I have now passed 65 and I have retired from my paid job last month.
It is kind of weird that a lot of people around me have more trouble
about this fact than myself. They seem worried, they all ask what am I
going to do, what are my plans, etc. I was never a guy to plan too
much ahead so, trying to be funny and relax them a bit, I say that I am
going to sleep a lot...
But some of them took this joke very seriously: the other day, an
elderly figure of my family, perhaps trying to look good at my expense,
remarked that he could not understand the "young people of today, who only think about stopping work"...
He said that he could not live without work and that he would work
until he died. Well, if he expected me to feel guilty about retiring, he
failed miserably.
Obviously, the elderly member of my family doesn't know anything
about my work. I have spent more than 40 years in Software Development
and Software Support. Those who were crazy enough to work in these areas
of IT know that it is not exactly a "normal" job. I believe that I
never worked less than 12 hours a day at work and continuing at home,
evenings and weekends. Several times I had to go through two or even
three days without sleep in order to finish a product on a tight
deadline. But I did it all because I wanted, because of a passion for a
very interesting and intellectually challenging work...
To me, retirement simply means freedom, freedom to work for myself and to do what
I want, when I want. I can choose now the projects I will undertake,
the techniques I want to learn and experiment with, etc. Development of
software is not only a profession, it can also be a fascinating hobby,
if you have enough time. And now (guess!), I have plenty of it! And I
have other things too that I love and never had the time to dedicate
myself to them. I am deeply grateful to a social system that gives us
this privilege, but I have contributed to it, I have earned it and I
don't feel guilty at all.
On the other hand, paraphrasing the abominable John Bolton, ex-UN ambassador for the US, who wrote "Surrender is not an option",
I would say that retirement, as a mean to stop doing what you are good
at, is certainly not an option. As it happens, my elderly family
member was right. It's a pity though, that he sees it through a very
narrow perspective. Nevertheless, I should thank him for the "young
people", although it doesn't help much when I look myself in the mirror
every morning :-(
