I am one of the co-founders of the website “Don’t want to retire”, along with Chiara Francesca di Tizio and Melanie Phillibert.
It all began when I was about to embark on a lucrative few days of contracts with an international organization. I was contacted by my supervisor, who told me that I would no longer be able to accept the work because I was now 70 years old.
What?
How could that be?
I was devastated.
I was also very angry.
I can understand that a person may want to retire from their career, or the daily grind of their physically and mentally tiring job, but I enjoyed my job. I could work from home. I would not have put anyone's life in danger working from a chair in front of my computer. I had been hired because of my skills, my brain, the speed of my delivery, not for the strength in my arms.
So I got to thinking about all the other people who may be in my position. People who may have retired, or who are about to retire, but still wanted to contribute to society. There are people who have accumulated skills throughout a lifetime, it seemed a shame that these same individuals would be cut off from the those who could gain from their knowledge.
I also started thinking about how it was when I was a teenager, and really had no idea about what I wanted to do with my life. Years later, I realised that there were jobs I would love to have done if only someone had been there to tell me about them. Forestry comes to mind. Not possibly considered a career option for a young woman when I was growing up, but there is really no reason why a woman cannot be a forester, or anything else she wants to be.
So I started to talk about the idea of creating a website for people who did not want to retire, and for people who would like to know something about a different career option, or path. A type of website that could put these people in touch with each other.
Melanie immediately created the bare bones of the website. I added a few place holder illustrations. With Chiara we started to create skill categories, to think about how the information would be presented.
The people we spoke to talked to others who were enthusiastic about this idea and began to bring their own concepts to the table for consideration and inclusion. It was encouraging to find that the concept was greeted positively.
At some point the people offering their skills will be paid. To accomplish this, we may rely on advertising, or seek private or public funds. We are operating from Italy and Canada where the sciences and creative endeavours are perceived as highly important to the well-being and advancement of society.
Yes, we have a ways to go. There is much work to be done. If you think you would like to participate, please let us know by filling in the contact form.
Hope to hear from you soon!