Retirement by superannuation is a blessing. It marks dignified end of a successful career; the career that one has aspired for from a very young age. It marks beginning of time when one can sit back and relax. But at the same time, retirement of a person is a loss; both to the society and to the profession he belongs to. It is a loss of expertise and knowhow that has been gained over a long period of time. There is a need that the potential of senior members of our society in providing wisdom and advice to younger generations be acknowledged and utilized for the common good of the society.
Toady a sizeable section of our younger generation is involved in activities detrimental to their own lives as well to the values of society. In recent years social media and access through internet to the outside world has exposed our youth to a multitude of new things; both good and bad. Most of teenagers remain glued to their smart phones lost into the virtual world and detached from the actual realities of the world. This has led many young people to depression, impatience, feeling lack of purpose in their lives. On the other hand, our senior members of the society after retiring from their respective services and occupations find themselves in the middle of nowhere. Some feel neglected, left alone with nothing to do. In one of his interview Kapil Dev, former Indian cricketer and skipper said that they (the retired cricketers) don’t need money, they need work. The senior members of our society know lot many things. They would like to share what they know and are willing to contribute in constructing a better society. They would love to guide the youth and help them get out of the wilderness of the virtual world and inculcate in them the sense of purpose.
I always love to be in the company of older people. They are living repositories of history; especially the untold history. They are storehouses of experience of life in general and also of their profession or occupation. What may take years for a young man to learn through his own mistakes may be easily learnt in few moments by interaction with senior citizens. No matter how smart a young man thinks of himself, he cannot beat experience. They have lived through what we are looking towards in future. They have encountered what we endeavor. I am in touch with some wonderful people who have retired from their active service. Every interaction with them is enriching. They are honest in their answers and blunt with their disagreements.
Learning in schools, colleges and universities may help a person to get a job, or help understand economics, management, law, medicine etc. But nothing can match experience of a person he has gained over a period of 30 or 40 years; the experience gained through hardships, through roughs of life. As Nida Fazli puts it
“Bachoon ke nanhe hathoon ko chaand sitaare choone do,
chaar kitabein padh ke yeh bhi hum jaise ho jayenge”
Last month one of our senior colleagues retired from services after attaining age of superannuation. One day in office he sought my opinion on an issue. I replied with relevant provision of law. To this he narrated to me the history behind that legislation and of politics behind it. It surprised me because he was neither from field of politics not from law. But he had worked on ground and was witness to operation of the law and had learnt from there. One should take it as a valuable opportunity to learn from them. To learn is a blessing in itself. To learn from experience of others is an art that everyone should lay hands on. Qateel Shifai puts it like this:
“le mere tajraboñ se sabaq ai mire raqīb,
do-chār saal umar meiñ tujh se badā hu maiñ “
Death of a person rich in knowledge or expertise is a direct loss to society. It’s a greater loss to younger generation. Same holds true to retirement of a person from an organization or Department. A retired employee should be viewed as an asset for society in general and his parent organization in particular. They can act as a bridge between our past and our present. They may not be good at use of computers, or smart phones or social media but their experience and know how is unmatchable which no computer or social media can compete with or substitute. There is need to first recognize their contribution in preserving our values and in building what we have today. We may then devise means to exploit their potential to help build a better society, a better system or a better understanding of value of life, of the purpose of living. If viewed as an asset, the experience and expertise of senior citizens could be utilized for greater good of society. For this civil society groups, Non Government Organizations, local committees can provide platform for them. Schools, Colleges and Universities can invite them and allow them to interact with younger generation and share experience with them. Newspapers, Magazines, periodicals and Journals should provide space to senior citizens to disseminate their experiences. Departments/Institutions should explore to make provisions to develop means and methods through which the experience gained by their retired employees could be shared with younger employees. Even a mere interaction of serving employees with the retired senior employees would be of immense help and value. In the words of Nelson Mandela “A society that does not value it’s old people, denies it’s roots and endangers it’s future “.
Showkat Hussain works at Law Department J&K Bank