Point / Counterpoint: Social Security

The Tranquility of Age

Pilot Steve Fossett (60) has become the first person to fly solo nonstop round-the-world:

With a crowd and marching band to greet him, Fossett landed at Salina Municipal Airport around 2:49 p.m. ET.

Fossett, his legs a little wobbly, stepped out of the cockpit and hugged his wife, as well as his flight financier, Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson.

Elderly Wal-Mart greeter punched in the face while at work:

Shirley Barker, 68, works as a greeter, saying hello to customers walking in and checking the receipts of customers walking out. Last Saturday morning, a man ruined her day early.

"He approached. He walked by. He just rolled up his fist and then just went pow," said Barker, demonstrating a punch. "He said nothing to me at all."

Barker says she spit blood for three days and had bruises all over her face. She's home on sick leave for now, but she says she's not scared to return to work.

ADDENDUM: More news regarding elderly people in pain:

For more than six hours yesterday a 92-year-old Harlem woman banged on the walls and desperately screamed for help after she was impaled on a bathtub faucet, officials said.

…Two neighbors finally used a key to get into the 8th-floor apartment and found Thelma Riley naked with a four-pronged metal faucet knob stuck in her lower back.