Editor,
Retirement for me at age 59 was not planned or welcomes. Life happens.
Now at age 73 I am living alone on an isolated acreage in a 450-square-foot converted garage wiith no running water. Once a week I combined food shopping with limited water hauling in my 20-year-old high-mileage rusty car. I have no computer, smartphone or internet, which makes a $10 per year library card essential. Live like I do for a week and you would soon come to appreciate what you already have. My pension wage, based on a 40-hour work week, works out to $10.50 and hour.
My question would be: When the hell do I get to go on strike for a better wage/life? Can I screw up the rest of the country to get what I want? In my circumstance, it's not what I earn, but how I spend it.
Boo hoo, what a sob story, but wait! My legs hurt, so picketing is going to be limited to the end of my 150-yard driveway uphill both ways.
A silent senior in solitude,
Bill Gallagher, Perryvale
