Out to pasture

This week has slowed down in terms of book activities. I’ve been using my time to learn about networking platforms and continuing to reach out to folks about my book. In the meantime, I wanted to write about something that’s been on my mind; actually, it’s a topic I did discuss in the book— maintaining and securing employment as we enter our senior years.

I’ve been contemplating the phrase “put out to pasture,” which is a term used both for animals and people. If one was a horse, it would mean the animal had worked hard for many years, whether racing or working on a farm, their body was tired. They would be put out to enjoy their senior years in a pasture where they could feed on the sweet green grass and enjoy the sunshine… a positive thing.

As a person in the workplace, “put out to pasture” means losing your place in the employment stream due to age, even when one’s mind might be active, keen, and robust. The numbers just don’t add up. There’s unemployment far too early and no sweet green pasture waiting to feed upon.

AARP offers discounts for anyone over 50, which is pretty young to be considered a senior, but not in the employment industry. Personally, I think it’s a bit backward. Just as a person has begun to master their craft and hopefully learned to get by in the workplace under all sorts of adverse conditions, they often become displaced. 

I most always consider life in terms of nature. I’m constantly comparing my ideas with how Mother Nature handles herself. While spring is lovely, full of growth and renewal, autumn is one of the most celebrated seasons, with good reason. There is time to breathe in all the beauty of the hard work of prior seasons. If I had to give up all the seasons but one, I’d keep autumn. But the truth is, for me, winter would give autumn a run for her money. (I know, my readers are probably asking themselves, “winter?”) But I love a good storm; it must be my Scorpio nature.

Nature finds room for all of her creations. Tender volunteer plants sprout without human encouragement, weeds, flowers, vegetables, fruits, pine trees, bamboo gardens, ferns, palm trees, plumeria; there’s no end to nature’s ability to include all of her creations. 

One of my favorite trees resides on the edge of our property, a majestic oak, which has a life span of 150-300 years. The tree is likely 100-150 years old, just reaching middle-age. And along with a few other oaks on our property, it is the richest part of our land. If something happened to our house (heaven forbid) we could replace that. But we could never replace 150-year-old trees.

When I contemplate companies swapping out middle-aged employees for younger ones, I consider the idea of replacing my beautiful oaks with a few new saplings I could pick up relatively cheaply at Eisley’s, my favorite nursery in Auburn. That visual for me packs a punch.

Our world, it seems, places more value on speed than on excellence. Everyone is moving so quickly, but I’m here to tell you I’d rather wait 20 minutes for a great pizza than receive a crappy one in five. Speaking of that, we want to put a pizza oven in our backyard soon. Those pizzas will take a long time to prepare and bake, but what a gift they will be (once I master the whole dough thing.) I had to digress a bit, as I sounded a bit too preachy. But my words have merit. 

What prompted this subject for me is a post I read on Linkedin about a man in his mid-fifties who feels unimportant and unable to secure employment after a successful career. I felt sad after reading his post. And a good friend of mine who is middle-aged has also been interviewing and feeling a bit discouraged. I’ve been grumbling to myself this past week and just needed to shout it out to the blogosphere. Newer, quicker, shinier is not better. It’s just newer, quicker, and shinier. Youth and beauty are wondrous in a world that combines all the ages but lacks when it stands alone. We humans seem to be a slow grow as we continue to select priorities that work against us in all respects, our environment, our businesses, and our relationships.

I wanted to list just a few of our earth’s oldest trees, asking the collective to contemplate our world without these ancient treasures…

Cypress, Pine, Sequoia, Juniper, Redwood, Cedar, Olive, Oak.

Ancient trees have proven to thrive in many different latitudes, elevations, and with many other specimens. We need to take nature’s lead, acknowledge the wisdom that comes with age. I recently read that going forward, people can expect to live half of their lives over the age of 50. In my way of thinking, at 66, that makes me a teenager. And for the generation after mine, the gravity of this reality will only multiply. Creating an environment that appreciates aging is imperative. 

I have a few more thoughts about the aging crusade, which I will share next week.

4 Comments

  1. So on point with your musings. But you surprised me about the oak tree being your favorite; I thought it would have been the Bay Laurel.

    • What bay leaf trees are you referring to?

  2. Very well written and right on the mark.

    • Thanks,Lynn!


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