2023-08-04 23:00:09
Many countries are moving towards a super-aged society. How to avoid becoming a lowly old man is a topic for all modern people. (Photo/Provided by Foresight)
“Let the old be able to die, the strong to be useful, the young to be strong, and those who are reserved, widowed, lonely, disabled, and sick can all be cared for…” More than 2,500 years ago, Confucius, the most holy teacher, described an ideal world to his disciple Yan Yan At that time, the most popular totem.
It stands to reason that following thousands of years of refinement and system iterations, this “Liyun Datong Chapter”, which has been handed down for centuries, is more likely to come true in modern times than in the Spring and Autumn period of the troubled times. But I don’t want to think that the same sentence pattern now has a completely different scenery, which further expresses the helplessness of the times.
Under the teasing of reality, not only the totem of the Datong world has become more abstract and dreamy, but it is also closer to the contemporary society as the collapsed society described in the classic work “Dirty Old Man” by Japanese sociologist Takanori Fujita.
The desolation of the old queen has now become a universal curse, smearing many countries, and even the advanced society in the eyes of many people in the world is also doomed.
Is it the old Koreans who are obscene, or is the policy dysfunctional?
Take South Korea as an example. This peninsula, which conquered the world with Hallyu and sent the national brand to heaven, under the aura of idols, sent the country’s elderly to hell because of policy mistakes. The hidden core is really intriguing.
In Seoul, there are more than 200 subway express companies that allow seniors over the age of 65 to deliver goods with free subway cards. Although they can’t earn NT$200 per month, they have attracted countless silver-haired applicants. The oldest one is over 80 years old. These seniors work 11 hours a day, all year round.
Taking Lao Li as an example, in order to support his family, although the customer did not specify the delivery time, he ran to pick up and deliver the goods every time, and memorized more than 20 subway lines in the greater Seoul area to speed up the delivery and transfer. Time, in order to make more money.
Although optimistic, he claimed that he felt his soul and dignity awakened by shuttling, running, and earning his own living in the subway shoulder to shoulder, but it also aroused the silent cries of the dirty old Koreans.
Among the OECD countries, the employment rate of the elderly over 65 years old in South Korea is as high as 34%, which means that one out of every three silver-haired people is working, with a total of more than 5 million people, ranking first compared to 10% in the Nordic countries.
The Korean silver-haired people who are not at work, but on the way to find a job, on the surface, have realized the expectations of the aging society for “high labor participation rate of the silver-haired people”, but this group of gray-haired workers has a depression. heartbeat.
According to foreign media reports, many old Korean women are engaged in sex work for their livelihood. They are called Bacchus girls, because peddling Bacchus drinks is their common opening speech.
However, at a job fair for silver hair held in Seoul, thousands of job vacancies for security guards and couriers attracted tens of thousands of seniors to compete. In order to prove that they are competent, the elders at the scene even rolled up their sleeves to show the muscles on their arms.
You may say that the elderly in South Korea would say that it is out of interest and to prove that they are old and not give up. What’s more, it is because South Korea’s elderly poverty rate (43.4%) is three times higher than the average level of OECD countries.
The pension system is slow, and the poverty rate of the elderly in South Korea is nearly 50%
It is puzzling that this group of senior students who participated in the miracle of the Han River should enjoy the fruits of economic development. Why did they fall to this point?
First of all, in South Korea, where wealth is uneven, wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few people, and the elderly who did not earn a lot when they were young can hardly expect to have a good life in their old age. During the Asian financial crisis in 1997, as many as 2 million Koreans Unemployment, when the economy recovers, they are replaced by younger and cheaper labor, which also planted the long-term cause of old poverty.
At the same time, South Korea, which is deeply baptized by Confucianism, always entrusts the pension to their children. Therefore, Korean parents who hope to become a success spend all their life savings, spending an average of 10 years of the couple’s combined salary to raise their children. Unexpectedly, in the almost abnormally competitive Korean society, young people have a harder life than their parents, which makes the overwhelmed children unable to “support” the elderly, and the elderly dare not ask for it. Today, more than 70% of the living expenses of the elderly in South Korea depend on their children or relatives for 25%, and 65% are self-supporting.
However, in the face of this irreversible reincarnation, in addition to tears flowing unscrupulously on the face, it also gave birth to the extremes of the Korean elderly. From 2013 to 2017, when the overall crime rate in South Korea decreased, the crime rate among the elderly increased by 45%. Among them, if you look at serious crimes such as murder and robbery, it soared by 70%.
And when crime became a mental opium to relieve stress, the distorted personality also stained the eyes of self-mutilation. A 78-year-old lady committed suicide by drinking pesticide in the square, and the bag next to her was full of complaints once morest the society, “How might you do this to me?” It turned out that the government, because her son-in-law had found a job, The termination of her old age subsidies has aroused the attention of all South Korea.
In fact, the suicide rate of silver-haired people over the age of 70 in South Korea is as high as 42 per 100,000 people, much higher than other age groups. After all, for them, life is like a whale that is regarding to rot following being stranded. Such a slow death is far more painful than slow suicide.
However, the poison of the times that makes the elderly in South Korea become obscene, in addition to the declining birth rate and the inequality of wealth in society, it is more the government’s slow-moving pension system. According to the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index assessment, South Korea can only get the second-to-last rating out of seven ratings. Even South Korean officials admit frankly that it simply cannot afford to support the elderly, let alone those who do not fully qualify for pensions.
According to statistics from Korea Statistics Agency, the average life expectancy of Korean population in 2020 is as high as 83.5 years, which is one of the longest-lived countries in the world. Originally, the longevity of the citizens represents the country’s excellent economy and medical care, but what should a large number of senior students do? Issues that humans have never faced before.
The cover story of this issue coincides with Vision’s 37th anniversary. We selected this world-class topic and launched the special topic “Redesigning Your Centenary Life” to remind Taiwanese, whose aging problem is not as mild as that of South Korea, how to face the collective with caution. In the age of aging, how to compose your own “post-youth march” positively and optimistically is a good way to reconcile with old age.
Although the “Editor-in-Chief’s Words” is very gray this time, everyone is under the pressure of being out of breath, and each has his own despair. Although not all Korean elders have such a “dirty” life, it is worth our deep thinking. , what is really obscene, is it age, or is it the life plan or government strategy that knows the crisis is coming and numbs it?
Author of this article: Li Jianxing
(This article is excerpted from “Foresight Magazine August Issue 446”)
The article source of “Foresight Magazine August Issue 446”:vision magazine
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