What do I do now?

Finding Purpose North of 65

Friend of “North of 65” and raconteur Jeff Bliss sent me this video in which Richard Nixon dismisses the notion of a life of leisure.

Who isn’t happy? Nixon says: “The unhappiest people of the world are those in the watering places, the international watering places—like the south coast of France, and Newport, and Palm Springs, and Palm Beach—going to parties every night, playing golf every afternoon, then bridge, drinking too much, talking too much, thinking too little. Retired, no purpose.”

Nixon then offered that he knew many people would disagree, who see not working every day as “the most wonderful life in the world,” but they’re wrong. The late president continued, “They don’t know life. Because what makes life mean something is purpose, a goal, the battle, the struggle, even if you don’t win it.”

I appreciate the former president’s passion and belief in purpose. It seems to me his remarks are more like a condemnation of the leisure class, then known as the “jet set,” and hedonism, than retirees. Except Nixon did equate retirement with lack of purpose.

To me, that’s wrong. Not to mention elitist - a la Ezekiel Emanuel. I think of people who have toiled at jobs that take a physical toll on their bodies and feel that they have earned some R&R. I’ll add: people who work outside year round in heat and cold, people who never found a grand purpose on the job and people who put their families before their careers.

One of the biggest mistakes one makes in life is to want the world to be just like you. Follow that path and you are putting self-love before love of this wide world.

I would be remiss if I did not share this flattering take of my last post, hat included, which Jeff kindly shared.

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