"Retirement, What's That?"

Sure, we've heard the joke a number of times from our parents. Believing Social Security will be defunct and the economy in a perpetual state of collapse, they believe they will be working forever. When I say "we" I speak of (not for) the Echo-Boomers (or the more lackadaisically named Generation Y). And we shrug thinking to ourselves, "Well, so be it. Maybe they'll miss out on all that travel they've been planning, but they'll die with a smile on their face because they're at work." This brings up three areas of interest for me.

Firstly, I guess people my age (twenty-somethings) are traveling more. It's not uncommon to quit your job out of college after a year or two and take all that unused salary to travel around for a few months, or even years if you can stretch it. I did. And it was terrific. I'll never regret doing it. Especially as we continue walking to the vicious drumbeat of globalization.

Secondly, I'm noticing that here, and perhaps elsewhere, retirement spells death. I unscientifically attribute it to the Northern European work ethic. Life is work. No work, no life. My grandfather held many different occupations from a fire-fighter, to mayor of Parshall, ND, to Physics instructor. All the while continuing to help his colleagues on their respective farms. He retired at the age of 77 in 1994. It was front page news in the Montrail County News. Arthur Hedberg retires! Who'd a thought?!

Arthur (widowed in 1982, sixth months after my birth) traveled for a year and a half, visiting his children across the country. In the fall of 1996, he came to my father's house for an indefinite stay (my father had been encouraging him to live with us, and not alone in rural North Dakota). Considering it, he passed away in our home over Thanksgiving break. Very quickly in fact. Massive heart attack. After the initial shock, my father said something that surprised me: "He should have never quit working."

And finally, as I was reading the Star-Tribune this morning, I read a report that the Baby-Boomers are working far past typical retirement age. They don't want to stop. And they have plenty of encouragement for and against retirement. Many employers are pushing for retirement. They're older employees, and hence more expensive employees. But my generation seems to have fewer and fewer competent individuals. Now, the story didn't express this. I did. I find that my generation is not interested in what our parents are telling us. Moreover, I think it's very much attributable to the technological divide. We don't trust them. We became the teachers.

Experience is invaluable. The Baby-Boomers have it. We want it but have no patience to acquire it. What are we Echos to do. The first step is to yank those headphones out your ears. The next step is to sit down next to a Baby Boomer and say, "I'm the idiot. I'm sorry I treated you like one when you couldn't find figure out how to burn a CD. Please tell me how I can make this world a better place."