Opinion

In a world where we’ve come to expect what we want to come quickly, easily, and conveniently, the idea of struggling for anything may seem unnecessary. It probably seems even more unnecessary – or even flat-out silly – to your young athlete. But believe it or not, if you’re serious about raising and developing a champion, you’re responsible for recognizing the role struggle will play in their experience. It’s not fun or glamorous, but it is important. That’s why I hope you won’t skip the struggle that’s inevitably coming for you and your child. If you do, you’ll both miss out on all it has to offer.

When confronting a problem. I’ve always been told to gain perspective by thinking about how important this issue will be in five years.

Dear Rusty: I am presently 67 years of age and am still working full time. I am receiving Medicare coverage, but I have not yet applied for monthly Social Security payments.

There are some things I really miss. Lots of them, actually.

The mind wanders over the plains of nostalgia and climbs the mountains of memory this morning. I am wondering what happened to some of the contemporaries of my childhood.

Dear Rusty: I’m a retired firefighter and live in Ohio. I earned Social Security from my side employment, but the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) hit my Social Security very hard. My wife worked in the school system and earned a state “SERS” pension. I understand the WEP offset and that doesn’t bother me as much as the fact that my wife doesn’t get my Social Security benefits when I die - her state pension is above the monthly limit for her to receive my Social Security. I earned that benefit by working extra jobs and being away from my family, and it seems unjust that my benefits expire with me. Thanks for letting me vent.

It doesn’t happen suddenly. At least it didn’t for me.

Gangly, skinny, his forehead presenting with acne, the Boy at six feet, three inches towered over the Dean. Yet inside he felt about the size of the spies of the children of Israel alongside the descendants of the Anakim. That is, in the sight of the Dean, he must surely seem as a grasshopper.

doesn’t seem right or fair to those of us who have contributed for years from our paychecks. Signed: Inquisitive Dear Inquisitive: This is a question which needs a bit of historical background to properly explain: Social Security’s original purpose when it was enacted in 1935 was to prevent America’s seniors from living in poverty (remember, Social Security was enacted during the “Great Depression”). Even before the first Social Security check was sent to a retired worker in 1940, Congress had already changed the original Social Security law to, as well, provide antipoverty benefits to nonworking spouses of a worker (a predominant family reality at that time) and surviving spouses, as well as to their minor children. Social Security’s fundamental goal has always been to lift eligible Americans out of poverty, which it still does very effectively.