Thoughts After Turning 50 Years Old

I Wish I Felt Better About the Future

In September 2020, I hit the ripe old age of 50 years old. I was not looking forward to this year at all, considering 50 is a large milestone in someone’s life. I thought it was bad enough when I turned 40 years old, but now that I am 50, it seems so strange.

Early Days

I have lived through some interesting times. I grew up as a kid in the 1970s. In the 1980s, I was a teenager growing up with MTV and the AIDS epidemic. I remember the Challenger 1986 space shuttle accident, which was absolutely horrifying. I got to see the Berlin Wall come down.

When I was young, I worked at a carwash and remembered all the fancy cars coming and having these giant antennas on the top. They were sporting the first cell phones. I remember everyone in their fancy clothing carrying around this giant brick of a phone, which would be the start of our cell phone revolution.

What’s the Internet?

I remember going online for the first time with a 14.4 modem and listening to it screech as I connected to the server. This is when you could only connect to the Internet with a telephone and not through broadband. I remember being giddy with excitement when I saw my first text lines and pictures on the Internet. I thought to myself, “this is going to be something big.” We take the Internet for granted, and today's kids do not know what it is like not to have the Internet.

The 2000s Spiral Down

The 2000s have not been all that great. I lived through 9/11 and watched this horror unfold live on television. I knew then that the world would never be the same, and it really has not been since that horrible day. As I move into my fifties, I wonder what will happen to this world and if we have the capacity within ourselves to make the world a better place. I hope that this is the case, but I have my reservations as this world seems to be so unstable. It seems more unstable than it was when I was a kid.

“Getting older is fine. There is nothing you can do to stop it so you might as well stay on the bus.” — John Byrne, writer

I Feel Grumpier

In a way, I feel a little bit grumpier than I did when I was younger. This is not because I am getting older. It is because I have been around long enough to see the absolute bullshit that goes on in this world, and there are days when it annoys me. I think why can’t we get along with each other? It seems so simple to me, but we have failed to do this in so many ways. This seems to get worse year after year. I feel somewhat safe and content here in Canada. I wonder what will happen to America in the coming years, especially after their election.

I Worry about the Climate

I had seen climate change quite a bit from when I was a kid. I have seen more storms, fires, and more disasters than I ever thought possible. This indicates that there are problems with our planet, which is a direct result of our activities. I am not too confident as I move into my 50s that we will solve these issues. I think that climate change will get a lot worse, and it may put some countries on the defensive and create more instability.

143 Million People Could Soon Be Displaced Because of Climate Change -World Bank

I still wonder why we cannot get together and collectively work to solve this issue. It impacts everyone on the planet. We are more concerned about our profit and our bank accounts than we are about the planet. I can see incredible instability moving forward into the 2020s. This is a decade I am not looking forward to. I wish it were different, but it’s not. There are far too many problems that I do not think we will be able to address.

Job Loss and Pandemics

This new decade has just started as being one of the worst years I can remember. I do not think in my life I have seen a year that has been this bad. The only year I think that was worse than this is 2014, when both of my parents died. There is nothing positive about the year 2020. I am hoping that 2021 is a little bit better, but I’m not so sure.

The rise of robots and automation is projected to lead to the displacement of 20 million manufacturing jobs by 2030. - US NEWS

With COVID-19, we have seen a lot of job loss, which does not seem to be slowing down all that much. A lot of people are still afraid to go out and shop, and it is forcing stores to close down. In my small town, our mall had two more small stores close up shop. These are your typical mom-and-pop operations, and this virus is impacting these stores a lot more than the big-box chains like your Walmart or Amazon.

I wonder where the jobs will come in the future as we start to automate things even more than we are now. Robots seem to be the wave of the future, but I do not see how we’re going to replace all those jobs taken over by automation. I can see many more people being out of work, especially young people who are only starting their working careers.

I do not see a robust economy and everyone having a job in the near future. I see rising costs and the inability to control these costs. Home prices are skyrocketing, food is getting more expensive, and it takes more and more money for each individual to live a normal life. Will these costs keep going up in the 2020s, or will we reformat our economy so that it works for everyone?

The Future

Despite all the concerns that I have, I hope that the future is a bright one. Many people in this world want to make life on this planet better for everyone. It is time for all of us to solve the issues that need to be addressed. We cannot continue to fight with each other. We are all the same. We are all human beings. As I move into my fifties, I hope we can find it within ourselves to see this planet more in terms of human beings and not how much profit we can make. Let’s put people first and make this world better for all.

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