Pains of growing up and old, then retreating into the twilight in these lean times

This week, I’ll join other January babies in marking yet another lurch in the calendar. I’m starkly aware of other January babies who did not make it to this year, such as Raila Odinga and Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and who have now transitioned to become our ancestors.

When a birthday milestone serves to remind one of recent deaths is not morbid humour, it means one has matured sufficiently to start confronting their own mortality. The joke around our house in early 1990s, when the Broken Wood institutions like the World Bank imposed programmes that sapped life out of the public service, was that my mother aspired to proceed on “normal” retirements. But a sizeable number was cut loose under what was called “Golden handshake.”

This meant cashing out in early retirements, well ahead of the retirement age of 55. Thinking about it then, we thought our parents were so old, perhaps using the same lens that my own children must use now to consider me a dinosaur!

Yet, it feels as though there’s a whole lifetime waiting ahead. Listening to an old James Baldwin interview recently (he was 56) he considered himself “young” as a writer as had lots of things to write. “I have a date with the 21st century,” Baldwin concluded. He died in 1987 at the age of 65.

Most workers in Europe and North America especially those in non-technical work, never retire. That’s why you find elderly men and women shelving food items in supermarkets well into their 80s.

It’s not that they love work so much; it’s just that their mortgages and health insurance are tied to their income. So those without any social cushioning are condemned to work all their lives. Some may opt to cash out and relocate to Malindi and start life anew. It doesn’t take long for them to discover there was a book they hadn’t read in school, as our folks say.

In our context, life starts after retirement. Just look at our politicians and the black sheen on the hair that purports eternal youth! In any case, you just need to serve “wantam” to enjoy a lifetime of pension, after “working” for 2.5 days a week for five years…