The other day, I was riding along in my car with the radio on. I don’t recall the purpose of the particular advertisement, but it mentioned “Golden Years” in reference to some financial product. It got me thinking about language, and how it forms what we think, and how concepts are “packaged” for us to buy, or to vote for, or to accept without question
“Golden Years” – sounds like a reward, doesn’t it? All 56 virgins at the gates of heaven as just rewards for a life of service to the system. Picture that RV, with the sun setting, you and I secure in our retirement, with our wedding bands gleaming, and our teeth firmly in place with PolyGrip. If we work like good workers, we will earn this cosmic reward at the end of our lives… a time to kick back and take it all in
Were you aware that until recently, people didn’t really live much past 65? (that’s why they set the age at 65, as the average age people reached during the Lyndon Johnson administration was 63). People worked all their lives. There was no such concept as retirement. Actually (different topic) even the concept of childhood is relatively new. Children were expected to work as soon as they were able. People had families, and lived in big farmhouses with children and grandchildren. Dad would work as long as he could, and so would Mom. As they got older, the family cycle would move on, and the farm would pass to a son, and Gran and Gramps became childcare workers, domestic help, snapping peas in the kitchen. (You remember the Waltons don’t you?) Until they could die with dignity at home
“Golden Years”
Think about how just this one term encapsulates all kinds of expectations and built in behavior
If we questioned these things more often, I wonder what kind of society we’d build instead.
