44. Retirement! What's that?
Is "Retirement" still a good thing or not... and was it ever really good? Since my childhood, I’ve heard the word/concept referred to as something akin to finally reaching the Emerald City and joining the Wizard of Oz’s foursome for bridge. Naturally, I’m speaking specifically of retirement from working for a living. No more running in the proverbial rat race, no more daily grind, and no more office politics to interfere with the highest aspirations of the average American citizen.
To my parents, retirement meant being able to go fishing every week, having a yard that was well tended, and devoting as much time as one wished to grandchildren, hobbies and leisure. Puttering and television became my father’s main activities while my mother took up jogging and aerobics. Truly they made the most out of their retirement and enjoyed their years of constant companionship.
To my generation, from what I am seeing with my siblings, cousins, friends, I’m not so sure that retirement means the same to any of us. As an example, it occurs to me that I have never remotely considered retirement at any stage of my personal life. I only received my Master of Fine Arts degree in 1998 and have embarked upon two new careers simultaneously, writing and filmmaking. I’m still on schedule in my master plan, devised at the age of seventeen... to change my career every ten years or so in order to maximize my life experiences. I plan to keep on going as long as my mind allows.
Several of my senior friends are returning to school themselves, perhaps not to begin new careers, but certainly the potential is there. Others are pursuing new paths of volunteer work, and expanding their interests or hobbies to continue along in related professional capacities. Perhaps, it is because so many do not have that "constant companion" of my parent’s generation, as validated by divorce statistics, that many seek to prolong their efforts in productivity... meaningful or otherwise. A solitary life certainly does encourage one to keep seeking, someone or something to while away the hours.
The senior generation of today is healthier and stronger, due to improved medicine, and certainly our attitudes are light years different from our grandparents and parents. Let’s not forget how the miracles of plastic surgery are helping so many to hold onto the delusions of more youthful appearances. Need I mention Viagra and all it implicates?
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