“There’s a sub in the math room today who’s using a
walker!”
I stared back at Mr. Abelman and gave him my grown-up
response.
“Nuh Uh.”
“Seriously.
Yes. The sub in the math room
today is old. Really old. He’s using a walker.”
Mr. Abelman was not smiling. He was serious. As we stood watching the kids pull books out
of their lockers and stuff their coats in, I’m pretty sure he was thinking the
same thing I was.
Will I still be
working when I’m that age?
Later that morning during my plan period, I made a point
of strolling past the math room. The sub
was old, and he really did have a walker.
This past weekend I had a quick out of town trip
involving airline flights through two large airports. As I was getting on my first flight, I was
surprised to see a gate attendant, who appeared to be about 75 years old,
collecting the boarding passes. Later as
I was changing planes in the next airport, the airline cleaning crew began working
on the front of the plane as we were still getting off. I couldn’t help but notice that the plane was
being cleaned by a man and woman who both appeared to be over 70 years old.
At my final destination, it wasn’t a cleaning crew
working frantically on the plane as we all got off. All the flight attendants and either the
pilot or co-pilot were making their way through the seats carrying plastic bags,
picking up the trash.
Throughout January I heard on the news about how the real
estate market and the economy were all pretty much back on track. Things were back to normal. Really?
Did the flight
attendants and pilot know their job would include cleaning the plane?
Did the airline agent
and cleaning crew members ever think they’d still be working past 70 years old?
Did that substitute
teacher ever think he’d still have to work even when he got to the point of
using a walker?
We may be back to normal, but I think maybe it’s a new normal.
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