Old and wise

My political knowledge is shaky to say the least. So I can hardly say anything about the political situation here in the Netherlands now but there are probably new elections coming up again because the negotiations went wrong yesterday. One party of the mixed government stepped out of the negotiations because he couldn’t deal with the proposed cuts to reduce the national debts. The party causing this political standoff is led by a man who is known for his rudeness in debating and opposing against immigrant policy mainly. I couldn’t care less of his departure because he makes me feel ashamed to be Dutch but unfortunately he has quite a lot of people agreeing with him.

The effects of the financial crisis hit us all eventually and without necessary cuts it seems impossible to me to break free of that downward spiral. The problem is that when you’re hit hard by those cuts and witnessing at the same time other people flourish, it’s human nature generally to blame someone or something other than oneself.  Thousands of people are in financial troubles because of mortgages. Until a few years ago the sky was the limit to finance a house for couples with double income. A huge part of the financial troubles rose after divorces and break-ups because the leaving partner had to be bought out of the mutual property. There are only a few here to admit that their original mortgage was beyond their capacity, or at least that their commitment to their relationship was not so strong. Of course this is only one lousy example but my point is that the general attitude about the crisis reminds me of one of the major symptoms of a depressive disorder: loss of confidence or self-esteem. To feel helpless to manage one’s life or resolve problems.  Sobriety seems to be a dirty word. Every group seems to have its own worries. Students expect to be helpless when the governmental student allowance will be cut short. Teachers and caregivers in health department are already squeezed to their limits because of the relatively low payments compared to the workload. And the number of laid off people is rising. So, very little volunteering for carrying the cuts.

A good thing is that some creative businesses are blooming these days. I learnt in a television program last week about so called repair-cafes. You can bring every kind of broken household equipment there to be repaired. Good for your wallet and good for the environment as well. There must be many other initiatives like that but I can’t think of more at the moment. I wish I could ask my granddad how they dealt with the crises they were facing back in the last century. They managed so we can do that too.

Why is it that in Western society we treat elderly people like they don’t know that much? Put them away in nursing homes and decide for them what’s best, that’s how it is here. There still are cultures around the world where the oldest people in the community are being asked for advice. Maybe it is because computers have been taken over Western life. Not all contemporary older people are familiar with computers and smartphones. My mom is seventy five and even though she is far ahead of her peers in staying tuned with modern life, not surprisingly she needs more explaining about how to use her new gadget, a Samsung Galaxy, than my kids. While explaining to her how she can send messages other than textmessages she is already used to, I realized that there is more than a technical aspect in it. These days you sent a message and depending on how busy the receiver is you’ll get an answer, right away or within a few days time. Because the ones you’re contacting are in touch with all their social networks at the same time and handle the requests in between everything else of their daily lives and sometimes simply overlook your message because they have an overload of requests. It is not a matter of not thinking of you, older mom or dad or grandparents, but attainability still has its limits for young people too. Although seemingly cool to have all day round access to the internet, sometimes we, younger people, forget to live in the real world. That’s the generation gap. Most elderly though modern people turn off their computers after checking their e-mail and go on with their normal life.

I am glad that my mom still lives in her own house, still works and likes that, has an open mind for modernism and is still mobile. It is upon us to realize that the personal touch can never be replaced by modern technology and that we have a choice to visit them and dropping a thousand other obligations. Because they make us see that there is more to life than being virtually connected.