The Question of Retirement...

To close each day with a sense of accomplishment is one of the greatest blessings of life,

one that entitles a person to sound sleep and sincere satisfaction as few other things do. But sometimes men work, always with the wish to be free from work. Then the time may come

when they are free from work—and then they find that the idea has much less attraction than

they had once supposed. Of course there is such a thing as overwork and too much pressure.

And under pressure there is a tendency to swing to the other side and to place a fictitious value

on retirement. But the work itself, retirement, suggests a false set of standards if it means

inactivity and idleness. There may properly be retirement from some pursuits, a change of

activity, less responsibility, a change of pace or position. But work has been accused of too

many ills, and retirement has been given credit for too many cures. When a person needs a

rest, often it isn’t so much that he needs a rest from work as a rest from worry, a rest from

pressure. Men rust out sooner than they wear away; they wither in idleness sooner than they

break down in useful work. Friction will wear us away—friction with other people, friction

within ourselves. Pressure and impatience will do their damage. A bad conscience will wear a

man away. Worry will wear a man away. But willing, constructive work, within the limits of

one’s health and physical strength and talents and time, is a lengthener of life and a catalyst

without which there is little real happiness. Freedom from work in the sense of doing nothing,

of having nothing constructive work, within the limits of one’s health and physical strength and talents and time, is a lengthener If life and a catalyst without which there is little real happiness. Freedom from work in the sense of doing nothing, of having nothing constructive to do, is a

false standard; and unfortunate is the person who has time on his hands―time that he must fill

with shallow pleasures and hollow pursuits. The right to work is a blessing. And work, itself,

with a sense of usefulness, is the surest safeguard against wasting away.