What Is The Use ...

Yesterday, I read with interest a social media comment to a post: Most retirees are not contributing much. Of course, it is great to have seniors making contributions that are visible to the public but my observation is that they are mostly in a very privieged position. What of the 'ordinaries' who are mostly out of the limelight (chosen or not)? Useless? I was wondering how many adults at their prime age consider their old parents being useless? This reminds me the question that was attributed to Maxwell: What is the use of a newborn baby? The same question can be thrown with regards to the elderly. This is where I begin to appreciate more religious views that our lives do not just end here. While we have the two singular events of our lives (our birth and death) in this world, our lives are not limited to it - in a way insisting the dualistic view of the material world and the non-material (Note: This divison could be just illusory). Back to the point of being useful or not: often one will not question about usefulness of the singular event of births because most people will welcome this with joy and the parents continue to nurture the baby into adulthood. The question about 'usefulness' of elderly people are perhaps more common. This is where the religious view that parents should be taken care of, to the extent that there are Qur'anic verses that instruct us to be kind to them and not to say harsh words: 

The Night Journey (17:23) 

۞ وَقَضَىٰ رَبُّكَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوٓا۟ إِلَّآ إِيَّاهُ وَبِٱلْوَٰلِدَيْنِ إِحْسَـٰنًا ۚ إِمَّا يَبْلُغَنَّ عِندَكَ ٱلْكِبَرَ أَحَدُهُمَآ أَوْ كِلَاهُمَا فَلَا تَقُل لَّهُمَآ أُفٍّۢ وَلَا تَنْهَرْهُمَا وَقُل لَّهُمَا قَوْلًۭا كَرِيمًۭا ٢٣

For your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him. And honour your parents. If one or both of them reach old age in your care, never say to them ˹even˺ ‘ugh,’ nor yell at them. Rather, address them respectfully.

The Night Journey (17:24) 

وَٱخْفِضْ لَهُمَا جَنَاحَ ٱلذُّلِّ مِنَ ٱلرَّحْمَةِ وَقُل رَّبِّ ٱرْحَمْهُمَا كَمَا رَبَّيَانِى صَغِيرًۭا ٢٤

And be humble with them out of mercy, and pray, “My Lord! Be merciful to them as they raised me when I was young.”

(— Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran)

In my case, I guess, I will still be useful to my family and perhaps not so much to others. Every now and then, one do get requests for advices and like yesterday, asking for some monetary contributions, which I wll hope to give (though I have worries even for the support of the family).

Just the day before, I was asked by a junior colleague in the university where I did my part-time job, whether I will be going to the ASEAN Quantum Summit this coming December. I replied in the negative since I don't have research funding. The person suggest some possibilitie of funding, but I don't want to be a burden to anyone. I will certainly follow the event closely and quietly from home to see what is being discussed.

Elsewhere in the social media, I've been following the posts of Liyana Marzuki. Some new buzzwords that I've learned that I thought would be useful in some (social) discussions are adversity quotient/intelligence or adversity resilience and from today's post, toll culture. I do worry about where our country is heading. We can't afford any economic downturn; life is already difficult as it is. I hope that goes into the heads of the politicians, power grabbers and also influencers. Most people are tired of the antics that are being thrown.