I feel your pain, but, to be honest, if we are going to reclaim calls at all, then two years is both respectful and ample.
I don't know how the FCC reasoned it out, but I would reason it like this:
1. For centuries, the mourning period has been set at one year. Nobody ever said one had to stop mourning at that point, but any social obligation to the deceased ended after a year. The world, in other words, may remember the departed for as long as they wish, but they also must be allowed to move on with life as well.
2. I have done a little minor DXpeditioning and am quite active with my regular US call. After two years, the number of QSL requests for any purpose (DX, WAS, just "because") slows down to a trickle. Those that really care have QSLed long since. Very few people are going to be validly upset if they do not obtain a two year old QSL card. But, perhaps more to the point, the number of QSL requests to the successor based on a QSO from the predecessor are too small to be significant. There will be very little confusion about who owns the call after two years and even less QSLing activity from the past.
3. Not everyone gets their jersey retired. In sports, sometimes a very small handful of valiant players get their number/jersey retired and no one is supposed to ever wear it again. However, they are few in number and, over time, I have informally observed that the standards are getting higher. There are, after all, only about 100 usable numbers. If a team aggressively retires enough of them, the back of the jersey will someday start looking like a credit card. Reusing even famous jersey numbers is already commonplace and will become more so over time.
4. 2x1 and 1x2 calls, in particular, have very high demand. Selected 2x2s and 1x3s also. This is a practical reality that must eventually overcome our lingering feelings for our SK friends.
Part of the pain of the loss of someone we all love and respect is that, ultimately, the world moves on in many respects as if they had never been. Someone else lives at the house. Someone else drives their last car. Someone else wears the fine leather coat.
Speaking for myself, I have learned to live with these things. It's just a question of "how long". I've heard little or no complaints about the two year standard. I know I am fine with it. I expect most of us are.