Highway 80

In stop and go traffic, suspended above
the layers of pavement and people,
I saw a billboard for Prudential
saying that one in three babies born
today will live to be at least 100. Then
it said prepare for longer retirements. Prepare.
Well, I say, prepare for older workers,
prepare for your grandmother to have
her executive job well into her eighties.
Prepare to be an intern until you're forty.
Prepare for longer periods between promotions,
and more experience expected for entry level jobs.
Prepare for higher unemployment for younger people.
Prepare alright. Prepare not to be able to afford a house
until you've had two midlife crises. Prepare to invest
in prunes and Viagra. Prepare for procreation to be
an ethical debate, like abortion. Prepare for the death panels.
Prepare to hear these questions on mainstream news programs,
as you go to get your drinking water from the vending machine.