Q: Age

Etymology: The origin of this symbol and spectrum

Q is a new symbol for me for the Rose language. My friend said that I have no symbols for nurturing, for motherhood. I thought about this. Motherhood, to me, seems a complex concept, like pain or death, more seen with many symbols. The chinese write it as woman, shelter, child (CHECK!!!). I think of it as: mature, understanding, love, possibly a quilt:

QUILT (t possible, I partnership)

But to do this, I realized I do not have maturity, age, and wisdom and its opposite end of the spectrum: naiveté, youth, and inexperience. Why q, you ask? Again, it was one of the left-over letters. But age and wisdom go hand in hand with u of understanding and incomprehension, so it all works out in the end.

Orthography: How to remember these symbols

The “q” of wisdom, age, experience, is a straight line gently capped at the top—almost like a k except that the top is rounded and curved in on the edges. This is like a tree with a fully grown canopy of leaves.

The “q” of naiveté, youth, inexperience, is a straight line with a broken circle below it—like a young sapling who has not yet fully rooted in.

Philosophy: How I use these symbols to embrace life

I think of my experiences and add them to the canopy of the “q” of age and wisdom. I can now enjoy my knowledge, my store of memories.

When I work with someone younger, like the Victorian Park High School students who did the artwork, I think of them as spreading their roots, as gaining in those experiences. This helps grant me the patience I need.

I think, if I were younger, I would see myself as the sapling, as the straight line, and start filling in those roots, savoring the experiences as I built my own crown, my canopy, of memories.