My two-cents worth and then some. An online journal by LP Brown.

Boomer Reality: When The Checks Are Not In The Mail — Part I

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Until recently, many baby boomers never considered filing for social security benefits before reaching their full retirement age. Various surveys reveal that boomers who are healthy and relatively content on their jobs plan to continue working indefinitely, but as more middle-aged workers become victims of recession-related budget cuts, plant closings, downsizing, and layoffs, many are being forced out of the workplace. For those who are already living paycheck-to-paycheck, having the financial rug snatched from beneath them causes a devastating wake-up “fall” into economic mayhem. Add to the job loss, the subsequent forfeiture of health and life insurance, and then subtract — the different is loss of economic stability and peace of mind.

Contrary to what skeptics believe, most boomers dutifully and frantically job hunt while collecting unemployment benefits.  Not only is it implausible to think that the majority of people drawing unemployment are complacent, the reality is that in today’s economy the meager unemployment check, no matter how many ways you stretch the dollars, is not enough to cover basic necessities. The jobless are losing their homes, moving in with relatives and some, having been pauperized, are living on the streets or in their cars. When the job hunt has proved futile and the unemployment benefits are nearly exhausted, some boomers are turning to “last resort” resources for their livelihood. (Read Part II.)

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You’ve Got A Friend

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Did you know that many people celebrate the first Sunday in August as Friendship Day? Some philosophers theorize that strangers enter our life for a purpose and maintain a presence for as long as we need them, and eventually the strangers may become our friends. “Your friend is your needs answered,” wrote Kahlil Gibran in The Prophet published in 1923. 

Friendships that develop early in life can create a bond closer than that shared by some blood relatives. In the pre-Internet days when a best blood-brother-buddy-friend moved far away with his or her family, and you lost touch with that friend, tears flowed for days as you realized that the promise of “Friends to the end” was inadvertently broken. Facebook and other social networks have remedied that problem for today’s generations.

Sometimes a dear, life-long friend dies at a relatively young age. The passing of that person with whom you have shared experiences of school days, dating, marriage and child birth, leaves a void in your heart.

Then, there are a few fortunate people who have friendships that last a lifetime.  In honor of friendship, many wonderful songs have been devoted over the years.  Boomers may remember a tune sung by The Beatles in 1967, “Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends.”

In 1975, James Taylor created a hit with “You’ve Got a Friend.”  “You just call out my name and you know wherever I am, I’ll come running.” 

Andrew Gold’s 1978 song about friendship is memorialize as the theme song for “The Golden Girls”, a television program that boomers and even Generation X’ers who watch the reruns cannot get enough of, “Thank you for being a friend, travel down the road and back again. You’re heart is true, you’re a pal and a confident.”

Another touching song about friendship was co-written by Pattie LaBelle and first performed in 1978. “You Are My Friend.” That song has become a staple at all of Pattie’s live performances. “You hold my hand. You might not say a word. But I see your tears when I show my pain.”

Then in 1986, Dionne Warwick and Friends (Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder) crooned a friendship melody that is now heard in numerous musical greeting cards and music boxes. “For good times and bad times, I’ll be on your side forevermore. That’s what friends are for.”

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