To Retire, but not to be Tired
To
Retire, but not to be Tired
To
retire, or not to retire: that is the question:
Whether
'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The
slings and arrows of drudgerous employment,
Or
to take arms against a sea of customer troubles,
And
by retiring… end them? To dine out; to sleep in;
Who
cares? And by a sleep to say we end
The
alarm clock and the thousand unnatural wakes
That
work is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly
to be wish'd. To Netflix binge, to sleep late;
To
nap- perchance to drink in the middle of the day?
Ay,
there's the rub;
For
in that restful retirement what lovely dreams may come
When
we have shuffled off this o'erscheduled and wretched grind?
Must
give us pause: …. there's the respect
That
makes calamity of so long a career;
For
who would bear the whips and scorns of showing up:
The
boss’s wrongs, the soul-sucking office mates,
The
pangs of HR forms, traffic’s delays,
The
insolence of Executive Wings and the spurns
That
patient merit the worthy employee takes,
When
he himself might his quietus make
With
a comfortable retirement?!
For who would fardels bear,
To
grunt and sweat in a dreary cubicle,
But
that the promise of something after deskwork,
The
undiscover'd retirement-pleasantries from whose bourn
No
employee returns, puzzles the will
And
makes us rather bear those working ills we have
Than
fly to other lands that we knew not of?
Thus
retirement does make hopeful ones
of us all;
And
thus the native hue of daily resolution
Is
sicklied o'er with the pale cast of the distance from retirement.
And,
quiet enterprises of great mirth and merriment
With
its regards, everyone’s currents turn
happy
…
While you’re still lively,
And,
so… retire today in the name of preserving your sanity.
Daniel Shakespeare
11/2012, update 4/17/17
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