by Velian Krav - 11/09/2025
On Respect, Memory, and the Future of Civilization
No respect for ancestors.
No respect for parents.
No respect for grandparents.
And then we wonder why society collapses.
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The New “Progress”
We live in an age where millennials (and their younger siblings) often behave as if they were the first enlightened beings in history. Scroll through social media and you’ll hear it:
• “Old people are in the way.”
• “They’re eating our pensions.”
• “Boomers destroyed the planet.”
As if the men and women who worked their whole lives in mines, factories, fields, schools, and hospitals — who built dams, power plants, roads, and water systems — are nothing more than a nuisance that needs to “clear the field” so the young can breathe their precious air.
What an idea of progress! Out with the “fossilized fossils” who dare remind us that the world existed before Instagram and avocado toast.
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Irony of the Modern Rebel
The irony is breathtaking.
Those who scream “Boomers destroyed our planet!” are the same who order takeaway in plastic containers, fly across the world for holidays, and upgrade their iPhones every two years.
Those who curse their grandparents for burning coal live in the apartments their grandparents built, heated by the energy their grandparents secured.
And yet, the pensioners are painted as the villains. Why? Because they had the audacity to grow old and still expect the society they helped create to take care of them.
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The Tragedy of Our Time
Take the Czech Republic as just one example.
We love to speak of traditions, solidarity, and respect for old age. But the reality is brutal:
• Every sixth senior lives on the brink of poverty.
• Over 120,000 receive less than 11,000 crowns per month.
• Another 262,000 survive just above the poverty line.
• 44,000 pensioners are in foreclosure — robbed even of the little they have.
Shocking? Yes. But let’s be clear: this is not only a Czech tragedy.
The same story plays out across Europe:
• In the UK, pensioners freeze in winter because heating is unaffordable. Many must choose between “heating or eating.”
• In France, elderly women dig through bins while billions flow into wars and corporate bailouts.
• In Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, countless seniors live on pensions so small that a month’s food and medicine already exceed them.
And beyond Europe:
• In the United States, millions of seniors live in trailers or depend on credit cards to survive — after a lifetime of work. Some are forced back into low-wage jobs in their seventies just to afford rent.
• In Japan, a bizarre phenomenon has emerged: elderly people deliberately commit petty crimes so they can be sent to prison — the only place where food, shelter, and healthcare are guaranteed.
Imagine working 40 years, paying taxes, building society — and then being forced at 80 to choose between food and heating, or worse, between dignity and survival.
That is not a welfare state.
That is betrayal.
And let us be clear: a civilization that discards its elders is not progressing — it is digging its own grave.
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Generational Arrogance
Younger generations sometimes respond: “Well, we’ll have even less!”
True. The pension system is unsustainable.
But instead of demanding reform, too many shrug or parrot convenient slogans:
• “Old people have themselves to blame.”
• “They’re blocking apartments.”
• “They’re just a cost.”
This is cowardice dressed as logic. And it is dangerous.
Because one day, those same young critics will grow old. And their children will tell them the same thing: “You’re out of touch. You’re costing us money. Time to go.”
The cycle of arrogance will be complete.
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A Story That Says It All
An arrogant young man once mocked an old pensioner on a bus:
“You grew up in a primitive world. We grew up with computers, planes, space travel, and the internet.”
The pensioner calmly replied:
“You’re right, son. We didn’t have those things when we were your age. So we invented them for you. Now tell me — what will you invent for the next generation?”
That answer cut deeper than any insult.
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The Core Truth
Disrespect for ancestors, parents, and grandparents is not a small cultural flaw.
It is the destruction of civilization itself.
If family bonds collapse, if memory is erased, if the old are discarded like rubbish — then society turns into a hive of animals and machines.
When you were a baby, your grandparents and parents taught you to walk.
Now it is your duty to help them walk.
That is what makes you human.
Not fame.
Not wealth.
Not a profession.
But the simple act of gratitude and respect for those who came before you.
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Final Word
Our society today is polluted by fallen minds, animals, and biorobots — but fewer and fewer true humans remain.
To be human means to honour those who gave you life, wisdom, and a world to stand on.
To forget them is to saw off the very branch you sit on.
If we don’t restore respect for ancestry and family, we won’t just lose our grandparents.
We will lose ourselves.