The man pulled the last item out of his desk drawer. It was his last day on the job. He had finally reached retirement. No more research jobs, no more reports. He looked forward to doing one thing; nothing. Is that not what retirement is? He thought how young he would feel not having to do all the research anymore. He would just wake up every day and do as he wished.

The first day was wonderful. He got up late and sat down to a cup of coffee. Then he spent the rest of the day milling around the house. This process continued for days. Days turned to weeks. Weeks tuned into months and months into years. As time passed something odd was happening. Instead of felling younger not having to do research, he felt something ells entirely. He began for the first time to feel old. Soon it hit him.

He began to give classes about the research he did. He knew so much that he made an excellent teacher. Being a teacher required him to do the one thing he never thought he would do again; research. Instead of making him feel older it kept him young. With fresh knowledge came fresh ideas. Ironically, the more he learned the more youthful he felt.
“Anyone who stops learning is old, weather at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young” -Henry Ford