Rabbi Irwin Wiener, D.D.
We have all been taught the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” Clearly, respect for one another is the clarion call of this admonition. And just as clearly is self-respect an essential part of this endeavor.
It is necessary, for us to survive, to lend a helping hand and to run out to meet the stranger and offer them hospitality, as did Abraham when he saw the strangers approach. He didn’t wait for them to come to him but, rather, he ran out to meet them halfway.
Now, however, we find ourselves in a different situation. Our generation, the generation of retirement age, for the most part, is settled. Many of us have done our share of compromising, and we feel that retirement gives us the right to be more independent. And yet we find ourselves being more dependent than ever.
It is not that simple. As an example: We must participate in synagogue, church, or mosque activities, because where there is doubt, where there is dependency, when a loved one passes on, when we experience joy or sorrow, we turn to our houses of worship for solace and comfort.
We gave our children the ability to understand the value of faith, and yet when we retire, we think that we have retired from that connection as well. More are not associated with “organized” religion than we dare to imagine. The statistics tell us that the great majority of us are no longer attendees of faith environments. Somehow, we have concluded that retirement gives us the ability to retire from a life of faith as well.
Retirement does not permit us to remove religious experience from our daily pursuits. Retirement from God is not an option. It is not a fitting example for our children or grandchildren or friends and neighbors. After all, when all is said and done, we do need the involvement of all whom we know and care about. We do become more dependent as time goes on, and we do need each other as we continue life’s path.
We represent a generation that was in the forefront of human decency. We liberated the world when it was enveloped in despair. We understood the value of faith and goodness and reliance. We took our community involvement seriously by nurturing those institutions representing the dignity of the human spirit. We were imbued with this fervor, and then we forgot. We forget how fragile our society is.
A story is told of a time and place where people could not bend their arms. Because of this, they could not lift food to their mouths. Slowly, people died from the lack of nourishment. Then one person discovered that if they reached for the food with their outstretched arms, they could carry the food and feed another person until, one by one, they realized that the formula for survival was helping each other.
Retirement does not relieve us of this obligation.