Retirement is a Utopian Idea

North Miami Beach, Florida 2-28-2000 Aaron H. Schectman

THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on issues, ideas and reflections on the times. Published now and
then. Opinions pro or con are welcome.

RETIREMENT IS A UTOPIAN IDEA

I'm not sure if I told you this before but I am a long-standing member of
the Society for Utopian Studies. This means I get to pay dues and if
inspired to write a research paper on some aspect of the field of Utopian
literature and its concomitant area of actualized utopian communities, I may
get to attend a conference, deliver a paper and participate in the
proceedings. I may even, as it happened once, be published.

The inspiration for this THINKING ALLOWED comes from the notion that
retirement is a utopian idea. Not too long ago the idea that one should
stop work and smell roses or, at least stop work and live long afterwards,
was really radical. In those days one worked until he or she no longer
could, stopped and soon after died because of debilitating old age. This
might be in your 30's, 40's or if lucky later on or you simply died because
you no longer had a place to be or weren't useful anymore. The oldest image
was that of the nomad who could not keep up with the other beasts of burden
and was left to perish at the side of the road.

There was no safety net because one did not put aside for one's old age. It
was difficult enough to put aside for the coming winter. Death came early,
which might have been a blessing. Along with age came the debilitation
brought on by privation, but mostly by the brutal kind of work people had to
do to merely to stay alive.

The rich did not have to work; they ate well, lived longer and could
retire. The idea that retirement could be for the common worker, even
laborers, did not come about until more enlightened times in mid-19th
century Germany. We followed a hundred years later when our creaky old
Social Security system was created. Even at the start of the second
millennium more who live in America cannot expect to "retire" than those who
will actually retire. There are many places in the world where the social
system of antiquity is recreated. This plainly states: "Root, hog or die".
The picture this evokes is simple. If you stop looking for food and are not
careful, some other creature will snatch up your windfall and you will have
to scratch deep into the dirt and still may come up empty. In nature there
is no provision for helpless old age as there is for the needy infant.

I am extremely lucky. I have had a profession where retirement was built
into my salary schedule. I received low wages because I paid out into a
fund for my retirement. In other words, I was given a low salary and health
benefits and the promise of much of that salary continuing after my period
of useful work ended. My lovely wife was even luckier. Her health benefits
as a teacher in the New Jersey Public School System entitled her to carry
over into retirement her health benefits - AND, I am covered too. My
retirement, I think, is utopian. What do you think?
Carol's Evaluation: 10 out of 10.