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I'm sure I have no need to repeat the story of the two, and their battle to win, to reach the finishing line first. Today's generation are like the hare in the story, and the retired the tortoise. The wish to succeed, to reach the goal, to retire early, this the driving force behind the life style of today's young.
What is the hurry? The children of the sixties and seventies, encouraged by their parents, to get an education, find a steady employment, and to work till reaching retirement, expected the rewards. "Don't change employers, you'll forego your pension, be patient, the promotions will come, work hard and stay loyal to the end". All the words, gotten from the parents. How many succeeded in reaching their goals, less than half, according to the statistics.
What went wrong with the expectations? Global economics, high interest rates, wars of attrition brought on by governments seeking independence from mother countries draining their wealth, retrenchments and the general lack of availability of small business. Unemployment reaching highs, only surpassed by those preceding the great wars. The disillusion felt by the young, spending months away from home, gaining only experience in the way of war, lacking the full-time employment in their chosen profession. The frustrations of their inability to progress in promotion, due to the lack of experience in the field, surpassed by an unavailability of competitive employers.
The result, the will to attempt improve the situation, but the lack of funds to reach it. As the difference between life and death converged, the generation took to play, drugs, free love, live for today, protest and generally forget about the future. Retirement, a thought for tomorrow, “work till I die” attitudes prevailed, little attention paid the changes approaching with the industrial revolution, the new technology, the silicon valleys and the rise of the previously suppressed nations.
The young however, have seen the woes of the parents, and “it won't happen to me” attitudes prevail. Work hard, play hard, take risks, some succeeding others failing, rise up again and continue. Millionaires, billionaires appearing all over, ideas and discoveries purchased for unbelievable sums, young entrepreneurs, some hardly out of school, making headlines, being paid salaries monthly that took the older generation a life time to accumulate. Are these the hares of the story? I don't think so, unless the future holds a “curve ball” hidden behind the back, to curl its way into their future, and change their stance on the plate. Their only present concern, inflation, they seem able to control their wealth, in a way tantamount to the combatant nature of their parents.
Good luck to those that make it, you're the Tortoise of the story, to those that don't, join the ranks of the hare enjoy the peace and quite and sleep your life away.
I think the Hare symptom in the new generation is based on the ability to get what we want, and get it almost instantly. We also have to be busy, could you imagine the new gen sitting around a fire telling stories (without pulling out their phone to text their friends). A different world we live in and we likely won't see the old days come back any time soon. I am a culprit of the "I want it now" and my 24/7 connectivity had created this.
I have a son running down the track at such a speed he will undoubtedly retire at 45 to 50, i'm not knocking it, but one thing I can brag about I never missed the '60s and '70s good times.
He likely won't be entertained enough by retirement. When you fill your day with constant bursts of technology, an 18 hour day of "free time" when your older doesn't seem like a reasonable or an exciting prospect. I think we will find that our generations work until they are no longer capable of working, in some form or another. At a much higher rate than the baby boomer generation anyways!
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