | 33