By Dan Hazen / Herald Forum
“They look great on older gentlemen.”
She was referring to the new pair of glasses I was wearing. She meant it as a compliment; and I took it as a compliment. But there was that sort of, “back hand” to it, too.
My wife and I say we are Junior Old Folks. Sometimes I refer to myself as an apprentice Old Guy. Most days, I don’t feel like an older gentleman because my interior world seems much the same as it did when I was 14: Highly motivated by the approval of others, too self-conscious and afraid of failure. Yet, I’m also still drawn to adventure and irreverent humor, so it’s not all depressing.
But how does someone of my generation (either very young boomer or very old X’er) step into the role of “older gentlemen” beyond just his fashion choices? I ask because I’m afraid we’re failing the upcoming generations and denying them the old folks they deserve.
I was privileged to have as my old folks WWII veterans, survivors of the Great Depression and those who got us to the moon and back with little more than a slide rule. Loggers and fishermen, farmers and poets. Yeah, they drank too much. Yeah, they were too concerned with the status quo, but that was largely because they suffered and wanted to protect us from the same fate.
The assortment of old folks currently in office (no pun intended), the ones who hosted Woodstock, then invented hedge funds and reverse mortgages, are enjoying what their parents set out to accomplish: to be better off. Yet it seems to have stopped there. The Me Generation’s chickens are coming home to roost. There seems to be little effort to leave things better for their kids.
According to Statista, when you total the money tied up in IRA’s, 401(k)s, government pensions and the like in 1995, you get a number like $13.3 trillion. In 2021 it’s $39.3 trillion. This does not include Social Security benefits. Those are dollars that don’t produce anything. They don’t work. Yes, they accumulate interest, but that’s based on the collective assumption that the next generation is going to come along and make the economy grow; not just grow but accelerate. So, in a sense, this cadre of retirees is betting their current lifestyle on the future labor of their grandkids. A reverse inheritance.
Yes, yes. I’m aware of the many exceptions you’re currently shouting about. Yes, these trillions of dollars serve as “capital” for Monsanto, Exxon, and Berkshire Hathaway (by the way, is that what you planned; to be a stockholder in Monsanto?). And yes, I’m aware that you “worked for everything you got.” I’m also aware that you just “played by the rules.”
But for just a moment, step away from your own personal story and look at the collective situation we’ve created. Notice how precariously we are balanced on a tight rope strung taught between 18- to 50-year-olds who must deliver an economy that grows 10 percent per year without fail, and the other side: a planet that is straining under the abuses of those economics.
Now think about your grandkids. That’s what apprentice Old Guys do: Think about their grandkids.
Dan Hazen is the community pastor at Allen Creek Community Church in Marysville.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
