The Rite Of Passage By: Anthony Pellegrino

When I read that someone “has retired,” is retiring,” or “will be retiring,” I become filled both with a sense of gladness and anguish. On one hand, I am pleased that a person who has devoted a lifetime of service to a cause or belief is about to remove himself from public life and begin private life. That person most assuredly has earned a respite from the pressures of daily work whether it was physical or mental. He has earned retirement.

On the other hand, I feel a certain anguish when I detect a note of cynicism in their departing remarks from public life. It is the attitude of too many retirees that the government owes them money and they want it now! I am not one to deny anyone his due, but I am sad in the manner in which these demands are portrayed to the general public.

What about the community that gave them an opportunity in which they were able to earn money enough to raise their family and fulfill themselves through the dignity of work? How many of the retirees have stepped forward and said: “Thank you for the opportunity to be of service. As I pass into retirement, I also want to pass on the experience and knowledge that I have gained over the many years. Allow me to serve the youth and the needy in this wonderful community.”

We lament daily that our youth have lost direction and are hedonistic. The family home has greatly disintegrated because the “retirees” needed to work leaving the young alone most of the time. Now that the retirees are free from daily occupation, will they return to rectify the damage they have done to the young they neglected?

Recently we learned that certain outgoing legislators packed up and deserted their roles prematurely instead of serving the remainder of their term which legally did not end until January 10, 2000. What message does this send to the community and especially to the youth about the dignity of work? These people were supposed to be our representatives in whom we put our trust.

I am not finding fault with the legislators or retirees themselves, but I object to attitudes which negate positive attitudes that the schools and parents are trying to inculcate into the minds of the youth concerning the dignity of work. I become concerned when we fail to show our youth that one of man’s salvation and fulfillment of himself is in the performance of some sort of work, hopefully one that adds enrichment to the lives of his fellow men and to himself.

Thomas Carlyle, the great Scottish historian, wrote: “Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness, he has a work, a life purpose; he has found it and will follow it.” So when I hear disgruntled “retirees,” I feel compassion at how miserable and empty their lives must have been all their working years to have caused such cynicism. They longed for an escape and have found it in “retirement.”

Instead of seeking sanctuary in a private world, I plead with you–do not retire from the youth who need your experience and knowledge. Share the treasures you have accumulated over the years.

Do not become discouraged by an inner conviction of uselessness. You can lift youth onto your shoulders and show them a visionary view of the future. You have much to share. As the Bible states: “Do not hide your light under a bushel. But let it shine forth.” Share your treasures with youth. Volunteer for this grand service at schools and youth groups.