AMONG the many things that the present generation accepts as an age-old tradition is retirement.
In reality, retirement is a relatively new phenomenon.
I was talking to a man a few weeks ago who made the following statement:
"They talk about being the first in your family to graduate from high school or college. Well, I'm the first person in my family who ever retired," he said.
I hadn't given it much thought, but the man had a point. If you look back before 1960, you won't find many people who actually retired.
They may have gotten too old or sick to work, but to just up and retire, well, unless you were one of a privileged few who had a government job or was president of a bank, you just worked until you couldn't work anymore.
There were two factors that made retirement in America possible and they are both institutions that Republicans continually scream and curse about--unions and Social Security.
Social Security, enacted as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, gave the lower-income working man something to look forward to when he was no longer able to work.
And unions pushed big manufacturing companies to provide for their workers when they got old. Union pensions generally used the Social Security retirement age of 65 as the point where they kicked in.
With union jobs and Social Security paving the way, other businesses--public and private--began to look at pensions and retirement.
Today many see retirement as an entitlement. But is it?
"I've worked at that place for 40 years," a guy recently told me. "Don't you think I am entitled to retire?"
"No!" I replied.
He was shocked at my answer and acted as if I had insulted him.
"Where does it say that a person is entitled to retire?" I asked. "It says nothing about retirement in the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. And retirement is not mentioned in the Bible. So where is it written that a person is entitled to retire after working so many years?"
The man, of course, had no answer.
It's true. No person is entitled to retire any more than a 12-year-old is entitled to a cell phone with unlimited minutes.
Yes, you may want to retire, you may be able to retire or you may be forced to retire, but you are not entitled to retire. There is no law or rule anywhere that declares retirement to be an entitlement.
Retirement for many became a reality back in the 1950s, when those who began paying into Social Security in the 1930s started turning 65.
Then in the 1960s and 70s, more and more workers with good pensions began leaving their union jobs and collecting monthly checks.
The golden age of retirement, however, was from about 1985 until 2001. During this period, it seemed that everyone over 55 was retiring, traveling and having a blast.
There were people who had bought their houses for $10,000 and suddenly found them worth $200,000. They had invested in stocks, and the market--with a few exceptions--was soaring. Between pension checks and Social Security benefits, retirement was wonderful.
That golden age may have been an anomaly, and we may never see it again. Today, many pension plans are shaky, Social Security is living on borrowed time and the stock market is recovering from two crashes.
Many workers who retired 10 years ago have been forced to take part time--or full time--jobs to make ends meet. And those who looked forward to retirement are being forced to stay on the job.
During the second half of the 20th century, workers began believing that retirement was an entitlement.
Today we are finding out that it is not. Retirement is a luxury, and it is one that fewer and fewer Americans can afford.
What comes around goes around, and we may soon find that it is once again necessary to work until we can't work anymore.
You know what? That might not be such a bad thing. In fact, it might increase the life expectancy in the United States.
Working, you see, gives us a reason to live.
Donnie Johnston:
Email: djohnston@freelancestar.com