Down the road a bit from where I’m currently residing is a retirement village for airforce veterans. It’s called RAAFA Cambrai Village undoubtedly named after the battle of Cambrai in 1917. This retirement complex is a world tucked away from the world.
Aside from the entrance signs and the ring fencing the village looks, at first glance, like any other well kept suburban area. Of course it has greater amenity density than other standard suburban zones. It has a heated indoor swimming pool for use by the residents exclusively. It has a community centre, medical centre, local store and bowling green all of which service the small, by comparison to normal suburban areas, number of residents.
The standard to which the area is kept far exceeds what you’d see in a typical urban area of Perth. Everything from the gardens to the houses and streets are maintained to a very high standard.
I suppose you’re wondering, by this stage, what is my point? Yeah so what DB? It’s a retirement village. What’s the big deal? And you’re right. It’s no big deal on the face of it.
As I was walking around the grounds, perhaps illegally as the sign below indicated.
I couldn’t help but wonder about the fortunate life being led by the Boomer generation. Please understand that I don’t begrudge them a lifestyle of comfort and luxury. It would be ideal if we could all see out our days in such a state of ease. My feelings on the subject are more akin to a lament. When I see the ordered and perfectly manicured gardens I think about the homeless. When I spy the many amenities on offer I consider the standard of living of the greater proportion of the population.
The generation now retired and slowly leaving us is one we will never match in terms of wealth. Looking from the outside in, the physical opulence is observable but what really enriches the Boomer class is the systems and wealth accumulation schemes they have implemented. So much of what they receive is free or at very low cost because of programs they have designed to assist them in their cradle to grave care. Nurses and doctors on call, cheap meals , discounted transport, low cost housing and maintenance, rebates and pensioner concessions all contribute to making their retirement one of ease and comfort.
Just like the little oasis that is this particular retirement village, their world view is a rarified one - an outmoded perspective on life that actually destroyed itself through the impossibility of its sustainability. And I like the Boomer world view. In essence it has good values: community, friendship, respect, dignity, honour, grace … there’s a nostalgia in me for this bygone world where you say hello to your neighbours, where the home is maintained spick n’ span, where you “know your place” in the scheme of things, where you respect one another and the law (because the law is just).
The basic life trajectory, at least around here in sleepy little Perth, was one of get a job, get married, raise a family, buy a house, go on a few holidays, then retire with a lump sum of cash and a nice home. After that you might like to buy a caravan and tour this vast land eventually selling the home for an exorbitant sum and see out your days in Cambrai or some other such place. It’s a perfectly fine existence and in some ways it works. At least it certainly worked for that generation as they continue to maintain their high degrees of personal wealth.
The Boomer class maintain these values because of the self reinforcing idea of their correctness. They only need point out their material success and plentiful bank balances as evidence of their correctness. It is hard for them to see beyond their discount prescription bespectacled nose.
The world of the Boomer is so many of the things we all desire, for who doesn’t want safety, comfort, security, compassion, respect, community etc.? Of course the foundations of the prosperity of the West are built upon the exploitation of the third world and the disregard for the natural world. It is a sad truth that this pristine community of mowed greens, hanging baskets, flag poles and painted lattice are the product of the great abundance offered by the energy dense discovery of oil and gas. The by gone era of Newtonian notions of a definite world, the modernist era of discoverable truths and perhaps even the faith in a god and afterlife salvation instilled the Boomer generation with a concrete plan for existence.
But even the Boomers are starting to cotton-on to the fact that their lifestyle is disappearing and it might not be so simple as “young people today have no respect.” Don’t get me wrong, they finger wave and tisk tisk with great regularity but it is inescapable to note, even to some of them, that greater forces are at play, shaping contemporary society in ways they don’t understand. For many however, and I hear this with great regularity from this elderly subset, it is too late. It is too late for them to affect change, it is too late for them to change themselves and it is too late even for them to try to make any meaningful understanding of the situation. This is probably partly true and partly an excuse.
The Boomer generation is protected by their privilege, their wealth and values. The physical weakness of their bodies concerns them but they have the disposable income to afford private and home security. Property and life can always be protected if you have the money and the legal standing to secure it. Most of our laws are designed for the protection of private property, another mechanism by which this generation has ensured their long term viability.
As the world of the Boomer recedes from our collective zeitgeist I muse over my own future. Will I ever be afforded the dignity of in home care when I can no longer walk and feed myself or am I destined to huddle underneath a railway bridge with the rest of us oldies for shelter as the rain pours down? Will society look after me when I’m old and sick and no longer employable? Because the wealth that props up the current generation of elderly is fast evaporating.
Compounding this problem is the ever increasing numbers of elderly. The prosperity of the previous generation has also afforded us longer lifespans. We’re a top heavy society with comparatively too many old to young. Simply put, the future cannot afford the old.
The government just wants us to keep working, ideally to never retire, working right up to the day of our death. The government wants us to save more in superannuation so we can fund our retirement should we ever stop working. Indeed it appears as though this will be the first generation, my generation (Gen X) that will be less well off than the previous and that trend is only likely to continue throughout the coming generations.
It is unfortunate that our world has conspired, either by purposeful design or accident, to rob the coming inhabitants of a dignified later life. As if getting old isn’t hard enough, we now must endure it with less. I don’t begrudge the residents of Cambrai, I only wish that we could all hope to have something akin to the level of care that these people receive. But it doesn’t look like the world will be accommodating us.
Please enjoy my music:
Don't forget that there's a lot of us "Boomers" (I was born at the very end of that generation) who absolutely do not live like this and have been fighting "the man" our whole lives.
Ditto what Rob D wrote. I left "home" and hit the road at an early age . Very early. In an old van with a dog . Never worked for the "man" . Left "my country" almost 40 years ago because no way was i going to work 50 years to live in that retirement village.
I moved , really moved, more than 20 times . I will not be going to my death wishing I had lived differently , had seen and done a lot . Am i happy ? Well....... I have a roof and running water and look better than most my age. And, i was smart enough to not take that jab .
But ..........i am headed for the last chapter . I think it would be tough anywhere... Not to be able to run and jump and yell yahoooooo . In that sense, we are all the same at some point. I never regret doing life differently than most
Don't forget that there's a lot of us "Boomers" (I was born at the very end of that generation) who absolutely do not live like this and have been fighting "the man" our whole lives. It's unfair to generalize an entire generation. Also, don't forget, that many "Boomers" were duped and hoodwinked just like the generations that follow have been. The long arm of the man has been hard at work manipulating the population for generations. I do get where you are coming from. But as I see it, there's a lot of blame to go around. Great post!