You CAN still do ...
I AM still DOING JCL and COBOL and learning CL and RPG.
I'm sitting in a shop where we are merging one company on a VSE box with another company on an AS-400. (Why yes, as a matter of fact, we are behind the times.) All while keeping both "companies" running as separate divisions on their separate boxes. Parallel testing starts in September.
Target is to convert everything again in 2 years to a Windows based system.
Sure there's upheaval and strife. There's also a good probability of continued employment for an adaptable geek.
My world hasn't gone away....wonders never cease.