Like many middle-class American baby boomers, Linda Carmona-Sanchez is anxious about slipping into poverty and says whatever dreams she once had about retirement in her “golden years” have turned into nightmares.
“We don’t value people here in this country, and we value you less if you’re not healthy and strong,” Carmona-Sanchez, 55, said.
“To me it would almost be a welcome blessing to know that I would die rather than to be old and have to live in poverty,” she said.
Her anxiety is widespread….
This idea of being retired for decades before death when you are perfectly capable of working is really somewhat ridiculous. I know the magic 65 number is a sacred cow in America, particularly to Baby Boomers, but I am not convinced that society might not be better off if people have to continue working. I certainly can’t find much warrant in scripture for it. For the ill and infirm, yes. For perfectly functional people who just want to lounge around for years and be lazy, no.
My dad’s family (9 kids who lived to adulthood) retired at 65 for the most part – and promptly started volunteering for ministries at church in their communities. A well-planned retirement can mean the start of some excellent things, and our communities are likely to be poorer if working until 70 or 75 becomes the norm.
The hard part is “well-planned.” Funding one’s retirement does not just happen – and it is a frightening reality that even a good plan can be overwhelmed by the unexpected.
How many healthy 65 year olds do you know who want to lounge around and be lazy on a Social Security check?
I have a church full of them.
Ok I guess I would need to know how you define lounging around and being lazy.
lounge [lounj], lounged, loung·ing,
verb (used without object)
1. to pass time idly and indolently.
2. to rest or recline indolently; loll: We lounged in the sun all afternoon.
3. to go or move in a leisurely, indolent manner; saunter (usually followed by around, along, off, etc.).
la·zy   [ley-zee], -zi·er, -zi·est, verb, -zied, -zy·ing.
adjective
1. averse or disinclined to work, activity, or exertion; indolent.
2. causing idleness or indolence: a hot, lazy afternoon.
3. slow-moving; sluggish: a lazy stream.
Well I am sorry. It must be a regional thing, because your experience is in such opposition to mine that I am finding your assertion very difficult to believe.
Where I live healthy seniors are very active and energetic. In fact I find it difficult to keep up sometimes. In my community, they raise money for charities; they volunteer at the soup kitchen, the homeless shelter, the local hospital, the charity hospice, the senior citizens center, the United Way and the list goes on. They are active in politics, and I certainly do not know how our church would run without the alter guild (most of whom are over 65), those who help maintain the grounds, those who serve on the Vestry, those who volunteer to teach classes, those who cook meals and donate food and time to our interfaith hospitality program, etc.
And they seem to do all this while baby sitting their grandchildren, and taking care of their 90 year old parents.
Perhaps the seniors in your commiunity do not like you.