THE WORLD IS CHANGING.
“It was the age of heaven-heat, it was the age of heedless humans.”
I live in a Christian Retirement Centre. May be someday I will comment on its Christian aspect, as I increasingly believe that the adjective “Christian” needs be redefined, but that is for another day.
Of course, both sexes are represented here: a few couples, but mostly single people of which women are in the majority, almost all widows.
In line with the general population where women live longer than men, and, where in most marriages, they usually marry men a few years older, women outnumber men here by a ratio of 4:1.
From a strictly gerontological point of view, I find it intriguing to observe the goings-on, the intermingling, the social interactions. The unattached men are also all widowers, and there does not seem to be any desire on either part for courtship. Both male and female stick to their orientation.
In general, it is a peaceful, and even serene, and, perhaps, a somewhat boring community. In that sense the sex scenery, already reflect a bit what Jesus depicted when asked to comment on ‘marriage’: his words: “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven”. Matthew 22:30.
Hmm. No comment.
In a world at loggerheads with itself, my final years here, where every need is pretty well provided, are tranquil and thoroughly settled. Perhaps complacency is the best description. The people here have lived their lives during an age where prosperity, and abundance, good medical care and old age pensions have been the norm, actually a complete exception in human history. Most are immigrants from Europe; they arrived at the start of the economic boom, and cashed in their homes, assuring a secure retirement. Generous government help – pension and free medical care – has made this – my – generation the most prosperous ever, while their/my grandchildren face a totally different world.
We now are on a verge of radical change.
This ideal situation displayed here, where I spend my final years, will soon have to deal with the reality of the problems society face, in the form of inflation, soaring deficits, unpredictable weather, food shortages, everything under the sun, including unbearable heat.
Yes, Climate change is going to reshape everything, from disease patterns, to animal migration routines, from flooding, heat stress and ecosystem disruptions to economic disasters: nothing will be spared. The all-round stability on which our lives are based, and makes my final years, living in luxury, possible, will become history. We have reached a “point of no return” as runaway global heating cannot be stopped.
The current political global scenario already signals this predicament, evident in today’s global situation. Russia’s war on Ukraine has entered its fifth year, with no end in sight. In Gaza, Israel conducted what numerous human rights groups and scholars have described as a genocide, with the world watching. In Sudan, more than 13 million people have been displaced and hundreds of thousands killed. And just this year, the US and Israel have launched an illegal war that has killed more than 3,300 people while wreaking havoc on the global economy. Even western leaders are now publicly declaring that the rules-based world order, established after the horrors of the second world war, is dead.
In our everyday lives, we feel these crises on a more intimate level. Basic goods have become unaffordable for many. The housing crisis and the uncertain jobs market have robbed young people of a sense of hope about their future, without a roadmap for a good life.
Loneliness is growing.
Loneliness is not a personal failing; it is a sign of a ‘religion-less’ society – and it is typical today. Everyone is in search of community. Lonely, disconnected people try to find it online, perhaps, try to find it in people talking directly to them, believing simple narratives about who to blame for their pain: elites, or women with jobs, or Muslims, or Jews, or LGBTQ+ people, or immigrants on boats.
Times today remind me of the opening lines of “The Tale of Two Cities” “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the age of Light, it was the age of Darkness.”
THE WORLD IS CHANGING.
Never ever have the contrasts been starker than today, that’s why that famous Dickens quote needs expanding:
“It was the age of heaven-heat, it was the age of heedless humans.”
Stay tuned.