Great poem, but a not so great reality.
Or maybe it is, it all all depends on your interpretation. Today as I was driving to work, I saw just a few blocks from my house, an old lady, an old lady, bending down in her driveway to pick up the morning newspaper. I hoped that she was happy, but I could not tell.
I thought of the George Burns story, where he says that he knows that he is getting old when he bends down to tie his shoe, and wonders, since he is already down here, what else can he do?
It was just 30 minutes earlier that I was getting my morning paper. A blink of an eye, and you are old. Just look at your parents. Mine still act like kids, but they sure do not look like kids. And I know that they do not feel it and I know that they still worry about not having enough $, as people are living longer and longer these days.
Only about 50 years ago, the life expectancy for both men and women was 8-10 years younger. Ok, that is 8-10 years of not working but still having to feed yourself, pay for cable TV, turn on your A/C unit in the sweltering July sun, travel (if you desire), whatever.
I have heard that 80 is the new 65, so who knows.
I am still a bit aways from that. But, it is interesting to see how life is changing all around us.
I read this article by HSBC bank on world-wide attitudes about retirement (very interesting)
How different countries view old age and retirementAND
Download the report
