Indiana's Oldest State Worker Is Retiring at 102
npr.org
npr.org
> "And I remembered that when I grew up," he adds. "Maybe I might go overboard sometime in saying thank you, but I assure you, that's very important. And my dad's the one that put me straight on that."
That's similar advice to what my mother always told me. For me the unspoken part of this advice is that it leads to you not expecting much from people. Not in a bad way, in the way that everyone has their own life and problems. They wake up in the morning to tackle their own life and problems and when they do take the time to do something for you be grateful because the do it by choice. Thanking people was a big part of African life accompanied by gestures such as clapping hands in a particular way and using poetic language to thank person. Seems to be a dying practice. People seem to complain more about things people haven't done for them.
By way of example say my brother in law gives my mother a present or does something for her. Typically my mother will accept the gift and then after supper when the whole family is seated she will thank my brother in law in front of everyone in our family. It is not uncommon to have the present if is is a present shown to everyone. The point here is to ensure that the whole family is aware of this good deed my brother in law has done. She will thank him then ask the rest of us to help her thank him. The rest of us will also thank him. The point being here we all acknowledge and see what you have done for our mother. The thanking itself can get poetic.
Last year I delivered some money sent to some rural aunts of mine by cousin working in the US (about US$ 20 each) . I made a video of each one of them saying thank you. One of the videos ended up being close to five minutes and I had to ask my aunt to stop because the file was going to be too big to send. Hope that gives idea of the old culture of thanking.
I was trying to estimate how big his pension checks will be but the online Indiana Retirement Benefit calculator only let's you put in birth dates back 100 years. =)
https://myinprsretirement.org/calculators/retirement-benefit...
Scare Headline: Indiana Retirement System Broken by Oldest Retiree.
What we don't know is where on the range between being irreplaceably productive and being an overpaid team mascot who uses the office as an elder daycare his last year's fell, I'd be surprised if it wasn't a bit of both. (not pointing fingers, there are days when I feel like I'm guilty of that myself, and I'm more than sixty years younger)
This guy is remarkable. I wonder what kind of land surveying he's been doing. I'm guessing geodetic or GPS/GIS, which is not as physically demanding. Property staking, engineering, forestry, and traffic surveying requires a lot of upper body strength, line cutting/bushwhacking, driving, and walking.
I'm always impressed when I see people that age up-and-about. My grandfather drove until his late 90's, and was still relatively active until a few months before his 100th birthday.
He gave me the best advice about raising children: "Remember, they're people too!"