Are we a senile nation at a young age? Perhaps, yes.
The current life expectancy average, globally, is 73.5 years. The males have a shorter life span at 70.8 years and the females (who dispatch the males with speed to the yonder) at around 75.6 years. In the last century this average was at a critical low of 29.5 years and earlier it was obviously significantly lower. Improvements in science and technology and in particular in medical and health sciences have made possible two things: the reduction in infant mortality rates and an increasing life expectancy through both research and pharmacology (medicines) and quicker responses to signs of diseases and ill health.
Life expectancy varies from region to region; as a sample, the average life expectancy in Africa is 62.7 years, while in the northern Americas it is 79.5 years. The Chinese average life expectancy is 79 years; hence if the leadership’s average age is above or close to 70 years they are referred ‘as young leaders’. I recall when Li Peng became prime minister at 65 years of age the media referred to him as the ‘youngest Premier of China’. Life expectancy, according to one study of the Gen Z that is (those born after 1997) may live up to a 100 years as against the average age of 70 years of the baby boomers and the 85 years expectancy of the Gen X.
Humans tend to show signs of senility at roughly the age of 65 plus years. The risk increases with each passing year. Alzheimer’s is the common cause of senility. This comes with loss of memory of immediate events. Depression and despondency also contribute to its onset. As a nation we forget the past and take no lessons from our own history. Senility is a trait, now.
What actually is senility? The loss of mental faculties due to weaknesses of old age. It is therefore “age” that induces senility. So how is it that a young nation like us is straining with signs of growing senility?
The earlier signs of senility include memory loss, lack of concentration, difficulty in focusing, having directed conversation and being confused about time and place, coupled with swinging moods. It provokes loss or problems relating to decision making and having trouble with memory.
Pakistan, as a nation, is exactly 77 years and 4 months old. Do nations also become senile? I believe they do. If not all of them, at least we seem to have become senile. The signs of senility are reflective in our every day behaviour.
This phenomenon of senility actually cuts through and pervades all segments of society. It is not just about political leadership’s signs of senility but of every one of the 250 million odd people. We all exhibit signs of it. As a senile nation at a young age of 78 years our lens of looking at life is in conformity with Oscar Wilde’s remarks, “See an absurd value in everything and doesn’t know the market price of anything”.
Our country is ruled by close to 1,500 parliamentarians, roughly 200 elite families and about 1,000 corporate executives; in addition to this is the paraphernalia of the bureaucracy and other state-owned institutions. Essentially, a very small number guides the nation’s destiny.
The remaining population is a bystander to history since independence. Their opinion expressed through the ballot box hasn’t been accepted since the first non-controversial and fair elections of 1970. Every single election that followed was marred by charges of massive rigging. The masses therefore stand marginalised. Their opinion has no value in shaping the future and destiny of the nation; what prevails is the consequence of complicity of silence of the people of Pakistan who, regardless of age, have become senile.
As part of introspection there is an imperative need to conduct a psychometric testing of the entire population — if not all, at least the ruling class. Psychometric is a semi-medical term — it is made up of two words ‘psycho’ meaning mental and ‘metric’ (a yardstick of measurement). Considered to be a branch of biology psychometric, it measures knowledge, personality, attitude, intelligence, behaviour and many of the abstract mental qualities. The purpose of psychometric testing is to determine the quality of self-knowledge, recognising skills, cognitive abilities, talents, weaknesses and inadequacies.
This scribe believes that to thwart and stop the growing malaise of senility as our national pattern of behaviour, to begin with, there needs to be an assessment of where we currently stand on the axis of measurement of the related characteristics that fall within the purview of psychometric testing.
Knowledge is the mother of all virtue; all vice proceeds from ignorance. Learning is a treasure which accompanies its owner everywhere. Knowledge hence is power. A quest for knowledge has hit the iceberg of the love for money and the love of learning — they weren’t supposed to meet ever. As the Chinese say, poverty is the common fate of scholars. A scholar robbed or denied to perform affects the life of hundreds of people.
Economic considerations have de-robed our academia. A nation that has ghost schools, ghost teachers and even ghost students needs to look inwardly of what wrong it has done to itself, in the now, here and most dangerously for the future. The quality of education has taken a nosedive in the field of developing consensus in what should be taught from KG to university level. We collectively exhibit senility. There is no uniformity. To get our act together, focus must return to developing syllabus that has its roots in STEM and STEAM subjects as priority. Mathematics can never be made to take a back seat. It is the standard of education that feeds into the character of the individual (Nation).
Intelligence: undoubtedly we are an intelligent nation but are dispossessed of wisdom. This renders intelligence to be more a problem than solution. Intelligence when confined may lose in lucidity, however it gathers when imprisoned, greater intensity. Descartes: it is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well. A case in point to prove is the handling of the youth bulge. We proudly claim we have a very young, youthful workforce but what have we done to deploy them gainfully. Nothing. There is no preemptive human resource planning at the federal or provincial level. Just because wisdom is hurtful we are a nation willing to expense most for intelligence — devoiding of wisdom and intelligible is a sleeping Rip Van Winkle, an American folk tale.
I refuse to accept that we are in any manner less intelligent than our neighbouring states; we lack most the use of effective utilisation of the intelligence quotient of the nation. Here it is the political leadership that has seriously failed the country. Pure and honest heart is the first blessing; intelligence is the second. If we are intelligent we must train to gather experience, for wisdom to dawn upon us. The society ought to use reason for action and not mere intelligence.
Attitude: Something written in 1579 by John Lyly reads: “It is the disposition of the thought that altereth the nature of things”. Our knowledge base alongside our character and values determines our attitude. We need to just look around to confirm that the attitude on display at the national level is without doubt a complete bankruptcy of the application of knowledge and wisdom. Our attitudes at best are worst examples of uncouth behaviour — our ‘attitudes’ are tested best in adversity and not in the lap of comfort. We are humble in poverty and arrogant in richness (wealth) — that’s our attitude. A model society would be exactly the opposite of this is dichotomy. As a nation we need to practice the art of management or harnessing of our responses and attitudes towards people and events.
Personality: all of us are leading a life of expedient duplicity. Our responses change in conduct and character as per the dictates of the time. We like to look good to ourselves but rarely to those who are outsiders. We are a masked nation. The men in the Boardroom must meet the man on the street. There is an immediate need to synergise individual talents into a pool of resources. Our professionalism ought to be the best and must not come to represent acceptance of mediocrity.
Each country has a unique personality by virtue of which they come to be known or seen to be associated with. We are on the corruption index on a ranking which serves as a stark reminder to the violation of commitment, the pledge and the promise we made to our flag and the official name of the country. Regrettably, our personality disorder is visible at every level of hierarchy. The good amongst us are departing overseas; however, the jubilant young find themselves at odds due to differences in the quality of education. They live on hope.
Behaviour: the sum total of all the attributes considered to be important for a proper psychometric testing converges to emerge as behavioural standards. Our moral standards under the guise of modernity of thought are on a rapid decline. Honestly amongst the elite and the educated is an item of negotiability. Our communications are poor in content and the choice of words, if not brazenly expletive in nature, is a close cousin to the unthinkable vulgarity and abuse.
Meritocracy has long been buried under the burdens of nepotism, favouritism and quotas. Our respect for the elderly is on display — abhorrent and shameful. The basic manners which were once a given thing are a far cry today. We are lost in the wilderness of materialistic gains. Spirituality in society now is ranked as a trait of weakness. Progress is regressive.
All signs and portents call for a deep seated introspection — we can still find our way and our choice destination of the establishment of a stable and righteous society.
To conduct psychometric testing for every person would be a costly and expensive exercise because there are several models for conducting a proper psychometric testing. We may have to add to the burden of debt that is already piled up. In the short term, therefore, all the ‘educated’ can do a personal testing that must be anchored in the fundamentals of acceptable behavioural standards. This must meet the test of international acceptability and it is only then will we be counted among the comity of respected nations. We are too young to be beset with senility.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
The writer is Senior Banker & Freelance Contributor