The Retirement Sages

A successful man was unsure whether he was ready for retirement.

He decided to go and consult several Retirement Sages to find out.

The first Retirement Sage said, “You want to know whether you are ready for retirement?”

“Yes, indeed,” said the man.

The Retirement Sage wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to him.

The man looked at the paper.

It read neymo.

“What is this?” he asked.

“Unscramble those letters” said the sage.

“If you have enough of that by Retirement Formula standards, then you are one-part ready.  Go to the second sage to find out if you are two-part ready.”

The man unscrambled the letters and checked The Retirement Formula.

He was satisfied he was one part ready.

The man went to see the next Retirement Sage.

The second Retirement Sage also wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to him.

The paper read naositntga.

The man looked at the Retirement Sage.

“Unscramble those letters” said the Retirement Sage.

“If you can avoid what is written on that paper, then you are ready.”

The man unscrambled the letters.  He was satisfied he was two part ready.

The man went to the next Retirement Sage.

He said to the Retirement Sage, “I have come to find out whether I am ready for retirement.”

The third Retirement Sage also gave him a piece of paper with some letters on it.

The paper said mbeorod.

“Unscramble those letters” said the sage.

“If you can be sure what I have written will not be a problem, then you are ready.”

The man unscrambled the letters.  He was satisfied he was three part ready.

He went to the next Retirement Sage.

The fourth Retirement Sage handed him a paper and said,

“Unscramble those letters. After you unscramble them, write up all the ways in which someone can avoid that fate at any age. 

When you write that up, you will satisfy yourself you are four-part ready.”

So the man unscrambled the letters, which were nealmt heatd.

Then he wrote up all the ways in which he could avoid what was written on the paper. 

He was satisfied with what he had written.

The man went to the last Retirement Sage.

The Retirement Sage said,

“Did you write up all the ways in which someone could avoid what the fourth Retirement Sage said must be avoided at all costs?”

“Yes, indeed,” said the man.

“Based on what you wrote, what did you find out?” asked the Retirement Sage.

“This is what I found out” said the man.

“After I retire, I may not have this.”

He handed the Retirement Sage a piece of paper.

On it, the man had written three words:  na yeplemeo di.

“And after I retire, I may not have this.”

The man handed the Retirement Sage another piece of paper.

On it, the man had written two words: a etitl.

“But I will still have this….” continued the man.

He handed the Retirement Sage a third piece of paper.

On it, he had written three words:  a uhnam di.

“I will make my uhnam di count.”

“Yes, my friend,” said the Retirement Sage, “You are ready to retire. Ahem, unretire.

Now go spread your message.  If you have a friend who blogs, ask your friend to spread the message.”

And this is how I got involved.

The man asked me to publish his message on my blog.

My next post will contain the full text of the message he wrote.

You can look out for that next Sunday, when I publish my next post.

Or, if you are impatient, you can read the Powerpoint version on Slideshare now.

Meanwhile, have fun unscrambling all the letters in this post.  Let me know if any stumped you.

As always, thanks for reading, and have a great day and week…..M…..a Pearl Seeker like you.  Thanks to Yaja (unscramble, please) and Tacinja (unscramble please) for their comments on my recent posts, and thanks to the rest of you for your ksile, snpi, teswet and hssare. Much appreciated.