On Laying Down the Work

“A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.”

“When the work is done, and one's name is becoming distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.”

“Are there then no old men's employments to be after all conducted by the intellect, even when bodies are weak?”

“Shall we not allow old age even the strength to teach the young, to train and equip them for all the duties of life? And what can be a nobler employment?”

“And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.”

“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.”

Following 163,000 people past retirement age for ten years, researchers found lower death rates among those who kept some paid work, with the strongest benefit in rural and lower income households.

In a survey of 6,318 rural Chinese households, stopping work was linked to measurably weaker memory and reasoning. Social activity and staying connected softened the decline.

Studying thirty years of American work histories, researchers found two very different late paths: a bridge job that eases the exit, and an encore career chosen freely for its own sake.

Across 13,159 Americans past fifty, a strong sense of purpose predicted lower death over the next eight years in every group studied. The work may end; the reason for rising need not.