Escondido, CA

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Video Clip: Click to Watch

Listen to Barbara before you read the release: http://www.audioacrobat.com/play/Wf6Rv16Q

A recent newspaper article titled "Redefining retirement: Planners think about future services" is nothing new – cities and towns all over the country waste taxpayer money to entertain and babysit healthy seniors and contribute to the creation of needy, dependent little old ladies.

So that I am not perceived as a total grouch, I have nothing against helping seniors in need. But I don't think seniors capable of doing for themselves need taxpayer provided senior centers, dance classes, book groups, basket weaving, meditation exercises or other activities they could provide for themselves with their own money.

Seniors looking for fun and companionship would do well to find programs that put them in touch with people of all ages and circumstances. Taxpayers pay for community colleges that offer classes that teach marketable skills. Nothing beats a paycheck to help eliminate a destructive entitlement mindset and provide money for a decent lifestyle.

The director of the senior center in the article cited above said, "I thought, let's find out what the boomers are really going to want. We need to start planning for these people."

We need to start planning for these people?

Excuse me; "these people" need to start planning for themselves, assuming they want to plan. Maybe some of "these people" would just like to be left alone to find their own entertainment.

A clinical psychologist with the agency lamented, ". . . some of us are isolated, do not know our neighbors and feel too busy or tired to add anything to our schedule. . . ."

Why it is the business of government to care whether anyone feels isolated or doesn't know neighbors? It's not as if we live on farms, with the nearest neighbor several miles down the road. Today, many people live nose-to-nose with neighbors. If they choose not to interact with each other, it's not the business of government to poke its ever-expanding nose into their lives.

I realize how crabby all of this sounds, but I'm tired of the government wasting tax money on unnecessary services. In my opinion, rounding up healthy old people into senior centers is not only wasteful and unnecessary; it is depressing and unhealthy for old people to socialize exclusively with other old people.

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Barbara Morris is the author of No More Little Old Ladies! and Put Old on Hold. She is a pharmacist as well as an outspoken ageless diva.  She publishes a monthly newsletter. Click this link for a recent issue: http://www.putoldonhold.com/newsletter/apr09.html