Now I’ve reached the ripe old age of 78 I think I’m entitled to give my thoughts on some subjects and my experience and views.
Religion
I was baptized and confirmed in the Church of England and my family were not active but also sent me to a C of E primary school. I never thought too much about religion, just took it for granted and that it was a part of life. It was only when my wife became a born-again believer did it start to play a major role. I visited many churches with her and even went to Bible class. It never really touched me and the more outrageous beliefs and practices of my wife were a major reason for our divorce. Since then, I have become a confirmed atheist.
To quote George Carlin” Mankind has convinced itself that there is a man in the sky who watches everything you do. If you don’t follow the ten rules that he has laid down you will go to a place where you will suffer untold horrors with fire and burning for eternity. But he loves you. And he needs money because he is not able to handle it “
When you read about the origins of the Church of England you will really wonder why anyone would follow their teachings. Not to mention that mankind has been slaughtering each other since time immemorable because the foe was following the wrong God. Born again Christians believe the rapture is approaching any time now and only they will ascend to heaven. Not the Catholics, Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists and everyone else will all be consigned to hell.
Religion has been invented to assure mankind that if he follows the Christian path he will have everlasting life after death. I’ve seen enough dead animals to know that once you are dead you are dead. There is no soul and we are not special. If you have ever been unconscious, you will know that there is just blackness.
Relationships
We really just fall into our situations, I studied and then married at 24 ,had children , took on a mortgage , got a car and a bigger house and spent my time just paying the bills. I never questioned this ethic, it’s just what everyone did. Today’s youth are a little wiser, they often have live in relationships, maybe more than one, dating seems to be much easier and freer and they form permanent relationships and marriage much later in life in their late 30’s and 40’s. They are much more experienced. Having said all that the rate of divorce doesn’t seem to have reduced ; so taking on a permanent relationship is still a risky step. I become obsessed with a woman initially so it’s better to wait awhile and let the obsession pass and then see if the chemistry is still there. Living with a woman enables you to really get to know that person and whether you are really attached. And people change, the person you married is not necessarily the same person after 20 years.

Career
Today if you want to do anything worth while then you must have a degree. It seems pointless to me to take a big education loan to attend University where at best you only spend 50 % of your time when you could study on line for a fraction of the cost. And what job and career do you pursue? My recommendation would be to become a digital nomad. There are numerous careers that one can pursue, all you need is a suitable qualification, a desk, a PC and Wi-Fi. You can operate either from home or travel the world.
The impact of AI is still to be seen, certainly there is a terrific opportunity in the health and hospital environment but there’s lots of questions about employment and ethics.

Lifestyle
If you want to live to a good age don’t smoke, drink alcohol or do drugs and exercise doing whatever you like best. A mixture of flexibility, cardio and strength work best: for 40 years I’ve run, cycled, hiked and gone to gym; it’s a lifestyle that is benefiting me now and provided me with plenty of enjoyment, achievements and good friends. Eat a good balanced diet, don’t eat junk food and monitor your vital signs.
We fall into the trap like hamsters on a wheel working to pay the bills, keeping up with the Jones’s, buying a flashy car, a bigger house; for what? Who cares? There is certainly an advantage to owning one’s own property on retirement but is the pursuit of buying a house today worth it with high prices and high interest rates on mortgage?. Set your sights lower, move to an area where house prices are reasonable, invest in a buy to let apartment which pays your mortgage and allows you to move in when you choose to with your mortgage paid off.
World Order
It’s well known that older people become more conservative and cynical as they age. The world is a mess and I fear for my grandchildren but I’m sure they will make their way. Earth is overpopulated and needs to reduce to about 3 billion. There are a number of countries where the population is reducing, e g Japan, Italy and China’s population has peaked and has started to reduce. These countries are worried about how they will fund pensions for the oldies. They should just put more of their budgets on care for the elderly instead of ballistic missiles at $1 million a throw and nuclear submarines at $30 billion a time.
Global warming is a fact, how it’s caused is debatable whether from man kind’s excesses or natural means. The destruction of wildlife and forests must stop
The political scene is composed of a number of systems. There are a number of ruthless dictators, despots, and ruling parties e g Putin, Lukashenko, Erdogan, Xi Jinping, Cuba, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Maduro of Venezuela, Yemen. I could go on. Then there’s the corrupt incompetent Governments which includes most of Africa and South America especially my own South Africa. Communism as in Cuba just doesn’t work despite South African praises. Democracy is flawed, how can a country such as USA with its wealth and hugely well-educated and innovative population throw up the geriatric Biden and the megalomaniac Trump as candidates for President. Everything revolves around the next election and garnering votes by populism and not whether policies are good for the country . How UK can put up with and afford privileged Royalty that put on out dated and ludicrous costly ceremonies is beyond me. Nobody has come up with anything better than capitalism but it’s deeply flawed and produces huge disparities in wealth. In the USA the richest 1% own 34% of the wealth and the richest 10% own 74% of the wealth. This is not to mention global debt which is 3X World’s GDP.
Scandinavia, Switzerland, Holland and certain other European countries together with Australia and New Zealand would appear to have systems that take excellent care of their residents. However, refugees from less fortunate countries and with totally different religious beliefs and cultures are threatening the peace and well running of many of these countries.

Conclusion
I fear somewhat for my grandchildren’s future but every generation has faced difficulties and overcome them. My parents survived two world wars and the Great Depression; mankind overcomes its’ difficulties. Life’s next stage for me is death, hard to contemplate but I don’t fear it except I hope that it’s not long, drawn out and painful. In the meantime, there’s lots of living still to do.