So, what happens if we don’t surrender? When we speak the word retire it often brings up thoughts of retreat, of abandoning something, but what if it meant forging ahead, gaining some high ground in our battle for happiness and quickening our steps into what has not yet been written.

For many of us, the pandemic has given us a brief glimpse behind the curtain, this new experience where everything in our lives has been turned upside down but now, it allows us the time to reach out into our future and could be seen as a very lucky break. To stretch up and stand on the mount you will have a much keener view, better discrimination and the farsightedness to see what it is that we really hope for our children and grandchildren, and hopefully, the wisdom to know what we must change to get there.

Regardless of how old you are, young or about to retire, we all face the same crisis. What we have in common is choice. We can be kind and caring for others but we don’t have to be gullible. This pause in our lives created by the pandemic should help us to understand our situation, families and ourselves a little better. If we sharpen our view we will be better equipped to see that the choices our leaders give us are not equal to the whole truth. We need to be part of a new era of fairness in our communities, our cities and our towns. This offers an amazing opportunity for both the young and old, The volunteers, the emergency workers, the nurses, doctors and street sweepers are hardworking people who sacrifice so much for us all, we’ve all just seen their heroism first hand, shouldn’t they have a seat at the table, shouldn’t they have the same right, an equal voice to make the laws that affect our daily lives.

The top-down planners seem to receive the best portions of everything, every time around. If you look from above the view is clear, it’s not a choice of either your job or having economic insecurity, it’s about ending the ridiculous and distorted wealth inequality in every city on earth, it’s about keeping every working family safe to live a rich and normal life. If we understand anything from this pandemic it should be that equality, fairness and generosity are what brings happiness and a good future to us all. My grandfather used to say to me Gary, “if it’s to be it’s up to me” and I used to say back, grandpa “ I’m not finished yet, I’m just getting started”