The Pinnacle of Success
Successful retirement should be self-employment.
Most people's Social Security, pensions, investments are actually enough to support them at the basic lifestyle they were used to. But the extra compensation, was also consumed as the cost of earning that higher income. Therefore, one should spend that time doing what they really enjoy doing as their direct compensation -- by which they can pay themselves as much as they want to.
That's what a lot of people don't realize. It's like spending $1,000 a month on advertising -- to generate only $1,000 of additional sales. At some point, a light bulb goes on in one's head and they realize, why am I working so hard to support every other person's enterprises -- and only wearing myself out in this way, as though my own time and life was worth nothing?
People who have been used to doing ONLY what somebody else will pay them to do, have a great difficulty making this adjustment -- to paying (rewarding) themselves to do what they want to do. That's when a person has reached the pinnacle of success. They are their own best customer -- and boss, and manage their own health and lives in this way.
That's how we become an infinitely better society.
The Passing of the Torch
What a wonderful precedent -- a world leader recognizing his time to move on.
I hope a lot of others who have overstayed their time will take this example to heart -- and resign and retire to let more able and willing people to take civilization further. That's what is sorely needed in the world today -- for a new generation to take the torch into a new century, of challenges never even imagined in the previous century.
That requires those wholly born into the "new world" -- and not just people carrying on the old, as though nothing else is possible. I don't think that is what Jesus meant when he proclaimed that one must "die to the old and be reborn in the new," as His ministry and message to the world.
So I think with Pope Benedict's resignation -- he has advanced this very important theme of end, resurrection and renewal -- as probably his greatest lesson to contemporary civilization. It is now possible for life to be prolonged to great ages -- and the worst thing is to have a person holding a supreme office in the state of decline rather than the manifestation of robustness.
Maybe a thousand years ago, age alone would have indicated this "fitness" for leadership, but this supreme leader recognizes that is not all that matters and takes -- and also, he needs the time to himself, so that he can rebuild his health, and "retire" to his life of writing and contemplation which he was prepared to do -- when he was elected pope and put on a path to serve not of his own choosing. That service, is also a dedication to God. A man has to also fulfill his own life -- as his service to God, and the rest of mankind. That is uniquely his highest duty.
It doesn't matter how much homeowner's insurance we have, no house will stand forever.
It doesn't matter how old one gets, eventually we have to begin life all over -- as proof of our fitness for life.
All we can do is be as well-prepared as we can be to meet the changes and challenges of life. That's the way it has always been and always will be.
So tell us about those seniors who have adapted well and rebuilt their lives even better because they had to. The welfare lines are getting awfully crowded -- and there is just not enough free money to go around, once we've paid off the retired government workers to ensure they continue to live in the lifestyle they feel entitled to.