I work to retire. And as a middle-age male with 30 years of work behind me, I'm scared to death that I won't make it.

Don't get me wrong: I've got an interesting, well-paying position that comes with as much job security as anyone can expect in a rapidly changing American marketplace. (Subliminal note to people under 30: Please, please buy this newspaper, or at least read it online.)

So it's not the work I'm worried about. It's the retirement.

As much as I like the work I'm doing, I can imagine plenty of things I'd prefer to do: exploring the Greek islands, volunteering at a school, writing my memoirs ("The Beer Chronicles"), getting rid of the nut grass, walking Kailua Beach each morning with my wife, reading the Great Books, rereading Proust, taking lots of naps.

At a certain age, a man's fantasies turn from just doing it to actively doing nothing. To do that, as I envision it, you've got to have a house over your head and an income over the poverty level.

It's not going to be easy, though, for any of us in the boomer generation. Even for those smart enough, years ago, to see the benefits of a 401(k), a Roth IRA and a Christmas Club, it's not looking good.

The president still thinks Social Security is something an individual, and not the government, should control. (Note to W: Look up the Webster's meaning of "society.") Corporations everywhere are switching away from the rest-of-your-life defined-benefit pension plans to a here's-your-cash-and-spend-it-wisely-as-you-get-old plan. And increasingly, big businesses everywhere are abandoning their pension responsibilities altogether, never mind the social (and legal) contracts they made with workers decades ago.

The latest example came when Aloha Airlines announced plans to terminate pensions for about 3,000 employees and retirees. Like United Airlines before it and undoubtedly many other companies to come, they want to turn the pension plan over to a government insurance agency that's already $21 billion in debt. Hoo boy, that's reassuring. But at least those people work for an airline, something that's vital to our state and national interests. Push comes to shove, you know the government will bail them out. You can't say the same thing about fiftysomething newspaper columnists.

So I wait and work, work and dream. The closer I get to retirement age, the farther away it seems. More and more, it seems like I should be planning to work, not retire. I know I'm not alone in feeling that way, either.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.