Walking towards helplessness

Schooldays over, come on then John,
Time to be getting your pit boots on
On with your sark and moleskin trousers
Time you were on your way
Time you were learning the pitman's job
And earning a pitman's pay.

Come on then Jim, it's time to go
Time you were working down below
Time to be handling a pick and shovel
you start at the pits today
Time you were learning the collier's job
And earning the collier’s pay.

Come on then Dai, it's almost light
Time you were off to the anthracite
The morning mist is on the valley
It's time you were on your way
Time you were learning the miner’s job
And earning a miner’s pay.

Schooldays over, come on then John,
Time to be getting your pit boots on
On with your sark and moleskin trousers
Time you were on your way
Time you were learning the pitman's job
And earning a pitman's pay.

This is a song by Ewan MacColl sung by different interpreters but whose best version (for me, of course) is the one by Mary Black.

From the first day I heard it I have been moved by it. The lyrics allude to the little boys when it was time to go down the mine. But for those of us who live now and in this part of the planet, it really speaks of entering adulthood.

Leaving school and starting to work is a milestone that represents very well the transition to a life in which one has to take charge of one's own destiny. There are few such milestones in life. For those of us who have done it, taking out a mortgage loan, because of what it implies, is another one of those milestones; and to a much greater extent, having children. It's taking on more and more responsibility.

That is what life is all about, even if it is not punctuated by specific milestones that serve as a reference. As we grow older, first, and then as we get older, we are more and more alone in the face of our responsibilities; we are more and more helpless.

This is what life is all about, abandoning the maximum degree of shelter and protection provided by the womb, first, and then the mother's lap, and later the family home, to gradually lose that protection. And if anything, we are the ones who provide it to others.

To live is that, to walk towards helplessness. That of the instant before death is, surely, the maximum that can be experienced.