By Matthew Clark
There is no doubt about it, much to my chagrin I am getting old. This fact is at it's most transparent when concentrating on my physical state. Each day brings on a wealth of aches, and pains, and above all a lack of agility that makes even tying my shoelaces a bit of a chore. Yet it is in the mental realm, or rather the realm of mental attitude, where the idea of aging causes me distress.
From my years of living on this earth, blessed by the creator in being placed among individuals who believe in principles, I have noticed two characteristics of old people, or people who are getting old. This first attribute is that what is convenient for their life is automatically beneficial for everyone around them, desirable for the nation, and advances the cause of civilization. Secondly the most beneficial cause in their life is to avoid turmoil, avoid it at all costs. This is best achieved through the application of order, even if it means applying tactics which involve extreme coercion.
My youth, or more particularly the teenage segment of it, was a time of contradiction. For me, as for most teenagers, it was a time of (wonderful) discovery. Learning to drive a car, going on that first date, later the first romantic kiss with a girl, holding down a job. With each accomplishment came the promise of making a mark on life. Yet the background of that youth was the 1970's. Our civilization was experiencing profound challenges, to say the least. There was the great inflation, stripping millions of people of their hard earned wealth. A dogmatic cold war posed an existential threat to human life on this world, mocking God's bequeathing to our species the treasure of our globe. Insecurity on the part of politicians caused overreactions to crisis, such as the Canadian governments enactment of The War Measures Act in October of 1970 because two individuals, one a provincial politician, the other a British trade official, had been kidnapped by a fringe rebel organization.
Other burdensome challenges existed as well, nevertheless there was one wonderful condition which most western nations enjoyed. As a group we were young. Due to the baby boom between 1945-1965, when on average women of child bearing age had 3.4 children, the western nations were infused with young people. Young people, unlike old people, need turmoil to see which idea, which institution, which individual, are stronger. Most young people have not succumbed to the banality of convenience. Therefore they do not assume what is good for them is good for the nation. Young people impede the aging process of older people, who try to avoid their sedentary ways out of a sense of competition with youth. Above all, for very complex reasons, youth are central to the general happiness of our species. This is true of every race, creed, ethnicity, every demographic group, residing on this planet.
Take children away, and the ability to shape the future is extinguished. Take, for example, what occurred to Canada's first nations (Indians)!
For many decades First nations Children were forcibly removed from their parents care, for no justifiable reasons, to be educated in what was termed Residential Schools. Why they were taken was incidental. That they were taken was essential. It left both the children, and their parents, without hope. It was, and is, a strong example of how the presence of youth individually, and collectively, benefit the behaviour of human beings.
In the late 1970's, and into the 1980's, enjoying a foundation of abundance youth, western civilization attacked it's problems, and triumphed. Inflation, after a gruesome struggle, was tamed. Individual freedom was increased with the demise of the cold war, while there was a return to respecting constitutional government.
After these triumphs, buoyed with the exuberance of youth, the western nations, along with their allies, enjoyed a long period of prosperity, and tranquility. This lasted many years. Nevertheless there is a rule even more fundamental than the surety of death, or taxes. It is a natural law that everything among the creator's domain ages. This includes individuals, and countries. There are no exceptions!
In the post baby boom era(s) the bulk of the western worlds population decided to limit the number of children they would have to 1, or 2, per women of child bearing age. Gradually this resulted in a culture which followed the preferences of the aged in desiring convenience, while abhorring turmoil. When it's enemies struck against it, the people demanded of their political leaders measures, such as the Patriot Act, which increased order, while curtailing liberty. Abhorring turmoil did not mean that population abhorred it in other lands. Indeed, armies of many western aligned nations were authorized by the people's representatives to rampage across the landscape of the Middle East, Africa, and parts of Asia.
Today the once youthful, proud nations of Europe, Oceania, and North America, literally reek of decrepitude. Foremost among them is the United States, with a President who is 80 years of age, known to actually get lost in his own yard. Recent speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, is 82 years old, stops in mid sentences of speeches because she has forgotten what she was talking about. Minority leader in the United States Senate, Mitch McConnell, is 80 years of age, a man so clinging to personnel power that he has deliberately maneuvered the political party he belongs too into losing elections, so he can maintain his own individual position.
Predictably the aged, both within the political hierarchy, and society at large, have resorted to predation on the youth of their jurisdictions. Why? To preserve the life, and status, of the old!
When the Corona Virus spread throughout the world, aged men, and women, grasping the reins of political power , instituted lockdowns, and mandates. Since the virus did not harm the young in any meaningful way, the only reason for the decrees was to protect 60, 70, and 80 year olds, at the expense of their children, and grandchildren. Economic dislocation, and future impoverishment be damned, enjoying one, or two more years, before facing the Lords judgement, was imperative. Longevity trumped (excuse the problematic word) quality.
Finally there came the rollout of an untested vaccine, consisting of a dubious technology. Employed with draconian coercive measures, the vaccine has indeed given longer life to those in their senior years. Not so to the rest of the population. Since May of 2021, in North America, the rate of excessive mortality for those people 50 years of age, and under, particularly males, has climbed significantly. Life Insurance Companies in America report suffering financial stress due to this development, while Funeral service companies are experiencing windfall profits.
Meanwhile, again in North America, the growth in disability claims, including permanent disability, for those who are aged 50, and under, since May of 2021, has climbed through the roof. Data number Analyst Edward Dowd, a former Black Rock financial executive, sees the combination of excess mortality with excess disability, as a dagger through the heart of not only future financial recovery, but civilizational functionality as well.
As a result of contemporary health practices, the covid era has reversed the natural order of life. The old now enjoy healthier lives than the young, who are sickly, and prone to sudden death!
A sidelight to this issue are practices being introduced into the western education system, targeted at the young. First, and foremost, is the idea that their gender, the very essence of physical self awareness, has no scientific basis. It is an interpretive construct. Secondly, and more malignantly, that truth is not a universal construct, but, if knowable at all, an individual choice. As a result of these teachings when we, the old, are not killing, or physically disabling our children, we are emasculating them, or destroying their sanity.
This predation by seniors on their children, and grandchildren, will have an unhappy ending for all concerned. As Canada First Nations (Indians) sorrowfully were made to realize, there is no meaningful life, indeed no life at all, without the young. Tp prolong life at their expense is pure folly. In my own youth there was an attempt to explain the immaturity of children with the phrase, "The Folly of youth." As my senior years come upon me that phrase needs to be reworded to explain the banal malevolence of septuagenarians as, "The Folly Of The Aged!"