"Existence is no more than the precarious attainment of relevance in an intensely mobile flux of past, present, and future." Susan Sontag

            When you’re a lad and working, as time goes by, you become more and more relevant.  You gain experience and, often, stature in your company.  The old farts die off and you move up.  At the time of retirement, you’ve been working longer than any other time in your life.  Thus, you’re at the peak of your relevance.  You’ve never been more relevant than at the moment you hang it up.

            The next day you have zero relevance.  Nobody cares anymore what you think.  This is a shock to your ego – often subconsciously so.  Some old farts look under the sofa, “Where’s my relevance?  I’ve lost my relevance.”  After some fruitless time – months or years in some cases - searching for relevance, you may decide to look for it in volunteer work.  “Hell, it wasn’t the money I was working for.  It was the relevance.”  You find a suitable organization and start getting up at 6:00 in the morning twice a week to meet your duties.  You sort the paper clips and make sure the printer has paper.  It’s great!  The other workers get to know your name, “Hi, Joe.  Glad to see you.  I need a large paper clip.”  You’re relevant again.

There’s other ways you can get your relevance back.  You can try writing a book or a blog, but I wouldn’t recommend that.  None of them ever sell.  No one wants to read somthing written by some old fart.  What have we got to tell the world?

© 2014 Lester C. Welch