#头条创作挑战赛##理想家生活##记录我的2024#
Author: Kunik
Overnight, the world grew old
Recently, we have seen some data, some of which subvert our cognition, and also send chills down our spine.
According to this data, it is estimated that nearly 70,000 elderly people over the age of 65 in Japan will "die alone" throughout 2024.
According to the 2023 ranking of average life expectancy by countries released by the World Health Organization, Japan ranks first, with an average life expectancy of nearly 84 years.
We have always thought that a long life is a blessing, but the reality has slapped us hard.
Don't look at this as Japan's data, the situation in China is similar, and perhaps even worse.
As early as 2000, the proportion of elderly people over 65 years old in China exceeded 7%, and it began to enter an aging society. Just three years later, in 2023, this proportion will exceed 14%, which is already completely at the level of deep aging.
Some predict that by 2030, more than 20% of China's people will be over 65 years old. This is the current level of ageing in high-income countries. In another 60 years, the proportion of China's population aged 65 will be close to 50%, and by that time, there will be about 800 million people, almost 400 million people over the age of 65.
For a long period of time, Chinese people have always lived a rare life for 70 years. At the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the average life expectancy in China was less than 40 years old, which of course had the factor of war, but even if there was no war, there was never a problem of "aging".
The problems that the elderly in Japan are facing now are also facing or will be faced.
图 | pexels-brian-mari ©
And we have more challenges.
It took decades of development in other countries to slowly enter a deeply aging society. As for us, it is very euphemistic to say that running has entered, and it is simply an overnight deep aging. But even though we have become the second largest economy in the world, the per capita income level has not kept up. In 2023, the per capita GDP of Chinese will be about 13,000 US dollars, while Japan's is 33,800 US dollars, equivalent to 2.6 times that of China.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, China has had three birth peaks, namely the 50s, the late 60s to the early 70s, and the 80s, and then entered the era of family planning. According to 2023 data, there are more than 9 million births in the country throughout the year, but more than 11 million deaths, with a natural population growth rate of -1.47%.
The number of people born at the peak of fertility in the early stage is gradually entering old age, while there are fewer and fewer young people. Combined with the increase in life expectancy, the proportion of people over the age of 65 in China is larger than in most countries.
The sudden aging seems to have caught all Chinese off guard. Neither the concept nor the hardware is ready. I feel that I was still full of vigor yesterday, and I dare to teach the sun and the moon to change the sky, why do I have to retire today?
But in any case, the facts are in front of you, and whether you like it or not, you have to face it.
图 | pexels-minan1398©
In Korea, in 2012, the divorce rate for people over the age of 50 exceeded that of young people.
This shows that escaping marriage is not a desire of young people, but the consensus of many people. The difference is that the young people chose to enter the besieged city cautiously and were no longer full of curiosity and yearning for the life inside, while the old people who had entered the besieged city chose to respect their inner feelings and strive to escape. Originally, we thought that the old man with the old husband and wife would be able to live this life no matter what. The truth is that they are still trying as hard as they can to live the life they really want.
But it is clear that for many Chinese, it is not enough to simply leave a failed marriage to live their old age. There are too many more real problems that need to be solved urgently.
图 | Pexels-Maverazc ©
Raising children to prevent old age is impossible to prevent
Chinese often say that raising children prevents old age.
It is precisely because of this that we have placed special emphasis on the quality of filial piety in a person since ancient times.
But now, even if the children are very filial, they may not be able to prevent old age. I am afraid that the problem of old-age care will become an unavoidable pain for generations of Chinese in the future, and it cannot be prevented.
For a long time, Chinese held an almost stubborn belief that raising children could provide security for their old age.
Until the 90s, this premise was true.
Historically, the mainland has always been a country of agricultural civilization, and all people have relocated to the same land and lived on the same land for generations. Even if a small number of people will become officials through scientific examinations, leave their hometowns, and go to their places, there will definitely be other brothers left in their families. For example, when the brothers Zeng Guofan and Zeng Guoquan were officials abroad, the fourth brother Zeng Guoquan stayed at home and took care of the housework.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it began to move towards industrialization. However, the government has been strictly regulating household registration, and the population cannot move freely. Most people are still staying in their hometowns.
图 | pexels-taryn-elliott ©
At this time, it is common for three generations to live in the same house and four generations to live in the same house, and filial piety is possible, and raising children to prevent old age can of course be realized.
After the reform and opening up, especially in the 21st century, China's market economy entered a period of rapid development and soon became the world's second largest economy.
Transportation extends in all directions, especially the rapid development of high-speed rail. 9.6 million square kilometers of land, more than 10,000 miles from east to west, north and south, any place can be reached within 24 hours.
Coupled with the relaxation of the movement policy, a large number of people have left their homeland to work. The annual Hongda Spring Festival scene is a microcosm of the flow of Chinese population.
Of course, you can also give money, and you can also let elderly parents move with their children......
In theory, it seems that there are many choices to make, but in reality there are almost no alternatives.
More often than not, the children are raised to adulthood, and the children are indeed filial, at least they want to be filial. But when old age has come, it is actually no different from being defenseless, because it is simply impossible to prevent it.
The children are thousands of miles away and working hard, and some people who have spare energy may be able to give some money to their parents.
But supporting parents is the same as raising children, "cattle and horses are raised", and giving money is only the most basic, but it is far from enough.
图 | pexels-hieu-tran ©
For the elderly, companionship is far more important than money, but many people do have more than enough to do. 24 hours a day, the boss and the customer are not enough, for the better talking parents, I have to say sorry.
Someone has calculated an account,
What's more, many people who have left their hometowns find it even more difficult to maintain their own lives, and they still have money to send to their parents who stay in their homeland.
图 | pexels-preciousmemoriesvietnam ©
The overwhelmed post-80s generation who ran away is unreliable
Reality always goes back and forth and tosses hard against the post-80s generation.
Who let the post-80s generation live in a period of great change in China?
After 80s, now 35-45 years old, most people's children are not yet adults, but their parents are already old. Really in the old and the young.
Most of the parents of the post-80s generation were born in the 60s, the first birth peak after the founding of New China. They became fathers and mothers in the 80s, which happened to coincide with family planning.
Because of the large base, although there are more only children in the post-80s, the total number is quite a lot. Therefore, the post-80s generation is the product of the third peak of fertility in New China, and I am afraid it will also be the last.
In the 80s, reform and opening up were carried out at the same time, the market economy came as scheduled, the work of package distribution was gone, and many things relied on free competition.
So (I don't want to get married after 90 and 00, where can I mean having a second child?) ）。
Looking for a job to support a family, not only face a large number of competition from peers, but also the post-90s and post-00s to grab jobs.
Logically speaking, 35-45 years old, no matter how you look at it, is the golden age, and it is the backbone of a veritable mainstay. But now many companies have clearly stipulated that they must be "under 35 years old", and the same is true for civil servants. The youngest post-80s generation is exactly 35 years old this year. It is equivalent to the entire post-80s generation being discriminated against.
图 | pexels-seymasmasavascioglu ©
The post-80s generation joined the work at the beginning of the 21st century, which was a period of rapid economic development and rapid urbanization in China. It is in the past ten years that China's urbanization rate has risen like a monkey, and there is no one before or since. People rush into the city like a wave for development. The post-80s generation is the one who is driving this wave.
Unlike migrant workers, who migrate on time like migratory birds. The post-80s generation who plunged into the city headlong, the first ideal is to take root in the city.
So, during the period of soaring housing prices, countless post-80s generations emptied the pockets of generations of old and young to scrape together enough for a down payment and buy a house in the city. In the days to come, it is already very profitable not to have parents help pay off the mortgage, where will there be money and energy to support parents.
The Chinese have always relocated to their land. But with the reform and opening up, the Chinese have gradually accepted the fate of migration. A lot of people have started to get used to living in the city.
图 | pexels-szymon-shields ©
But the parents of the post-80s generation, before the arrival of this wave, have already spent the first half of their lives in their hometown, and they themselves are unwilling, in fact, it is indeed difficult to adapt to modern urban life.
As a child, the post-80s generation has used all their strength to come out, and it is impossible to go back. And the parents of the post-80s generation are powerless to ask them to change the living habits that have been fixed in the first half of their lives.
For us, we can only slowly accept a reality: raising children to prevent old age is already a reality. For his old age, he has to find another way.
图 | pexels-sametraw ©
Children should not be the subject of pension insurance
Speaking of this topic, someone is bound to scold me again. Label me a bully and a lackey of the West. It is said that I have tried to dismantle the fine tradition of filial piety of my ancestors for thousands of years, and I have bad intentions, and my sin is punishable and unforgivable.
Emotions are emotions, and reality is reality. What should be faced, always has to be faced.
Avoid many grand propositions and be specific to each of us in this life for the time being.
Why have children, raise children?
In any case, a living, independent person,
I always thought that when we decided to raise a child, we should only come out of one reason, and that was that we ourselves were willing and ready to be parents and have the ability to love a child well and escort him to grow up healthy and happy.
There should be no other utilitarian calculations.
Therefore, from the beginning to the end, we should not try to control the lives of our children and train them to be tools for their own retirement in the future.
Our love for them should also be to make them grateful, and when they grow up, they will give back to us in a filial way.
图 | pexels-huy-phan ©
Therefore, the love we give our children should not make them feel that it is a pressure or even a burden on their bodies. It should be light, and it is a help for them to move forward on the road of life.
So
If one day they come back. If we have the ability to stay where they are, and give them a harbor to live in, then we are already remarkable.
In the grand scheme of things, without the departure of the next generation, there is no hope for mankind to develop for the better. Therefore, we should not bind them in the name of filial piety. It's not fair to them, and it's not a good thing for humanity as a whole.
As for the issue of old-age care, now and in the future, we really don't want to pin it on our children.
So what should we do in our old age, is there only one ending of "dying alone"?
My personal thought is that when the future is old, the children will go out. Just find a few friends who can get along, eat, drink, and support each other. Whoever dies in the end, then it can only be said that it is arranged by God, accept fate.
There are many ways to do it in society.
A few years ago, Nanjing was piloting a new type of mutual pension - "time bank". Encourage those who can afford to use fragmented time to help and accompany the elderly in need, and these service hours will be recorded and saved. When you are old and need help, you can withdraw it and get the corresponding pension service. Time saved in the Time Bank can also be transferred.
Fujian is piloting a new type of Buddhist-themed temple nursing home with low fees. The elderly live in it, usually do some labor within their ability, help each other, and can also have fun and leisure together. It not only solves the basic survival problems, but also satisfies spiritual needs, and can also do a good job in hospice care.
In Hangzhou, some elderly people who have houses but their children are not with them invite young people who come from outside to live with them. You don't need to talk to the elderly when you're not working, and you can live together like a family. It's kind of to each according to what he needs.
图 | Pexels-Jan-van-Bizarre ©
In short, we are fortunate and unfortunate to be in an era of great change that is rare in a thousand years. Some troubles are inevitable.
For us personally, the first thing to do is to face the natural process of growing up and aging without fear.
图 | Pexels-Vovaflame ©
(Excerpted from the WeChat public account Guoguan)