The New Old World

“Perhaps there is something poetic about a world filled with the elderly. I imagine it could feel like wandering through a primeval forest—tall strong trees shading the green vegetation below, lots of rotting, lots of mist. One can imagine this world full of ancients to be gentler, too, where everything is softer, and time is forced to move at a slower pace, as it is for the cows who mosey across the mad streets of Delhi, assured that the traffic will part for them (and it does). Some are saying that a new era of stability and peace will come in the new old world, that we’re already seeing the benefits (look how contented Europe is), that wars are made by the restless, dissatisfied young.”