TODAY, LET US dwell on the topic of Retirement – from work, service, employment, etc., in the Philippines, in our very midsts.
ALSO: LET US revolve around two types of Retirement – 1)retiring when you reach the age of 60 or so; and 2)retiring after the required years of service, let’s say like in the Military.
THERE ARE OTHER ‘types’ too – current and ‘special’, like: retirement from public life, retirement from Politics, even optional and ‘self-imposed retirements; but sometimes
THESE ARE NOT easy to analyze or discuss about – since as cited, they can be extremely individual, private, even personal.. being special types that they are. Ergo
LET’S DELVE ON the two cases or types aforestated, again: the mandatory 60 years old or so retirement and the number-of-years service type or kind.
FURTHER, THE FOCI of our discussions shall be on how retirees of these two types are viewed or regarded; rather than the technicalities of qualification, application, or grant, etc., of said two types themselves. So, when someone is ‘retired’, how do people see or regard him?
INITIALLY, LET US take those we usually hear or observe, to wit:
HE OR SHE – the retired one, 1)will shift from his/her usual pre-retirement tasks to: unwinding, rest, or transition; 2)then, relaxation or enjoyment.. for ‘quite sometime’; 3)then, extensions (or furtherance) of this stage.. until next activity, ‘employment’, etc., or.. 4)actual shift or transfer to another calling – or (self-)employment.
IT IS IN #3 and 4) where our retirees usually differ per se, i.e. some choose to do other different activities from what they used to before retirement (cf. #4)) while others linger, prolong, or ‘stay-yet’ in the stage-enjoyment of their ‘benefits’.
STAGES #1) AND #2) are almost constant, therefore, so to say. Most retirees – at least ‘in these Heights’, pass through these – according to their own accounts and the observations of others who retired – before or after them.
OF THE #4) retiree-type, there’s Norman Mashdo. He retired at the age of 60, built himself a modest one-story house, and went to swine-raising and poultry.. both ‘small-time’ though.
HIS POULTRY LASTED only for two cycles and he gave it up – saying it can’t be a success venture for him. He shifted to Gardening – sitting beans, sweet potato (camote), and peanuts.
AFTER SIX MONTHS or so, he raised his hands and declared: “I can’t make it; I’m not like my Northern cousins who can buy handsome vehicles – or elves, after some croppings.. [and hu hu, he adds].”
HIS SMALL PIGGERY is still surviving though; but now on ‘breeding’ embarks – no more ‘growers’. He’s got four sows, to care for and feed.. but he still complains – and expresses at times aptly:
“IF ONLY THE Hands of Time can change! I long to see myself again in the whereabouts of the Academe!” Another example – but of a different story. He is of the #s 1) and 2) retiree-type.
JULITO KHAGGS RETIRED as a skilled worker.. here, not abroad. His manual dexterity qualified him to stay employed that long as a: welder, pipeman, mason, carpenter, driver-mechanic, steelman, and electrician.
DURING A SIMPLE gathering which he hosted after retirement, his peers were teasing him: he’s got already a lot of money and what was he planning to use it for? He just smiled, and a bit later joked about some other things instead
IN LATER MONTHS after, he bought – not at one time though – an accumulated number of vehicles. Everybody was curious: what’s he planning to do? Now,
HE IS A Contractor(?) of sort? He has his own boys or workers; they go to the sites clearing right-of-ways, or stonewalling, or hauling obstructing slides, etc. Since nothing is heard ‘irregular’ of his present occupation; or, from his men, could we say he is an excellent example of a ‘successful’ retiree?
ONE TIME HE was asked why he is that ‘very active yet’, when he is supposed to be ‘retired’? And he just answered: “I retired early because of personal reasons.” So, finalement:
WHAT ABOUT YOU and I: what have we in-mind when we are introduced to a ‘retiree’? That he’s still working to get the ‘bests’? Or, that he’s done with those and it’s time to enjoy and sit? But the retiree can always choose yet to be active and be happy! Can’t he?
May 8, 2024
