Answers to this question are many, thousands perhaps, and none is wrong.
We hear about the disappearing of intergenerational solidarity all the time in the last years. Young people believe they will never enjoy retirement pensions, older people believe young ones to be spoiled and lazy… The story is very old and it repeats itself. Currently existing economic and retirement insurance systems don’t work anymore, they are collapsing. Is intergenerational solidarity limited to current economic systems and pensions? Is it measured in money and imposed on us from the outside, by those who rule our society? The answer is: it can be, but only if we allow it!
Is intergenerational solidarity limited to current economic systems and pensions? …it can be, but only if we allow it!
It is clear that we live in a society of alienated people who have no time for each other. We live in consumers’ society of fake splendor, of shopping malls and other places of amusement. We pretend there is no death, old age, poverty and sickness. As we grow up the prevailing socialization program teaches us: “Life is a constant battle for survival and you are not good enough (no matter what you do)!” In such atmosphere people are often afraid. When afraid, we don’t give, but instead we save for worse times. That forms a vicious circle that strengthens fear.
Instead of learning from their wisdom, elderly people are presented to us as inconvenient burden. The young ones have difficulties in finding a job and are excluded from actively co-creating our society. Generation in between is fearfully silent. Why? Because we believe others – usually economists and financiers who speak of “no more intergenerational solidarity” in their high profile articles and TV shows.
In such social climate individuals are slowly awakening, realizing this won’t work and that it can be different. The number of those looking for new options and opportunities outside “given formal boxes” is growing. They realize we won’t survive without helping each other. I am getting to know more and more of such people and for that I am deeply grateful!
They are people following a simple system: each helps out the best way he/she can. You give me your self-grown tomato, I repair your car. If you can’t give me anything in return now, you will when I need it. More and more people seem to realize that such way of functioning is not madness – as we are taught to believe by the system which is selling us the program of eternal competition where others are a threat – but on the contrary, it might be the only way of creating a society worth living in. A society that can exist also in a long run. Cooperation I am talking about is not merely intergenerational solidarity, but cooperation in widest meaning of the word. Let me tell you a funny thing that happened to me in a small countryside store and that illustrates this perfectly!
About 2 years ago our valiant legislators tried to solve recession problems by changing the Bill For Preventing Work and Employment Under The Table. It prohibited free “neighboring help” inside registered profession of an individual. In simple terms: if your friend is a hairdresser (this is his profession), he is not allowed to cut your hair for free anymore. The thing raised many polemics and irritated me, because it was punishing ethic behavior and of course didn’t solve any recession problem at all! Then one day I stopped in a small store where a group of old men was chatting loudly. They were making fun of this bill “rolling on the floor” laughing. “Janez, I can’t hang at your house for dinners anymore, because your wife’s profession is a cook!” “Blimey, Polde, we are not allowed to mow your lawn together anymore, cause I am formally a farmer, hahahaha!” I couldn’t help myself, before I knew it I was laughing with them loudly. These old men made my day! They showed me that common sense hasn’t left Slovene heads yet no matter what those in parliament do. It was clear that they would continue to help each other and period!
So, let us just follow our own common sense and heart and listen to those in need! Let us become aware of our talents, knowledge and all the good we can do with them! Let us know: each time we do something, help someone just because it’s a right thing to do, we help ourselves the most. Cosmic laws and folk wisdom say: “What you sow is what you reap!” and “Kindness comes back.” Imagine a community in which another person is not competition, but an ally who can teach us something and we continue that circle. Imagine just a small village functioning like this, not to mention a town… Let us start with small things, for example greeting our neighbors kindly. The circle will grow.
Therefore it is probably useless to ask: »Who is giving and who is receiving?« It is better to realize: »Who gives he/she receives!« From there on all further debates about solidarity become obsolete.