Retirement History & Klahanie summit
IN THE BEGINNING
In the beginning, there was no retirement. There were no old people. In the Stone Age, everyone was fully employed until age 20, by which time nearly everyone was dead, usually of unnatural causes. Any early man who lived long enough to develop crow's-feet was either worshiped or eaten as a sign of respect. Even in Biblical times, when a fair number of people made it into old age, retirement still had not been invented and respect for old people remained high. In those days, it was customary to carry on until you dropped, regardless of your age group -- no shuffleboard, no Airstream trailer. When a patriarch could no longer farm, herd cattle or pitch a tent, he opted for more specialized, less labor-intensive work, like prophesying and handing down commandments. Or he moved in with his kids.
ELDER HOSTILE
As the centuries passed, the elderly population increased. By early medieval times, their numbers had reached critical mass. It was no longer just a matter of respecting the occasional white-bearded patriarch. Old people were everywhere, giving advice, repeating themselves, complaining about rheumatism, trying to help, getting in the way and making younger people feel guilty. Plus they tended to hang on to their wealth and property. This made them very unpopular with their middle-aged sons, who were driven to earn their inheritances the old-fashioned way, by committing patricide. Even as late as the mid-18th century, there was a spate of such killings in France. In 1882, Anthony Trollope wrote a futuristic novel, ''The Fixed Period,'' in which he foresaw retiring large numbers of old men to a place where they would be encouraged to enjoy a year of contemplation, followed by a peaceful chloroforming. But this was hardly an acceptable long-term strategy.
BISMARCK INVENTS RETIREMENT
In 1883, Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck of Germany had a problem. Marxists were threatening to take control of Europe. To help his countrymen resist their blandishments, Bismarck announced that he would pay a pension to any nonworking German over age 65. Bismarck was no dummy. Hardly anyone lived to be 65 at the time, given that penicillin would not be available for another half century. Bismarck not only co-opted the Marxists, but set the arbitrary world standard for the exact year at which old age begins and established the precedent that government should pay people for growing old.
PASTURE-IZING THE ELDERLY
It was the world-renowned physician
William Osler who laid the scientific foundations that, when combined with a compelling economic rationale, would eventually make retirement acceptable. In his 1905 valedictory address at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he had been physician-in-chief, Osler said it was a matter of fact that the years between 25 and 40 in a worker's career are the ''15 golden years of plenty.'' He called that span ''the anabolic or constructive period.'' Workers between ages 40 and 60 were merely uncreative and therefore tolerable. He hated to say it, because he was getting on, but after age 60 the average worker was ''useless'' and should be put out to pasture.
THE KLAHANIE SUMMIT
It was only in April 2013 a group of like minded minds made a more radical adjustment to the idea of retirement. It was in many ways, an urge to do the things that should have been done during the anabolic phase of their lives (ages 25-40) as William Osler called it. The idea is to redefine the time period between ages 45-65.
While Bismark set the standard for modern day retirement at the age of 65, the participants in the Klahanie summit decided that the ages of 45-65 will be called the 'active scouting' phase. This was defined as the time where participants will uproot from their communities (mostly Klahanie and Sammamish) at the earliest available opportunity -- closely tied to their kids entering college and the very optimistic hope that they would go out of state. They would then follow a path to distant lands with sunny weather, proximity to international airline connections to Asia, Europe and the US and a reasonable earning potential to fund the rebirth of their anabolic phase.
To this end the Klahanie council members proclaimed that the first scout will be Ganesan aka Gunny. Gunny by now, is a well traveled traveler who has put his stamp on many civilizations across the planet with an easy going attitude to life and work. His travels have left an indelible mark on the people and places he has visited. Gunny's objective in the first 2 years will be to settle new lands and a get a feel for the hospitability of these new places: Dubai, India, Florida, Singapore & Southern European destinations are the top of the list. Based on current interest levels, Joe would be next to join scouting phase who will then be followed by Sridhar, who will then be followed by Girish and Gopi. Some of the sequencing in the retirement plan is yet to be fully vetted due to staggered college entry of siblings. This is an active and ongoing process and will require many beer summits for a clear definition of final plans. Even though active scouting phase is dangerously close to the 'useless' phase as defined by William Osler, this group is determined to make it a productive phase with very frequent beer summits, charity work, analog-to-digital conversions, and dreams of making a movie regardless of its creative content and success potential. In the end, its the journey that matters and not the destination!
Fountain of knowledge
With due credit to the world wide web
