On Veterans Day, PBS aired a documentary called "The Way We Get By."  Much of it was shot in Bangor, Maine’s tiny airport, where flights from military bases all over the U.S. and inbound from Iraq and Afghanistan stop to refuel. Filmmaker Aron Gaudet’s mother Joan is one of the Maine Troop Greeters:  a group of older men and women who’ve taken it upon themselves to shake the hands of every soldier passing through.

Marci Alboher, an expert on workplace trends and writer of the excellent Working the New Economy blog, interviewed me last week for a piece called Will you work when you're eighty?

Helen Gressett described herself as “a very strong adherent of social justice,  even before we really knew what that was,” and “a feminist, even before I heard the word.” At 62, after a career as a social worker, she helped establish Monterey County’s first child abuse prevention unit. It was uphill work because doctors and teachers didn’t want to admit the abuse was taking place. “I chose it because it was so unpopular,” she admitted with a smile.

It’s easy to see who people who live to work would keep at it as long as they could. Likewise, it’s easy to envision people developing a fulfilling second career around something they’re passionate about (knitting, world peace, aromatherapy. . .). But what about those who work to live? Or who have yet to encounter that all-consuming passion or cause?