WELFARE SYSTEM FOR RETIREES

Shares reasons why it is important for the society to take interest in the concerns of the elderly and the retirees

with someone in pain, we instinctively feel for that person; when someone reaches out to us in a time of distress we feel touched. Most of us would also agree that compassion has something to do with what it means to lead a good life. So it’s no small coincidence that compassion turns out to be the common ground where the ethical teachings of all major traditions, religious and humanistic, come together.”

However, the author went further to note that most societies “lack a coherent cultural framework for articulating what compassion is and how it works. To some people, it’s a matter of religion and morality, a private concern of the individual with little or no societal relevance. Others question the very possibility of selflessness for human beings, and are suspicious of sentiments like compassion that have other people’s welfare as the primary concern. As a well-known scientist once remarked, ‘Scratch an altruist and watch a hypocrite bleed’. At the other extreme, some people elevate these qualities to such heights that they are out of reach for most of us, possible only for exceptional individuals like Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, and the Dalai Lama. Compassion then becomes something to be admired at a distance in great beings, but not relevant to our everyday lives.”

At the end of the day, we find that what truly benefits society is an acknowledgement that in carrying out our lawful duties and in prescribing those duties in statutes and regulations, we owe a duty to the most vulnerable in our societies to ensure that their rights and entitlements are not strictly dictated by factors such as available resources or prescribed entitlements but also by compassionate instincts that require the society to go far and beyond the call of duty to care for the most vulnerable among us.

In a 2015 article published in The Guardian Newspaper of London,2 the editors attempted to address the approach of the society to retirees and older people. It noted that “society is failing to value and harness older people’s skills, knowledge and experience.” It then quoted statistics from a survey showing that “about 92% of the 1,250 respondents to the ageing population research believe that older adults’ contribution to society is not recognised. One said: “On the whole the public view older people as a drain on society instead of an asset.” Another added: “Older people are mostly seen as a bundle of problems and service-needs. Their strengths, skills and knowledge are not harnessed or appreciated in a society infatuated by the cult of youth.”

The Guardian then stated its own finding that, “In fact, older people in the UK contribute an estimated £61bn to the economy through employment, volunteering and caring. And, according to Ros Altmann, the UK government’s champion for older workers, being 50, 60 or 70 in the 21st century is no longer a predictor of physical or mental abilities. It certainly does not signify that someone has failing health and will soon be unfit to work, or no longer able to learn new skills.”

The editors further noted that, “with numbers of people aged 75 and over expected to double by 2040 and the proportion of older people in the UK due to rise from 23% to 28% of the population by 2030, it is vital to plan for the necessary services to support our ageing society.” This observation led them to ask the following questions: “How can we create a society where people are not so worried about getting old, where there is less stereotyping of older people, more inter-generational contact, and more opportunities to see older people as assets? What are the issues around financing retirement and how do we make sure older adults are not excluded because they don’t have enough money?

Now, I am not aware of the availability of equivalent statistics in Nigeria but I suspect that similar deductions can be made, if not in terms of actual numbers, but in the overall substance and conclusions. The questions raised in that article are therefore worthy of our consideration. While I am not permitted by space and occasion to address all the questions raised in that article, I will share reasons why it is important for the society to take interest in the concerns of the elderly and the retirees. Most of these reasons were previously publicly shared by Sai Santosh in a published article.

First, we should care because they are our mothers and fathers. They are our first teachers. They teach how to love, how to care, how to give, how to forgive, how to accept, and most of all they are our backbone of support. Without their endless sacrifice during our early years, we would not be capable of what we are today. We need to care for our retirees and the older citizens because they deserve to be cared for.

Second, we should care because our retirees and the older citizens have more knowledge and wisdom than any one of us. Their experiences through the turbulence of storms that life takes them through yield great wisdom. They have come so far and they have learned so much, we have a responsibility to learn from that wisdom. So take the time to listen to what they have to say.

Third, our retirees and the older citizens have either acquired, created or have been brought up with a set of morals, values and/ or principles in their life. They may not apply to our own but the least we can do is see how those values impacted their lives. We can learn a thing or two from adopting those values. Learn the right and wrong. Have the insight into a set of rules that we can outline for ourselves to follow and live by. Our elders would want the best for us and they would be more than willing to tell us what set of rules and guidelines have made them successful and hopefully, peaceful.

Fourth, our retirees and the older citizens worked hard for our today. They sacrificed their yesterday for our today. We owe today’s comforts to their efforts yesterday.

Fifth, they have invaluable experience and insight. For this simple reason, we must appreciate them. We may or may not know of all the ups and downs they have faced in life but they have definitely gained experience that is worth respecting and learning from. Our elders may hide much pain from us because they don’t want us to feel the pain, the least we can do is appreciate them for all that they have gone through—gained and lost—and learn from their insight into situations and circumstances.