Life goes on, and it all seems to require paperwork

In our lives we go through a variety of changes. Some of these are socially defined and are known to sociologists as rites of passage. Today, every one of them involves paperwork. Lots of it.It hasn’t always been that way, but increasingly we are known not by name but by the number that is assigned to our paperwork.Birth and death are the two universal events. Normally in Canada, you don’t leave hospital until someone has filled in papers for your birth certificate. When you die, you cannot be buried or cremated unless there’s a burial permit, which is issued only after the paperwork is done.In between, there is the driver’s licence, high school diploma, trade certification and university diploma. If you get married, there’s a marriage licence and certificate. If you have children, there are birth certificates. All involve paperwork.On the farm, there is paperwork involved with the transfer of ownership. Back in the 1980s, when I was reporting agricultural developments on radio and in print, intergenerational farm transfer was complex. It needed careful consideration.I don’t expect it has become any less complex. If anything, there are probably more things to consider and more paperwork.What got me thinking about this is the fact that I’m busy doing paperwork. Late this summer, I will turn 65. Somehow that doesn’t seem right. I don’t feel that old. I don’t think of myself as being that old. I’m 64 going on 46, maybe. But my birth certificate tells me I’m going to be 65. In this case, the paperwork doesn’t lie.According to my long-time friend and colleague, Ralph Milton, 65 is the age of certifiable decrepitude. Supposedly, you’re old and worn out.That, of course, was not true in Ralph’s case. Nor is it true in the lives of many others. In fact, in my years of work with seniors, many seemed busier in retirement than they had been during their working lives.But turning 65 means paperwork for government pensions or private pensions or both. You don’t get your money until the paperwork is done – even if the money is sitting in an account somewhere, with your name and number on it.So I’m doing paperwork.Even after retirement, I’ll be participating in the economy and community. I’ll have an income. I’ll be buying things. I’ll be with my wife and family. I will continue writing. I’ll continue to serve on a variety of ethics committees, in our community and university.I’m already facing health challenges, but they haven’t stopped me.I hope the economy in which I live will continue to have a place for, and honour the hopes, needs and contributions of, young and old, male and female, rich and poor, highly educated and less educated.That it will be, simply, a moral economy.