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You are ass.u.ming that your definition of accomplishment is the only definition.
Anyone who has worked, paid taxes, obeyed laws, raised their children, kept a roof over their own head, food on the table, fuel in the furnace and avoided being a useless pain in the ass to taxpayers has accomplished a great deal, and deserves our respect and admiration.
Sometimes I ENJOY being bored. No one yelling at me, no one telling me what to do where to be how to look and how to act, no one recording every single move I make and no one trying to kill me. Retirement is great!
You are ass.u.ming that your definition of accomplishment is the only definition.
You were responding to jrkliny's post #29, of which you quoted only part of one sentence. The thing is, he did not define accomplishment, except to imply that it goes beyond putting food on the table. He quite properly left it open-ended, because that's what retirement offers if we are so inclined - open ended opportunities for personal growth and accomplishment beyond watching TV and similar mindless strategies for making the time pass.
Anyone who has worked, paid taxes, obeyed laws, raised their children, kept a roof over their own head, food on the table, fuel in the furnace and avoided being a useless pain in the ass to taxpayers has accomplished a great deal, and deserves our respect and admiration.
Indeed, what you are talking about is not unimportant. Those who accomplished what you outlined are a net asset to society and are miles ahead of people who are content to live off the sweat of other brows by not even trying to be productively employed. I certainly respect them, although "admiration" might be going a little too far.
However, what jrkliny is addressing in this thread (a theme which he has also elucidated elsewhere) is aiming at a higher level of functioning. It is aiming at personal growth of a higher order than just merely providing for a family, as important as the latter is.
Perhaps jrkliny is hoping for too much from society as a whole. The real accomplishments and breakthroughs during the history of our species have been made by elites. Of course it's all on a coninuum anyway; the Isaac Newstons, Albert Einsteins, J.S. Bachs, and Wolfgang Mozarts stand at the pinnacle and are truly rare birds. So while the vast majority of us are not part of that rare genius, I can relate to jrkliny's stance that having goals is important and that the goal of mere continued existence is unsatisfying.
My brother is 67 and works fulltime doing insulation work. He is hoping to return to the shale oil fields in 2017.
For Jim and I, a daily walk in "Gods Country"(upper peninsula of Michigan) is exhilarating and is all the excitement/purpose we need. 3 dogs and a 116 year old house that we are redoing rounds out what we want out of life right now.
I do believe that we retire only from one way of life to another and that something needs to center your efforts. In our case its the aforementioned walks, dogs and old house.
Indeed, what you are talking about is not unimportant. Those who accomplished what you outlined are a net asset to society and are miles ahead of people who are content to live off the sweat of other brows by not even trying to be productively employed. I certainly respect them, although "admiration" might be going a little too far.
However, what jrkliny is addressing in this thread (a theme which he has also elucidated elsewhere) is aiming at a higher level of functioning. It is aiming at personal growth of a higher order than just merely providing for a family, as important as the latter is.
Perhaps jrkliny is hoping for too much from society as a whole. The real accomplishments and breakthroughs during the history of our species have been made by elites. Of course it's all on a coninuum anyway; the Isaac Newstons, Albert Einsteins, J.S. Bachs, and Wolfgang Mozarts stand at the pinnacle and are truly rare birds. So while the vast majority of us are not part of that rare genius, I can relate to jrkliny's stance that having goals is important and that the goal of mere continued existence is unsatisfying.
WTH are you talking about now? You and jrkliny have no business sticking your noses into anybody's retirement activities in order to determine whose is worthy and whose isn't.
Go! Strive for genius when you retire. Leave everyone else alone.
I couldn't agree more with the OP. I retired 5 years ago at the age of 57 and boredom is the last thing I have experienced. Between mods to our existing house, building a new place in NH, rebuilding my classic car, spending time on our RV, skiing and socializing, the days are just not long enough. I wish I could have retired earlier !!!
Sometimes I ENJOY being bored. No one yelling at me, no one telling me what to do where to be how to look and how to act, no one recording every single move I make and no one trying to kill me. Retirement is great!
Then there's trout fishing...
and hunting, reloading, bike riding, hiking, kayaking. I can't wait
.........
Perhaps jrkliny is hoping for too much from society as a whole. The real accomplishments and breakthroughs during the history of our species have been made by elites. ......
Unfortunately I am not hoping for "too much". Just getting by in life can be difficult and often leaves us with little effort left over for anything more. Upon retirement we have another fresh opportunity to do something more with our lives. We see a lot of people coming to this forum complaining about being bored, or looking for "activities" to fill their time until they die. I am suggesting that each of us can decide to accomplish something more. No we don't need to be Einstein or Mozart and revise the world's understanding of physics or create great, enduring music.
I have no defined idea what I think people should accomplish with their lives or with the retirement portion of their lives. Each of us can decide on how we can learn, grow, and accomplish more with our lives. I do recommend spending some thought in finding and pursuing individual passions. Many of us expect to enjoy 20 or 30 years in retirement. There are endless possibilities for what we can accomplish in that time.
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