The Wall Street Journal had a great piece on America’s philosophy on retirement if you can get through the
publication’s pay wall to view it. (WSJ: America needs to rethink 'retirement'.)
It basically says that if
the nation taps into its older people as a workforce it will stimulate economic
growth.
That’s all well and good if
we are define the benefits of retirement in strictly material terms. But how about a
more — shall we say — spiritual definition?
Many senior citizens use
their retirement to educate themselves, through reading, film, television,
cruising the Internet, gardening, golf and traveling. Some seek to get closer
to God. Lest all of these activities sound self-centered, that would be a
narrow way to view them. Don’t such pursuits make senior citizens better
parents, grandparents, neighbors, church or synagogue members or volunteers?
And the so-called economic
benefits mentioned in the article may never materialize. There’s one thing
about facts, figures and projections: Sometimes human behavior gets in the way
and functions in counterintuitive ways.
At any rate, it is all good
food for thought.
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