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.