GOLDEN YEARS

GOLDEN YEARS

Jesus told Peter, “I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will lead you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18).

I have turned eighty and I am learning that my health insurance no longer pays for certain treatments that can hasten my demise. I am discovering that the “Golden Years” are a myth. Society is afraid that I may become a financial burden. I had a digestive problem. My physician referred me to be tested. Due to my age I had to wait six weeks before a counselor could see me and evaluate me mentally and physically. Fortunately, I did qualify and was tested and treated very efficiently. I am in the hands of very caring physicians. Nevertheless, the rumor about public options rest heavily on my mind. I hope it is not going to be what some fearful analysts predict.

I am also hunted by the past. In January 1940, the Soviets handed our people over to the Germans in exchange for something. We were taken to a refugee camp and there we were separated from our old people. I never saw my grandfather and great-grandfather again. They were a burden to the German government. Am I going to be a burden to this once freedom loving nation? Will all that I have contributed over so many years to the well being of this nation count for anything? Yes, I am now hunted by an uncertain future and that affects my health.

Jesus predicted that Peter, in his golden years, would suffer and die at the hands of leaders that placed no value on human life. We are facing an ideology that is harsher than the one Peter faced. The system that wants to run this country needs the money we have put in reserve for our golden years. It must distribute these senior funds to those that endorse these politicians. These ideologists will not share their wealth with their supporters. In fact, they will draw profitable salaries for administering our pension funds. The simplest way and one that is not obvious is let the old people starve. The Soviets and Nazis practiced it with phenomenal success.

Like Peter, I too am beginning to stretch out my hands not knowing by whom and where I am going to be taken. It is tragic when we see old people compete in the labor market in order to compensate for shrinking pensions and unaffordable health insurances. Those that promised to help us before they were elected now are taking what is ours and use it to feed themselves and their supporters. After the old people are no more who do you think will be coerced to support their lucrative lifestyle? That is why I am extremely worried about our children and grandchildren. They will not have the means to sustain a nation that continues to labor under the illusion that it is the wealthiest in the world. This nation should take to heart the message to Laodicea, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see” (Rev.3: 17-18).