So what do we do after retirement?

I used to tell my sister to keep working and not retire too soon. If we live until 90 or 100 years of age, which doesn’t seem so unbelievable, then retiring at 60 or so means spending a third of our lives not engaged in full-time employment. And that is a long time. Work has many advantages, as we all know. It keeps us in touch with the world, helps maintain social contacts, brings in income and daily gives us a sense of purpose and usefulness. If the job is also interesting and meaningful to us, so much the better.

In Hong Kong, the retirement age is 55 for civil servants and 60 for employees of most companies and agencies. There has been talk of deferring the retirement age to 65 for certain jobs, such as that of academics.

I think that women (or men) who stay home to raise their kids are wonderful. Their children are so blessed. It is an extremely important job but often not recognized. I think that women who try to be working moms are superwomen. It is not easy dealing with competing roles.

If I say that females are the tougher sex, will I be called a sexist?

Inventory on display.

Open and ready for business.

Waiting for another passenger.

May I help you?

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.