My father retired earlier this year after 40 years in a government job working 10 hour days. He seems to be in much higher spirits, doing more chores around the house, doing more personal projects. The difference in his overall demeanor after having been retired for just under a month was enormous.
My mother mentioned off-hand how much happier he's been lately and kind of made it sound like a mystery. Worth noting is that my mother was a stay-at-home mom for a long time, did part time work when kids were older, and has been on disability for a long time.
Both parents are good people. This isn't one parent just being an ignorant jerk. Retirement is obviously exciting and more free time is good, but they're blind to the fact that the 40-hour a week system is what made him depressed for decades.
Me, my siblings and our partners tried to explain that he was finally free from the absolute hell that is working for scraps for the majority of our waking lives and how all of us would love to see this system crumble and everyone be as happy as he is. We tried to stress how soul draining it is to be a cog in this economy.
They've often wondered why we tend to switch jobs so often or consider quitting a job without any back-up and it's because of mental health and the fact that companies don't give a shit about workers anymore (if they ever did).
I don't think we got through to them completely, but it's wild how they're experiencing first-hand the night and day effect this system has on our health and well-being but can't seem to grasp why we think this system needs to crumble.