You have to finish sometime!

My name is Sir Guestling Thorn and so it has been

Retirement is an odd thing 
Why for starters, is it called retirement, you have not opted out of society, you are no different than the day before. You can stop whatever you are employed at, whenever you like, at any age or never start "work" in the first place. Retirement is a reference to age, a relatively advanced age, usually 60 plus. We are supposedly winding down towards our demise, death. Well that is inevitable and should not be feared in any way, it is the natural conclusion to living. I'm no philosopher, I am pleased to say I don't know that much about life, to much of a bloody nuisance if you ask me. There are much cleverer people than good old Guesty who can spout about that! However, I have gleaned some insight into the vagaries of existence on planet earth. We take it too seriously, we are obsessed with advancing our "knowledge", extending our time, emphasising the differences between us and not what make us the same. 
The massive plethora of media, dissect, analyse and theorise endlessly about the human condition and how we can alter it. Books, DVD's, magazines, TV, Internet,radio, social media and so on. (and yes I get the irony of that statement!) I am impressed by the progress of the human race in all it's achievements, what a shame we so often forget the lessons that this progress and history has taught us. 
We inhabit the same planet but have a bewildering, if understandable need, of dividing land and imposing borders, then some foolish nutters try to take over their neighbours territory and we all know where that get's us. Peace is an aspiration for all but history dictates that we are very poor at maintaining that peace. Religious support systems have largely failed us. I freely admit that Sir Guestling is an atheist, though that label is to me an as much an anathema as being called a Christian or a Muslim or a Jew or any other derivative of these and all the other faiths that man has invented. I use "man" and "invented" deliberately! 
Off at a tangent as usual, never could keep to the point, well not in my personal twitterings, managed it in my professional career, just about.

So we live, we get older, so what. Physically we slow, mentally we can still have a mind like a rubber trap! Are we not the same person but older, more experienced, wiser, knowledgeable, kinder, more tolerant etc. Well perhaps not. 

The current attitude from our incumbent government is to cut benefits to the older residents in order to save money and cut the deficit. 
As usual they are looking at the issue from the wrong end of the telescope, instead of cutting, we should be looking at ways to improve everyone's comfort by increasing the overall collective wealth. The whole issue needs turning on it's head and the tired entrench thinking, has to be changed, enlightened fresh, radical idea's have to be found. I don't profess to have answers but I am perfectly entitled to ask the questions! 
We all have a responsibility to prepare for our older years but the welfare should be shared at a standard that provides for all, if needed. Once again our society is proving that exclusion is more prevalent than the opposite. The irony is, we are encouraged to be healthier, eat better, take care of ourselves and then are penalized for living longer! 
Lady Thorn a more caring individual than I sometimes portray in these pieces, would categorize it thus 
People don't matter, things do, make people matter more and things less!
She's right of course but then she usually is.
You have to laugh.