Glancing Back at a Vanishing World.

It was reputedly Socrates who complained that the youth of his day were rude, uneducated and had no respect for their elders, although he was probably not the first to do so. The so-called youth of his times wanted change, more for themselves but without the responsibility, less stress and pressure to perform or succeed, and recognition of themselves as individuals. There is little difference today, with the up and coming generations moving for change to suit their own values and, as they see it, to fit better into a changing world. And they are not wrong, many of us were the same when we were young. The difference now is that this new generation is changing what we changed, adapting it to their own vision, and taking our vision, as the older generation, away from us. What, then, did we fight for?

The argument is, of course, ridiculous. We shaped our world – individual more than collectively, although in some ways as a society – as we saw fit. We fought against the staid and strict manners of our forefathers, as they had done to theirs, as should be able to accept change for this new world being created. And yet.

And yet, as generations before us, we take a look back to the past, the times of our youth, the successes of our lives, and regret the changes. A somewhat narcissistic approach, perhaps, but there are things to be regretted, things which we considered worthwhile, or which we had inherited and kept. I, for example, regret the change in the manner of communication, in the changes we are seeing to staying in touch with people. At the same time I see, and laud, the changes which mean we have better communication, especially over long distances where, once, many months might pass before we received news of family and friends abroad. But I also see these lines of communication being used for people who are close at hand, who we might see on a very regular basis, and I regret the loss of intimacy, the loss of personal conversation, of face-to-face, personal interaction. I regret the loss of the personal touch, replaced with typefaces and emojis.

That is not to say I am right to wish to keep them on behalf of others, but certainly for myself. I can understand that some means of communication are simply no longer viable in a capitalist society where profit is the bottom line. At the same time I regret that profit is the bottom line, as it leads to a massive loss for society; one need only take a look at healthcare to understand how the fight for ever greater shareholder satisfaction through increased profits destroys the fabric of society, family and life. There are some aspects life where the business world should have no say whatsoever, and I hold that to include such basics as the postal service, healthcare, education and the Arts. As soon as an accountant meets up with a shareholder, the value of the aesthetic goes down, far quicker than the value of the bottom line goes up.

So I am sad to see the postal service in Denmark ditching the delivery of letters, as much as I am in seeing the same services in other countries concentrating on delivery of parcels to the detriment of letters, because that is where the money is. I am sad to see the destruction of the postal service in the United States, the move away from personal service in banks and stores. I am sad to see the loss of those things which were all a part of my life, from the first moments through to now, and which I have almost been able to take for granted. At the same time, I wish the new generation the strength and resolve to shape their lives to the best of their ability, and hope that they too will fight against the monster of the machine, the bottom line and the need for shareholder value so that, when the time comes, they do not need to have regrets when glancing back at their vanishing world.