2006 Soap Box Archives

Retirement

My vacations are usually right after the first of the year and we usually
spend part of that time in beautiful Colorado.

I love Colorado and I look forward to spending time with our friends out
there. It's refreshing and needed down time and Hazel and myself enjoy it
to the hilt.

But when the time comes to head back to Tennessee and start another touring year, I'm ready to go. I can't imagine staying on vacation all the time with nothing to do with my life but loaf.

The word retirement is not in my proactive vocabulary, in fact, I can't even
stand the thought of it. It's depressing and I think mandatory retirement is
a fallacy.

Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with retiring at 65, if you
want to, but who¹s to say that just because a man or woman has crossed a chronological line in their lives that they should be put out to pasture.

I believe that companies with mandatory retirement ages waste a lot of very
valuable resources. They get rid of a lot of talented people who have
devoted their lives to learning their job and in many cases have, through
experience and maturity, developed attitudes and talents it would take years to teach someone else.

In October, God willing, I will be seventy years old. But so what! I don't
jump as high as I used to and I don't move at the speed of lightning, but I
do have a sense of how to entertain people that I have learned over an
almost fifty year career. I am healthy and enjoy what I do, so why should I
take to a rocking chair just because my hair has turned gray?

I've got a lot left to do. I'm still creative and motivated and most of all,
I love what I'm doing and can't imagine my life without it.

I think it's important to have something to get up for in the morning
whether it's writing another song or trying to break 80 on a golf course.
You've got to have an interest in life, if not you become very old in an
amazingly short amount of time and you spend your time watching reruns of old John Wayne movies or nodding off in an easy chair.

God has truly blessed me with doing something for a living that I love to
do. I realize that everybody doesn't like their job as much as I do and
can't wait for retirement age and that's all right. But if you don't want
to fade away, find yourself something you're interested in to take up your
time, a hobby or an avocation, which could well be volunteering to help less
fortunate people.

At present I intend to travel about 130,000 thousand miles this year, do
somewhere around 110 domestic dates and two foreign tours. I intend to
record a new album, write a bunch of new songs, get some serious work done on my biography, meet lots of new people, sign thousands of autographs and play a gazillion fiddle licks.

And in my spare time, I intend to pursue the seemingly lost cause of
improving my golf game, go fishing in Alaska and hopefully get in some deer
hunting with some of my road crew guys.

Did I mention that I hope to improve my horsemanship this year?

Life!!! Bring it on.

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

 

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