Across generational lines, Americans continue to prize many of the same traditional milestones of a successful life, including getting married, having children, owning a home, and retiring in their sixties.
It was now nearly four months since Justin and Nearly Headless Nick had been Petrified, and nearly everybody seemed to think that the attacker, whoever it was, had retired for good.
Jacob von Bisterfeld, an expat who is long retired but still actively involved in all and sundry social and business engagements in China, is effusive about the new development.
During a church service in Cape Town, retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu said Mandela helped lead the country to reconciliation as he dismantled white minority rule.
Retired Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna died in a crash with the pilot and six more passengers on their way to Gianna's basketball game.
Sylvia and Paul Custerson, a retired couple from Cambridge, England, recently took a 16-day vacation to Namibia, where they went on bird-watching excursions.
Retiring oneself voluntarily, in order to save others (and oneself) from the consequences of one's own inner emotional turmoil is the true sign of a great and kind soul.