It’s sad to be spending the Christmas season in uncertain times. Covid-19 and its mutations are still around, impacting much on our finances. Its effect is more felt by senior citizens like me who depend on very meager government pensions. Plus the pandemic has doubly limited our chances of earning something beyond those pensions.
I may be fortunate a bit because, at least, I have the talent to write. But newspapering is a very different business in the age of social media. Traditional media firms are struggling to survive. Journalism is no longer an earning profession like it once was. I have been forced to bring my talent to traditional politics.
Adding to my predicament is that I married late. Which meant that I retired when my eldest was still in college. And schooling was disrupted by the pandemic. So I will have to wait a bit before my son graduates and starts earning.
Why am I telling you this? Because lessons can be learned from my experience. For youngsters, plan your future well. Do not be too engrossed with today. Old age is not something we leave to fate. There’s a reason why extended family is important to our culture.
It’s good that the government is increasingly paying attention to the needs of the seniors, although it is not enough. Some of my batchmates in elementary school and high school who were daring enough to leave the Philippines in the early years of the Pinoy version of a diaspora are reaping the benefits of getting old in some “first world” countries.
At this stage I am surviving. What happens after the elections is surely a concern. I am increasingly leaving my future not to fate but to faith. There have been times in my life when I endured the lows and made it back. I learned the truth in the biblical saying that God will provide.
I once had a “kababata” who grew up with a physical disability (his pupils were small) that made schooling for him difficult. He dropped out of his early years in school and grew up uneducated. I wondered then what his future would be as an adult. But he lived a normal life, got married and had children before he died of an illness. He became a trisikad driver while his wife sold vegetables near our chapel.
When I retired, I felt like I could still be employed, but our laws made that option for seniors rather limited. When compulsory retirement was mandated, it was with the promise that seniors’ benefits would be enough. That promise has remained unfulfilled of course. Our jobs were taken from us even if we were still able to work in exchange for benefits that can be considered crumbs.
Lawmakers should note that not all seniors are similarly situated. If the government cannot give enough benefits to retirees, then it needs to look into the correctness of the age mandated for forced retirement. After all, some government workers, like judges, are forced to retire only in their 70s. The law that aims to allow the old to spend their twilight years in bliss is instead making their lives difficult.