What If You Live?

It’s late at night and the moon glows round and full. You are driving your spouse and children to the local train station. A light mist of fog starts rolling into the low lying streets and there is a definite chill in the air. As you pull up into the station parking lot you are amazed at what you see. Before you is a train that looks like it came right out of the 1930’s. You look around and take in the darkness and gloom of the night. You can feel the cold creep through your bones as you hear the distant sound of wolves coming from the nearby forest. Your family enters the station building and you look for the ticket counter. You notice that the families in line are all very different, but each appear to be eager to start the journey, and enjoying each other’s company. When you board the train, the first thing that you notice is the massive size and length of this vehicle. It seems to go on forever. Walking down the aisle, you notice that all the seats are facing backwards. Your family takes their seats and awaits the journey. The name of this train is Retirement. Most passengers are riding this train content and unaware of the consequences of their decisions. Facing backwards allows them to judge their fate by looking at the past, not the present or the future. They are living only in the moment and not preparing for the possibility of living over thirty years in retirement. Looking ahead we can see that the bridge ten miles down the track is out. This bridge stands high over a mountain valley, thousands of feet from the ground below. For most this future “train wreck” will completely destroy their dreams of retirement. They will end up working in a menial job through their seventies and possibly eighties just to survive. For some, they will have prepared for this day, survive the tragedy, and enjoy their later retirement years. This analogy may seem callous and trite, but the consequences are real, and the future is not guaranteed. Americans are in trouble and they need to get moving when it comes to future planning. WAKE UP AMERICA!!