Life

Nobody Cares About The Future

Why we can’t change until it’s too late

It’s odd that we have so many aphorisms encouraging us to live in the present, because that’s all we do anyway.

We don’t seriously consider the future at all.

“Live for today, for tomorrow may never come.”

That’s shitty advice — unless you really don’t believe in the future.

I know a man who could not quit smoking — until the day he had a heart attack. After that, he was motivated. He quit smoking, changed his diet, started exercising and lost a few pounds.

He feels great now.

Of course, he could have felt this great years ago, and probably wouldn’t have had a heart attack, had he made these changes earlier.

He’s not stupid. He knew all along that his lifestyle could kill him. He fully intended to make changes — later.

In the future.

Another friend has been saying for years she’s going to quit smoking — but not now. Now is not the time.

She’s gonna do it in the future. Which means never.

Yet another friend plans to quit drinking — later. When the liver tests start showing damage.

“Why not stop now, before there’s liver damage?”

Nope.

That friend has decided to stop drinking only when it’s on the verge of too late.

I get it. Everyone I know is guilty of something similar. I sure am. So is every business and organization and unit of government I’ve ever seen.

Most of us don’t put aside enough money for retirement, even if we can afford it.

I didn’t use sunscreen for most of my life because I thought I looked better with a tan and what I looked like when I got older — in the future — was not a concern to me.

I did not truly believe I would ever be old. It was unthinkable to my young self.

We’ve known for decades that overpopulation was a danger to us all, but even after very good reversible contraception like IUDs were available, we didn’t encourage them and provide them to everyone who wanted one for free.

We still don’t.

Alarmingly few men who don’t want kids/more kids will agree to have vasectomies. (See link below if you wish to feel rousing anger.)

Climate change?

Eh, you say it’s gonna happen in the future? What future?

We knew in the 1970s that we needed to break our addiction to oil, but we were just as in denial as someone addicted to opioids. Only now, when it might be too late, are we thinking it might be good to develop other forms of energy.

Let me say it again: The literal end of the world is not a sufficient motivator.

Government doesn’t believe in the future.

My city did not properly fund municipal retirements for years. The can was kicked down the road until we ran out of road. Instead of the property taxes going for things like road repair and running city hall, they all had to be diverted into public safety pensions.

The money for every other city need has to come from somewhere else. Garbage pickup used to be covered from the general fund, but now we pay a monthly bill that keeps increasing. We have lots of new fees.

Your city just might be in the same boat.

My state, Illinois, certainly is. We didn’t put nearly enough money into the state retirement fund, either. It was so easy to say we’d do it later.

You already know we aren’t doing right by Social Security.

It’s the same thing we all do.

Definitely, we are going to start saving more money for retirement, but not this year because we are saving up for a down payment on a house first. Not next year, because we want to take a vacation. We need this vacation because we have not had one in years!

Don’t worry; we will definitely save more the following year. Probably. I mean, unless we have another good reason not to.

There is always a good reason to put off dealing with the future and it usually has to do with enjoying the present.

Yes, enjoying the present is important, too. Neither my mother nor my little sister got to live long enough to retire. You better believe I think about that a lot these days.

I’m not sure we all entirely believe in the future.

Nobody has ever come back from the future. You can’t see it or feel it. Maybe it’s an illusion after all. Should we really give up pleasure in the moment for the sake of a possibly mythical place?

Christians don’t believe in Hell sufficiently to stop sinning. Criminals don’t believe in prison. Drinkers don’t believe in cirrhosis. Sweet lovers don’t believe in diabetes.

To plan for the future require us to believe there will be one. Even if you scoff about doomers, you secretly know they’re right.

Our real aphorism we live by is this one:

Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.

About Michelle Teheux

I’m a writer and editor in central Illinois. Find me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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