Legacy MattersEdmund Burke wrote in 1790 that the very nature of the state is a contract between generations, "a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born."
James Pinkerton in a masterful review of the Corpse Bride asks why the movie isn't truer to its Russian folk tale roots. The original tale has roots in the Ukranian-shetl 'cholera wedding' held in a cemetery that concludes when the living bride cradles the corpse bride in her arms and says,
Don't worry, I'll live your dreams for you, I'll live your hopes for you, I'll have your children for you, I'll have enough children for the two of us and you can rest in peace knowing that our children and our children's children will be well cared for and will not forget us.
Pinkerton ponders the duty the dead impose upon the living
a duty that's both awe-inspiring and empowering. One can feel crushed by that burden, but one can also feel inspired to great feats -- the point of the [movie Chariots of Fire.]
He says
Death at a young age doesn't loom over us today, as it did in centuries past. What we must live with instead is in a way even more mysterious and ominous -- the lack of young life.
The birth-dearth, the too-little examined consequence of an aging society, is having profound consequences in Europe. It will roil our societies.
Seeing stories of the birth dearth and some countries' response of awarding stipends to women who have three or four or more children, I'm wondering whatever happened to the idea of overpopulation.
Wouldn't it be a good thing for the earth to reduce its population? Has anyone put any thought and research into what steps we could take regarding economies and other consequences of fewer people for a smoother transition? Do you know anything about this, Jill?
Posted by: Ronni Bennett at September 28, 2005 8:42 AMRonni
I don't think overpopulation is the problem you think it is. And I don't think reducing overall population is necessarily good for the earth. There is overpopulation in some major cities as people flee the countryside to search for a better and more modern life. With the Internet, I expect that to decline within a generation or two,
Far more troubling are the population crashes in Europe, especially Russia. If you don't have babies, you don't have a future. And the elderly are particularly vulnerable as there will be no one to pay their generous social pensions.
I think a smoother transitions are only possible if people are responsible for their own retirement and don't depend on younger workers to fund it.
I have faith on the human resiliency to muddle through somehow, but some societies and some cultures will be lost.
Ronni
I don't think overpopulation is the problem you think it is. And I don't think reducing overall population is necessarily good for the earth. There is overpopulation in some major cities as people flee the countryside to search for a better and more modern life. With the Internet, I expect that to decline within a generation or two,
Far more troubling are the population crashes in Europe, especially Russia. If you don't have babies, you don't have a future. And the elderly are particularly vulnerable as there will be no one to pay their generous social pensions.
I think a smoother transitions are only possible if people are responsible for their own retirement and don't depend on younger workers to fund it.
I have faith on the human resiliency to muddle through somehow, but some societies and some cultures will be lost.