Until recently, I didn’t appreciate this topic. In my view, it was a hobby horse (Dutch: stokpaardje) of the liberal-left. Today, my perspective is shifting following its drivers, being: (i) increasing life expectancy or demographics, (ii) being irrelevant to society, (iii) declining religion, and (iv) urbanisation.
In many countries, the average age of the population has been increasing until the Covid-19 pandemic. A higher age of eligibility for state pensions (eg, AOW) followed. Nevertheless, the gap between working and non-working years still increased, which resulted in (our) economic irrelevance.
The above is similar to economic versus technical obsolescence. Some machines no longer add economic value to a company’s profit, although these machines are still functioning. A few decades ago, record pressing was deemed irrelevant and worthless due to CDs. Today, it’s booming and relevant.
A recent discussion with my son revealed that my experience did not matter to him; things were “covered”. I could blame youthful arrogance. More likely, he fails to grasp the inherent business risks of that industry. Only experience can bring you that and quite often at a personal cost.
Several years ago, a friend mentioned a Dutch proverb to me: Parents learn children to speak; children learn parents to be silent, my 2022 blog. Back then, we laughed about it. Today, it seems reality. My 2016 blog: The Unneeded, Unwanted & Unbelieved was also about that feeling of irrelevance.
Until the 1970s, religion was an anchor to many people. Churches were still full in those days. Today, churches are being sold and “redeveloped”. The decline in religion did not result in a surge in faith. Nevertheless, WSJ recently reported on a Surprising Surge of Faith Among Young People.
The above resulted in toxic mix of the following ingredients: (i) high life expectancy, (ii) irrelevance to society, (iii) no anchors (eg, faith, religion), and (iv) urbanisation that caused a geographical separation between children and parents. In my view, this explains the feeling of a completed life.
Those explanations do not automatically translate in acceptance. To me, the issue of a completed life is far easier to accept on an individual (micro) level rather than at the level of society (macro). I suppose any solution must be individual in order to escape the horrors of our past (eg, Wiki).
Full of life (2022) by Selah Sue
artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-artist, Wiki-album+song
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.
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