As a student of The Way of The Livingness, and in my elder years, I am aware of the joy and sheer energy with which other students of this Way embrace life. A younger friend spoke one day of how she was in awe of this energy and commitment to life shown in the elder group and we discussed the different attitudes in society to old age and what is seen as retirement. Two words were predominant in the discussion. entitlement and comfort. |
I remember, growing up as a child in post war UK, the sense of entitlement from some who had served their country in one or both of the great wars. They felt proud of that service, and also that it granted them a level of respect and entitlement to a future where they would be cared for, especially when they reached the age of retirement – at that time 65 for men, 60 for women. As the country settled into some level of stability, and with increased prosperity, the younger generations also saw how retirement could be a relief from their work, and began to plan for it. It seemed that now everyone was entitled to that freedom from daily toil, that their work and contributions to state retirement benefit should enable them to live in whatever comfort they had become accustomed to, whilst allowing them the space to spend more time with family, travel, take up new interests, etc.
So is entitlement an expectation, a picture of a reward for a job well done? Or could a job well done, be done well, simply for the joy of it. I’d love to know what others feel.
And comfort? For each person it is different. I see that in the area where I live. There are many who are fairly affluent, have a nice home, enjoy plentiful food and drink, have regular holidays, are satisfied with reasonable health, and who see that as their comfort zone and complain loudly when it is threatened. Then there are others, deprived, struggling financially, poor housing, inadequate nutrition, few, if any holidays, and poor health, yet, shockingly, that is their comfort zone too. The affluent don’t like to admit the poverty in their midst, the deprived really don’t want to have much to do with the affluent either; they know their place. It is very ‘us’ and ‘them’, each solidly entrenched in their comfort zone: neither benefiting humanity as a whole.
Could comfort be the place we know well, where we can retreat when outside forces threaten our planned/accepted way of life?
Neither is a solid foundation for a society to thrive on. Divisions become greater, even more entrenched. No one likes to see the reflection too close of how life could have been, but for an accident of birth or the ‘wrong’ choices.
What would happen if we were all to let go of any entitlement to whatever ‘box’ of comfort we are in?
What if we all took an opportunity to work together, equally, with no judgement, joining all our skills and talents, gathering in brotherhood, and doing that job well. Not for individual entitlement, not for individual comfort, but for the joy of all.
Catherine. UK
If you enjoyed this article you may also like to read:
Never Too Late
So is entitlement an expectation, a picture of a reward for a job well done? Or could a job well done, be done well, simply for the joy of it. I’d love to know what others feel.
And comfort? For each person it is different. I see that in the area where I live. There are many who are fairly affluent, have a nice home, enjoy plentiful food and drink, have regular holidays, are satisfied with reasonable health, and who see that as their comfort zone and complain loudly when it is threatened. Then there are others, deprived, struggling financially, poor housing, inadequate nutrition, few, if any holidays, and poor health, yet, shockingly, that is their comfort zone too. The affluent don’t like to admit the poverty in their midst, the deprived really don’t want to have much to do with the affluent either; they know their place. It is very ‘us’ and ‘them’, each solidly entrenched in their comfort zone: neither benefiting humanity as a whole.
Could comfort be the place we know well, where we can retreat when outside forces threaten our planned/accepted way of life?
Neither is a solid foundation for a society to thrive on. Divisions become greater, even more entrenched. No one likes to see the reflection too close of how life could have been, but for an accident of birth or the ‘wrong’ choices.
What would happen if we were all to let go of any entitlement to whatever ‘box’ of comfort we are in?
What if we all took an opportunity to work together, equally, with no judgement, joining all our skills and talents, gathering in brotherhood, and doing that job well. Not for individual entitlement, not for individual comfort, but for the joy of all.
Catherine. UK
If you enjoyed this article you may also like to read:
Never Too Late