Believe in People
When I was in government, we received a request from the DC School Board for help with reading for DC grade schoolers. I signed up and found it to be one of the most rewarding things I had ever done. I was assigned to a small boy in the third grade. We worked on reading but he wanted to talk about everything. One morning he asked me if I had seen the movie Lake Placid. I told him I had, and he told me that that alligator “weighed 200 pounds and that’s the most pounds you can have.” He was delightful.
I mention this because I have just finished reading an excellent book by Charles Koch and Brian Hooks (full disclosure, I used to work for them) entitled Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World. In it, they suggest that many of the problems we face could be solved if we would empower people to be the best possible version of ourselves. They propose that we don’t necessarily need big solutions from experts to solve big problems. A better way to solve problems is to allow individuals close to the problems to come up with solutions. That is, we have to stop treating people as the problem, but rather as the source of the solution. Finally, in complete contrast to the world we are living in today, we could improve our lives immeasurably if we partner with people who think differently from us. There is always at least one thing that people can agree on. By example, Charles Koch partnered with Van Jones to address problems with incarceration.
The book is filled with inspiring stories of people from all sorts of backgrounds, including incarcerated criminals, who find solutions that have bedeviled governments at all levels. But here’s one big takeaway for me that they didn’t mention: this could be great for retirees.
One estimate suggests that there will be 10,000 retirees (i.e., baby boomers) a day for the next two decades in the U.S. It will be important for them to stay engaged, as that leads to both better physical and mental health. There are literally thousands of articles and books on what retirees should do, but each person will have to figure out what is right for them. The options are many. But how many crowded flights do you want to take, how many weeds do you want to pull, or how many triple bogies do you want to endure?
Yes, you have “earned your retirement.” But like I mentioned above, it may be much more enjoyable if, instead of kicking back in your retirement, you give back to others. That’s where Believe in People comes in. The authors suggest that there are many areas in society to engage in including the terrible state of our prisons, where we incarcerate twenty percent of the world’s prisoners despite only having five percent of the world’s population. They also talk about how excessive rules force teachers to use rote programs handed down from above that prevent them from teaching students as individuals.
Here’s the thing. As a retiree, you can look around, decide what you care about and possibly find some way to contribute to making a better life for others. If corporate welfare offends you, you can write letters to the editor, go to stockholder meetings, or write on social media. How about doing something about the laws that make it difficult for people who are less well off to start their own business? You can lobby your state or locality to put an end to occupational licenses. For example, to be a hairdresser in New York State, you must pay for 1,000 hours of training (and that’s the least of any state). There are literally thousands of ways you can get involved.
Play golf, travel some or whatever, but one great way to stay active is to help someone else have a great life. You don’t need a boss and you can quit when you feel like it. You might find that, as the Chinese say, “If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.”