Work or Play?

Recently an article I read awhile back in the New Yorker was re-introduced to my attention by a friend of whom I gave the magazine to (thanks Templeton). The article expounds on an interesting topic that most of us certainly have an opinion on; the relationship of work to leisure. Upon going back and reading it again, I found it more interesting the second time around. (More and more I regard the articles in the New Yorker as little books or treatises, perhaps that is why they are so neatly catalogued and remain forever available on their website).
“No work and No play” is a short article by James Surowiecki that essentially compared the work habits of Europeans to Americans with a brief history of work habits in the US. Most of us know, and take as a given, that America is the richest nation in the world. However, this comes at a serious price, perhaps, most relevant, that the same nation also boasts the highest rate of mental illness in the world. “People in America generally work 40 hours a week, and average 4 weeks of vacation a year (including holidays)”. Things weren’t always this way and we just might have missed out chance to change them. The article illustrates wonderfully just how difficult of a problem this is to solve, and (interestingly) the role of the service industry in America as opposed to European nations.
As written in the article, “The number of hours the average American worked had fallen by almost twenty-five per cent between 1900 and 1950, and pundits saw no reason for the trend to stop.” Americans must have enjoyed a certain amount of leisure that is not seen today, not to mention time with their family. Today we have to struggle to fit “life” into our work, it would seem. The article further implies that Americans “trade their productivity for more money, while Europeans trade it for more leisure,” which fits well with my own observations of American life. We are utterly sold on everything; DVD players in SUVs, portable music players, and all sorts of other “things.” I can’t imagine a more materialistic world than modern day America.
This may sound a bit negative or extreme, for perhaps, many of you are happy at work and/or enjoy spending the money you earn on the flat screen televisions and “Razr phones” but regardless, it remains true, that too much time is focused on working in this country, to the obvious detriment of society, family and values. The high divorce rate in America is sure testament to the overworked American, as is the ever increasing incidences of depression and anxiety, growing more common everyday, in America.
There really is no “quick fix” (that I know of) to cure us of this problem. However, I believe that merely an awareness of such movements and trends can be effective in living out our own lives in a healthy and happy manner.

I understand that this is not much more than a poor excuse (not to mention, highly paraphrased) New Yorker article, but I just had to share. Today I called in sick to work to take back a little bit of my life. At 11:33am I screamed at the top of my lungs for freedom, while driving in my car. You can to.