BY Jaime Pimentel – RETIRED.. Put out to pasture. Whatever. In the animal kingdom, a thoroughbred stallion is put out to pasture when it can no longer race and would spend the rest of its days having sex, and sire future champion racehorses.
With humans it’s quite the opposite: No more sex but still fit to work and play. The difference is that the stallion has no say in the matter. The senior decides when it’s time.
The Government may call you up for retirement at the age of 65, but I know of no senior being dragged kicking to jail for refusing to sign off work and sex. As a matter of fact, we seniors are being asked politely to, well, keep working till we drop. And that suits me fine, although my retired pals think I’m a silly bastard for spelling it out.
So I referred them to an opinion piece by journalist Natalie Williams, of the Australian Senior newsmagazine. Ms Williams writes in part:
”Never give up. By all means slow down, but make sure you keep doing what makes you happy. That’s the advice from 85-year-old Tommy Tomasi, champion snow skier, legendary godfather of Australia’s ski patrol, engaging guest speaker and passionate ambassador for the Australian snowfields.
”Still skiing – even the steepest runs – at Thredbo at least four days a week, Tommy has little time for people who say they can’t do something because they are ‘too old’. That’s a nonsense, he told The Senior.
“Don’t retire from life just because you are retired.”
These days Tommy is a regular dinner guest speaker at Quality Resort Horizons where holidaymakers on Coach Holidays’ tours of the Snowy Mountains listen in awe to the man who never gives up.
Of course, it goes without saying that retiring from employment does not necessarily mean complete inactivity. If you were in a factory as a process worker, it would make good sense to give it up for a more satisfying occupation such as painting, gardening, carpentry or what ever makes you cool.
But if I was working as a music teacher and loved what I was doing, then retirement would make no sense to me. What is there to gain from retirement in this instance? On the contrary, my retirement would be a loss to my students. And to the government, which would have one more pension handout from its coffers.
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