Older workers, give up your jobs to youngers

DEAR ABBY: I am appalled at older workers who hang onto their jobs so they can live lavish lifestyles, while young workers trying to support families are left with lack of advancement or even laid off because they don't have tenure.

I am a single mom, and when my sons are out of college I plan to take a less stressful job (and thus less pay) so that a younger person can have my job to support a family. I am so tired of the me me me attitude of our society now.

- Disgusted in Columbus, Ohio

DEAR DISGUSTED: While your altruism is laudable, please try to be less judgmental. Many older people work longer these days not to live lavish lifestyles, but to survive.

Many seniors are unprepared financially to retire through no fault of their own. And while you may think now that you'll take a reduction in pay when your sons are out of college, it remains to be seen if that will be feasible for you when the time comes.

DEAR ABBY: My cousin died a short time ago at a very young age and in an unnatural and devastating way. As soon as people outside the family started finding out, they began asking what happened. Many of these questions were posted on my relatives' Facebook pages.

Is it just me or isn't that a very insensitive thing to do? It's not just that they are asking questions of a grieving family who lost their son only hours before, but that they did it through Facebook.

- Mourning in the Midwest

DEAR MOURNING: Please accept my sympathy for your family's tragic loss. We live in an age in which respect for privacy has nearly disappeared, and folks routinely bare intimate and sensitive details about their lives on the Internet. Of course, questions like the ones your relatives are being asked are tasteless - whether in person or via electronic media.

If a person wishes to convey this kind of information, it is usually done voluntarily, and certainly not when feelings are raw.