Margaret Wente’s article on Andy Rooney assumed that retirees are idle and unproductive and boring. For every full time golfer, curler and bridge player, I know ten individuals who start a business, continue to work part time, dedicate themselves to artistic pursuits, care for grandchildren, volunteer for charities and political organizations and schools and galleries, take on social causes, and the list goes on.
Humans do need to be useful and productive. The wonderful part of retirement is that we get to choose how we are productive. And, we can choose without a pay cheque being the main priority.
We boomers are very fortunate to have good health, discretionary time, skills, resources and especially freedom. We are very different from earlier generations who were worn out by the time they could retire. We just may make good on some of the unfulfilled promises of the sixties.
Your observations are totally inspiring. Thank you!