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Not shallowe and superficial as much as laid-back, unconcerned, uninvolved and totally comfortable and content with their lives. The worst day retired is still better than the best dayemployed!
Interesting thoughts, Curmudgeon. My response is that the kind of life with which we are "totally comfortable and content" will vary depending on who we are and what we are interested in. If my focus were limited to money, the weather, medical issues, grandkids, and negative politics, I would be very uncomfortable and not at all content. I would feel like I was in a prison from which I needed to break out. It should go without saying that I have constructed a life where I am comfortable and content.
As far as your last sentence which I placed in bold above, I am sorry that your years of employment were so unenjoyable. Some people, perhaps the lucky few, find very deep satisfaction and gratification in what they do for a living. Don't you think there is real pleasure in making things with your own hands and taking pride in the quality of your finished product? People who create things directly with their hands range from dentists to carpenters to welders and on and on. In the helping professions, despite inevitable frustrations, isn't there a deep joy and contentment in being able to be of real use and help to other human beings? How about the meaningful pleasure we can take when our efforts are appreciated by others and they say so and it is obvious from the context that they really mean it? My own career was a mixed bag - I had some hellish times and some great times.
Interesting thoughts, Curmudgeon. My response is that the kind of life with which we are "totally comfortable and content" will vary depending on who we are and what we are interested in. If my focus were limited to money, the weather, medical issues, grandkids, and negative politics, I would be very uncomfortable and not at all content. I would feel like I was in a prison from which I needed to break out. It should go without saying that I have constructed a life where I am comfortable and content.
As far as your last sentence which I placed in bold above, I am sorry that your years of employment were so unenjoyable. Some people, perhaps the lucky few, find very deep satisfaction and gratification in what they do for a living. Don't you think there is real pleasure in making things with your own hands and taking pride in the quality of your finished product? People who create things directly with their hands range from dentists to carpenters to welders and on and on. In the helping professions, despite inevitable frustrations, isn't there a deep joy and contentment in being able to be of real use and help to other human beings? How about the meaningful pleasure we can take when our efforts are appreciated by others and they say so and it is obvious from the context that they really mean it? My own career was a mixed bag - I had some hellish times and some great times.
Oh, but they weren't unenjoyable.
Growing up in the 40s and 50s there were generally four things little boys wanted to be - cowboys, cops, soldiers or firemen. Over the course of my 45+ working years I managed to be the first three. Good times and bad but always interesting, challenging and fulfilling.
My last 18 years were spent in the world of state politics - again challenging, frenetic and when there were "rewards" they were huge. Successes were few and far between but when you can write and see passed laws that benefit millions it's most rewarding and memorable even if, or perhaps because, it's from behind the scenes and you never receive any credit for it but the satisfaction of having done something helpful and relevant. My wife did the same, for 20 years, and feels the same way. We were both on "front street" many times testifying before legislative committees but the bill's authors, even though we wrote/worked them, received the accolades and that was fine with us.
My statement still stands. Retirement is ever so much more comforting; perhaps because what came before was so intense. But nonetheless, it was rewarding.
I have lived in several locations in three states plus the District of Columbia and I have never had a clue about my neighbors' religiosity, their "open mindedness" or how they vote.
I think maybe you have not lived in the "Bible Belt," where they are happy to give you their far right wing opinions (without you asking!).
I think maybe you have not lived in the "Bible Belt," where they are happy to give you their far right wing opinions (without you asking!).
Even if true, which we've seen very little of, no worse than strident "progressives" from the other side of the spectrum demonstrating, proselytizing, flying multi-colored flags, plastering their cars with stickers and generally making nuisances and spectacles of themselves
Even if true, which we've seen very little of, no worse than strident "progressives" from the other side of the spectrum demonstrating, proselytizing, flying multi-colored flags, plastering their cars with stickers and generally making nuisances and spectacles of themselves
I was speaking of right wing comments made by acquaintances while having a conversation over dinner. Absolutely not the same thing.
I was speaking of right wing comments made by acquaintances while having a conversation over dinner. Absolutely not the same thing.
And I wasn't politicizing this until you did. No need or sense to. And so goes that lack of civil discourse in this day-and-age of ridiculous polarization.
Back on trak, we all seem to either gravitate to places in which we'll feel comfortable and welcome. If not possible, usually due to finances, we moan and groan. Happily, we were able to do the former.
We have some friends that live in Sun City, Hilton Head (Bluffton), SC.
In general much of the complaining I see about many things is from begrudgers, especially from those that cannot afford what others have. Snippy things like, yes they have a beautiful home but do you realize they are both working all the time to afford that thus missing valuable time together...such as we have in this small mobile home....LOL
Wow, ok then. This is probably the most class based BS I've read on here. And proof positive that it's a good thing you folks segregate yourselves from the rest of the world. LOL. Carry on.
I've been to Hilton Head a few times and like it but the low country concerns me because of the snakes and gators or crocs.
When you were there, did you see a lot of these creatures? After dark? We were told once when we were visiting HHI not to walk after 9 at night b/c of the snakes. (I hate snakes).
I did think it looked like a lovely community.
ROFLMAO <gasp> Oh, Bette, how funny you are!!! You have made my evening! Thank you!!! I'm sorry, but I was born and raised in SC, and boated, swam, golfed, and walked in the woods for 35 years there (off and on), and your post just struck me funny.
OK, (still chuckling) Here's the straight skinny -
There are no crocodiles in SC, or anywhere in the US (unless they've been brought in as a curiosity). There ARE alligators. Alligators do not like (although occasionally are found in) salt water; they prefer cool dark muddy places in the daytime, so ocean-beach swimming will not put you in danger from them. We had a 4-foot one living in an abandoned, collapsed shack down the road from us. If you drive from HHI to Savannah/Port Wentworth, GA, you will find The Savannah Wildlife Refuge - locally known as Alligator Alley. The gators come out in the cold winter months and loll on the sun-heated pavement for warmth. Pretty much if you see a body of water on HHI or the surrounding areas, there's a gator in it. That includes water traps on golf courses, floating blissfully down the Savannah River, in the 'lagoons' and ponds around which most houses are built, and even in the woods that are damp and marshy. Gators are stupid; they have the brain the size of a pea behind one eye. They live to eat. Period. They prefer small creatures like cats, dogs, etc, and don't really like the taste of human meat... but that doesn't mean you should trust them - if they are hungry or you make them mad, they will try to eat you (Actually, what they usually do if they are near water is drown you by rolling you over and over, then try to tuck your body into a hole for later). Most gator attacks happen because someone was being stupid; they lost their golf ball in the reeds around the pond and started thwacking the weeds with their golf club, or they walked their champonship dog down by the lake every evening, or they went for a long walk in the woods and sat down on a 'log' - that wasn't. Gators do not like people as a rule - but they are easily prodded into attacking them.
Ah, snakes. Let me tell you about SC snakes. SC has all but two of the snakes found in all of North America. Everything from grass snakes, black racers, and rat snakes, to corals, water moccasins, rattlers, and copperheads live, and live happily, prolifically, and well, in SC. Like their reptile cousins, the gators, they seek warmth (like a roadway or a sidewalk) when it is cool, and cool (mud or shade) when it is hot. You can come home from work and find a copperhead curled up on your front steps, or go boating in a river overhung with trees and a water moccasin will drop into your boat. (Do not - I repeat - DO NOT go crazy and start shooting your pistol or rifle into the bottom of the boat to kill it.) You can go swimming in local lakes and rivers and find a water moccasin nest. When the building craze was on several years ago, snakes would crawl into the new sewer pipes that were being installed, and be installed right along with the pipes. They would then slither through the pipe and pop up in someone's toilet a few blocks away, which led to vicious rumors being put about, about snakes in the water. They weren't - they were just lost critters trying to find a way back out.
Does all of that sound like a horror movie? It isn't. Mostly the snakes are what residents tolerate, think about, and are aware of, but not to the point where they won't go out of their house. Most snakes will flee from you if you go walking on a path or sidewalk or roadway, or even in the deep woods - at night or in the day - because they do not like people. Rarely will a snake attack, unless you poke it, hit it, or let your children play in high weeds near where its babies are. Usually they just want to get away. I used to have a garter in my peach tree orchard; I would go out there to weed or pick and she would coil around my fingers most pleasantly. On the other hand, do not let your dog go into or near the woods without you on the other end of a leash - most dogs will attack a snake and try to kill it to defend you, and many end up being bitten. Pull the dog away quickly, keep stepping slowly back, and let the snake go about its business.
Basically, simple everyday caution and common sense will not keep you from ever seeing a snake or gator - but it will keep you from tempting or provoking them enough to attack you.
I used to step on snakes barefoot when I was a child. That is a very odd sensation. Luckily they were garter snakes and not dangerous. And no, that was not South Carolina.
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Bible Belt
You have made my evening! Thank you!!! I'm sorry, but I was born and raised in SC, and boated, swam, golfed, and walked in the woods for 35 years there (off and on), and your post just struck me funny. 
