Fraternity. This word, inscribed on the pediment of all town halls in France, is struggling to find a reality in the political and societal field. Among the Little Brothers of the Poor, this republican promise is very present, even in the name of the association. Our volunteers, women and men, contribute on a daily basis, each in their own way, to providing our society with benevolence and support for others, especially towards the most fragile among us: isolated elderly people who are 2 million in France to be deprived of contact and to experience social isolation, according to the Barometer 2021 Little Brothers of the Poor / CSA Research.
While the pension reform invites us to reflect deeply on the model of society we want for ourselves as well as for the following generations, we are choosing to pose the question of social ties as central in this great debate which is currently sweeping the country. . Is this reform likely to reinforce the basic model which was the choice of the National Council of Resistance, that of solidarity between the generations – finally “the intergenerational” so in vogue is perhaps not so innovative? that ! – or does it risk, through its sometimes even indirect effects, weakening this social cohesion which is dear to us and which cements our lives?
We will recall that, despite the semantic choice made far too long ago for it to be reasonable to question it, “retirement” does not mean “inactivity”. Retirees bring undeniable wealth to French society as a whole. Without falling into the image of Epinal, it is possible to remember that they are first and foremost essential elements of family solidarity both towards their parents – 49% of the 3.9 million caregivers are themselves retired. – and towards their children – seven out of ten children are cared for by their grandparents – according to figures from the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics. When your babysitter leaves you or the home helper is unable to come and take care of an old one today, they are the ones to whom we turn first.
Arbitrate between the different stages of life
Retirees also form, on a voluntary basis, a preponderant part of two categories who are at the service, even at the bedside, of French society. They are first of all our elected representatives and more particularly our “field” elected representatives: more than half of the municipalities with less than 1,000 inhabitants are led by mayors aged over 60, according to INSEE data. And we know it: the weight of the responsibilities for these city councilors of the small communes is more and more incompatible with a professional activity. In 2020, 30% of them did not wish to represent themselves, calculated the Association of Mayors of France.
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