Getting Old

There are three major problems experienced in that stage of life: declining health and disappointment with people and systems.

The declining health is obvious. You start wearing glasses, first just for reading, then also for seeing better at dusk and at distance. You cannot hear as well. You cannot run as well. You feel pain where there was none before. The back pain is especially cruel. Waking up one morning, going to the bathroom, sitting down on the toilet... and not being able to get up. Your body is breaking down.

This tree was too weak for the strong winds.

The disappointment in people happens throughout life: as a teenager you go on a organised foreign trip and lend money to some girl, so she can buy something she really really wants, and when you return she keeps the thing, but refuses to pay you back and her mother scolds you. You get in a car accident and the cop believes the lying truck driver, not you. You lease your apartment to your work colleague, while you work abroad, and they leave without giving you any notice or paying last month's rent. Your brother stops talking with you. Some of your friends stop calling you back. Your neighbour is dry cutting concrete 2 meters from your window, and doesn't give a f*ck about the dust blowing your way. These things happen, but they are more on an individual level. When you get older, you start being disappointed with large groups of the society. How the f*ck was a slimy pedophile, rapist, cheater, liar, and a murderer elected the president of the United States? How the f*ck was a bully, football hooligan, pimp, drug addict, and scammer elected the president of Poland? People are stupid.

Koala habitat "cleared" for car oriented, low density housing.

And then there is a problem of losing trust in systems. You see how politicians, together with state employees and a market research company rig a public consultation and environmental protection processes to get the result they want. You start seeing not just in the social media, but also in the mainstream media. You start seeing the problems with international rankings, sanctions against some countries, but not others, widely held political and historical opinions. You start noticing who owns what. You start seeing politicians turning a blind eye towards obvious injustice. Shaking hands with monsters, as if nothing happened. You see how little human life and health is worth to the people at the top. You start seeing improbable election results that the politicians don't want to investigate. You start seeing how the system is quick and ruthless against the weak and how slow and toothless it is against the powerful. You keep reading opinion polls indicating that the people want one thing, and see the politicians ignoring it and doing another. You read the Epstein files and you realise that even the worst conspiracy theories may be true, and the institutions tasked with catching criminals allow the most despicable people to walk free. The systems are unfair.

Forest destroyed for car oriented shopping in Gold Coast.

Is it any wonder that older people are often grumpy? Ignorance is bliss. Children are happy, because they don't know what is out there yet. Young people can be happy, if they are healthy, trusting and still not experienced. When you have an inquisitive nature, with age you realise that you saw too many bad things first hand, read too many books, talked with too many people. You know that everything is f*cked up.

Cold, snowy winters like this, typical in my youth, are becoming rare in Poland.

Is the only way to win (live a content life), to not play? Stop watching and reading news. Stop having deeper conversations. Stop doing yard-work. Stop wanting good things for people, animals, and the environment. Stop caring.

No.

Yes, your body is breaking down, people are stupid, systems are unfair, and everything is f*cked up, but...

You still have many years of life ahead of you. You will experience joy, learn new things, laugh and joke.

Not all people are stupid, and not in all respects. There are still people who, when presented with a reasonable argument, will listen, think and learn. People change too. Don't hold grudges forever.

Not all systems are unfair, and not all the time. Sometimes, one good person can make the outcome right. A journalist who cares about the truth, a judge who cares about justice, a politician who cares about the common good, or a billionaire with a mission that does not cause human misery or environmental destruction. It is important to do your part. It is important to vote. It's not true that all politicians are bad, or equally bad. Sometimes, you need to get off your high horse and vote for the lesser evil - I'm thinking of you Steve Wozniak, and you my younger brother. Your vote, assuming the elections are not rigged, may decide if my daughter gets the critical medical help when she needs it. It is f*cking personal. Not voting, staying quiet when harm is being done to someone else, makes you a bad person.

Being religious may help you, but religions have a history of diving us, so I would be very careful here not to fall into some form of "us versus them", which may lead to hatred and war. We are in this together, regardless where we live, how we look, or what we believe in.

There is an idea that Irena Sandler, Marek Edelman and Władysław Bartoszewski practiced: 

"People should be judged as either good or bad. Race, background, religion, education, or wealth don't matter. The only thing that counts is what kind of human being you are."