The Cage

by Terry Morgan

influence - once suggested that over population was the cause. That point was deliberately excluded from every report on the world economy or climate change.

  "So instead of dealing with the root cause, they went for the easy option. They taxed the wealthy countries and then handed money to the poorer ones. And, of course, that only exacerbated the problem. The economies of the poorer countries started to grow and so did their populations. Kenya was always a good example. Western birth rates were stabilising but not so those in the developing countries, the ones with existing deprivation. The net result, also foreseeable, was that all of these countries wanted more energy, more jobs, more healthcare, more housing, more schools, more and better food and more of all the other visible trappings of wealth they had seen was possible because of TV and the Internet."

  As his grandson stood, listening to the passionate outpouring from his grandfather, the older man suddenly stopped and stood, silently reflecting. Then:

  "You know, I recall a meeting with another politician with similar views to mine - an economist not a biologist. It was back in 2014 and he, like me, was already forecasting that youngsters could no longer expect the same level of affluence as their parents. It was hardly earth shattering news to me but he also described future society as a tiny, wealthy elite and a huge sprawling proletariat who had no chance of clawing their way out of a hand-to-mouth existence. He did not mention the effect of millions of so-called newcomers of course because to have done so in 2014 would have risked accusations of racism. But, thirty five years on, can you now relate to what he said?

  "Traditional middle classes would need three or four jobs just to be able to afford to maintain lifestyles, he said. Are there this number of jobs? Of course not. Was it ever going to be possible to create that many jobs? Of course not as the numbers needing jobs was increasing far more quickly than it was possible to create jobs. There was serious youth unemployment even then and now there is less than one job available per person. The remainder beg charity from a pot that is getting smaller. Begging, even from the state, is inhuman. It is undignified and degrading. It only leads to greater suffering and total disaffection. It is a form of human suffering that can only be blamed on poor and weak governments, a total indictment of past political judgement.

  "That economist agreed with me that people would no longer have the space or the time to pursue cultural interests - even simple interests like gardening that improve the quality and understanding of life. And he, like me, also foresaw dangerous political movements beginning to emerge. Can you now relate to what some of us forecast back in 2014?

  "If so, what leader will now stand up and say that he or she did not know or did not understand the consequences of inaction?"

  They had by now completed one full circuit of the perimeter fence and the older man stopped walking. His head and shoulders were wet with rain. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face. Then he wiped rain drops from his glasses, put them back on and peered out across the perimeter fence. His grandson came to stand next to him. On the other side of the road was the familiar row of older detached houses. The visible horizon - tall, grey apartment blocks that rose through swirling wet and misty gloom - was now much closer.

  "We are now back to where we started," the older man said. "Walking in a circle is what I feel I have been doing for my entire life and the view itself is no less depressing."

  "How old are you grandfather?"

  "I am seventy nine."

  "Are old people to blame for the situation? Is your generation at fault?"

  "Yes, of course. My generation and previous generations are all at fault, but for a while two world wars were still being remembered. After the war, those generations sought a life that was free of suffering, war, pain and hardship. In a way, post war governments were right to reward them for their sacrifices, but only to a point. Because those generations then started to demand rights, rights without responsibilities. Good leaders should surely be able to withstand such pressures. They should have been more responsible by looking to the future and recognising the warning signs. Instead, being social animals desperate for popularity, they decided to be kind and caring but failed to understand that kindness also means ensuring that people are self sufficient, that human life without daily struggle is utterly meaningless, that human life that is fulfilling and contented needs to be accompanied by at least some hardship and struggle. To exist without the need for individual effort weakens the body and the will to fight for survival. But politicians love the apathy that comes with a culture of dependency on the state because it ensures their own survival. Apathy explains why an uprising against bad government in the West has come far too late.

  "I repeat. Every living thing must struggle to find its own food and water. It is not right that food and water lies waiting when you wake from sleeping? But that was what was happening. Everything was being provided and so people acquired distorted perceptions of what it meant to be alive. They began to believe they were still suffering when they already had everything. They thought everything was their right. A job was their right, a high income was their right, a house was their right, food was a right, endless supplies of clean water was a right. There was a Human Rights Act without a Human Responsibilities Act. They expected to be provided with heat, light and endless supplies of cheap energy to power refrigerators and washing machines.

  "And it wasn't just rights to material things that they demanded. They said it was their right to bear children even if that meant artificial interference in their reproductive biology. This right was allowed to happen by political and religious leaders too scared to adopt a critical stance despite some women claiming it was their human right to bear children beyond the menopause - a complete denial of their own natural biology. And all this at a time when the world's population was growing at unsustainable rates and when people were being kept alive by the use of machines, technology and medicines often when the quality of their lives was questionable. Birth was far outpacing death and death was being postponed.

  "And they demanded education of course - education with a certificate that might get them a job at the end of it whilst conveniently forgetting that they had already invented machines that did many of those jobs because, if a machine did the job, it meant less struggle, less hard work, less hardship, less suffering, less hardship.

  "Shamefully, they did not see a need for education in biology or in life itself or in the inevitable consequence of life - death - because death was not something to be talked about in a society that refused to accept suffering and had decided that prolonging life-spans was the ultimate aim. And where do you draw your line there? Is the aim to avoid death at all if ever that becomes technically feasible?"

  The old man paused once more.

  "I am now talking far too much. I am rambling. There is too much inside me that is trying to escape. It is not me but my thinking, my beliefs and my thoughts that are now locked inside a cage. Thank you for unlocking it and for allowing me to breath fresh air for just one hour. Have I been of any help to you?"

  "Everything you say makes sense," his grandson replied, but noticeably sadly. For a while he stood looking sadly at the wet ground.

  Then: "My friends and I feel that conflict is now the only solution, grandfather. We see no future, no reason, no hope."

  The old man looked at him and then glanced at his watch. "Yes, your time is running out and so is mine. What will you do when you leave here?"

  "I will probably go home. I will sit. I will probably argue with my mother and my brother about nothing because I have nothing to do. Nothing ever happens to me. I have no job so I will complain about boredom. My mother complains about the shortages and the price of meat and vegetables and when I eventually retire to bed I cannot sleep because I am not tired and I feel angry. Anger is building everywhere, grandfather, but I have always tried to avoid conflict and argument. I am twenty years old and I want to feel optimistic and excited about my futur
e. Instead, I feel angry. I feel anger with the crowds walking in the street who, like me, have nowhere to go. I feel anger about the run down state of buildings, the old, empty shops, the lack of space, the congested buses, the trains, the queues of community people-carriers and the buses that now take up space outside the houses so you have to walk in the road. I feel angry about how untidy things are, the dirt and the roads that are in need of repair. I feel anger when I see people stood, talking about nothing. I feel angry that we do not mix anymore because people meet in groups of their own culture because they feel more comfortable and safer that way. It feels dangerous. There is drug taking - my friends take drugs - and many now sleep rough in the streets. There is increasing petty crime. And many old people now live in very crowded conditions with people they would never have chosen in their earlier days. For them, it must be worse than being in prison." He paused.

  "You are lucky to be living here grandfather."

  The old man could sense that his grandson was close to tears. He sighed, unsure what to do or say. He put his arm around the younger man's wet shoulders but the younger man had not yet finished.

  "And you know what our esteemed