Hey Mark, it's me.
I'm just calling to let you know
that I won't be at your party this Friday.
It's the big audition,
and I've gotta be up by 5 the next morning.
And of course, I'm sure you understand,
and everything,
How important this is to me.
And you know how much I love your parties.
But other than that,
I just hope you have a great time and I'll
catch you later.
Hi Mom,
Well, we made it
Thousands of miles and hours of jet lag
sure do nothing for this bad back.
Still, we're managing to get by.
And get this -
The first night in, Jamie
fumbled our laptops and the concierge
mumbled something about those "stupid
Americans." I heard him, I laughed like a clown, and
I dumped my latte all over their quaint little ivory carpet.
We walked the other way. Call it karma.
On Tuesday, we somehow managed to
sneak in a little break and hit the town.
For about an hour.
You wouldn't believe how cold it gets here after sundown.
Well, I hate to cut this short but unfortunately,
I gotta run now.
Please wish Grandma well for me, take care of that cold you
mentioned before, and I hope you had
A Great Birthday.
Love ya.
Dear Janet,
I'm so truly sorry that I was not
able to make it to Johnny's christening earlier
this year.
Not surprisingly,
We've been constantly swarmed here in the office,
and things are likewise crazy back at the house.
Always something to do, someplace to go, and of course
Deadlines, diapers, and bills.
I do miss you though and I think of you often.
I always recall that time back out at the lake when we outsmarted
the copperhead, and the time when
your brother put the sardine in the oatmeal cookie batter, and
"Something sure tastes fishy..."
It always brings back the smiles and memories.
Where does all the time go?
Ah, well, here's something worth looking forward to,
It looks as though
a promotion might not be too far off,
so let's keep our fingers crossed.
I know I'm counting my blessings here and I'm also wishing the best for both you
and your family.
Hope to see you at Thanksgiving,
Sincerely.
Hi Sam,
I'm sorry it's taken me so long to respond
to all of your emails.
Now, about those questions you were asking,
first of all, you don't have much to worry about.
It's be a very competitive field, with all the
politics and late hours,
And let's just say that I know firsthand -
It's no easier at the top than it was just starting out.
I'm not getting any younger either.
But you've got all the potential and I think you'll go far with it.
So keep that chin up.
Also, about that river picnic you mentioned,
it sounds like a fantastic idea. But,
unfortunately, we won't be there,
due to prior scheduling conflicts.
Maybe next year,
Thanks much.
Well Sally, wasn't that just the
craziest funeral you've ever seen.
Whose idea was it to suspend those dreadful black orchids
over the casket and to arrange the seats
like some sort of stupid giant horseshoe?
I almost had a heart attack.
Now, I just can't believe she's gone.
I keep thinking about how she always used to bug me.
"Darlin, Live a little."
If I had a dime for every time she said it...
But then I'd say
"Someone's gotta get the job done,"
And she'd just shake her head and grin.
Why was she missing her front teeth anyway?
I guess it's always those little things, the quirks
that leave the lasting impressions.
I'm really gonna miss her.
I so much wish I could have
stayed a little longer,
but we all know what happened the last time I missed a flight.
Tell the family I'm sorry if anyone asks.
Well Sally,
I don't mean to be so brief,
but I've got a roast in the oven
and a million forms to review
for that meeting tomorrow morning.
So I guess I'll talk to you later this week.
See you then.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few days ago, a passage in a diary caught my eye and struck me as bitterly relevant to the problem I'm hinting at here. In Crashing the Sphere, Stirling Newberry writes:
In our time there has grown up a system which extracts value, and then proceeds[] to concentrate it, not just in the hands of people, but in structures that force people to support the very system which gives them less back than they put in. This observation was made by Machiavelli, Jefferson, Marx and Dewey. It is an old truth that the public needs to be constantly reminded of. Structures grow up because they[] work, and become corrupt precisely because there are, for a time, no good alternatives. At the point where there are choices again, the Jeffersonian right of revolution comes back into play - it is the right of the people to alter or abolish arrangements which are destructive to the ends of life, liberty and happiness.
This brings me to the question.
Is it time to seriously reexamine America's overwork ethic?
From an outside context, it's difficult to imagine that anyone could foresee that the "good life" would consist of almost 20 years of schooling, tens of thousands of dollars of debt, a lifetime of 80-hour workweeks, and a basketful of prayer-cards from funerals of friends and relatives who passed away unnoticed while we were consumed with getting ahead of them and their families. Men squander their youth in cubicles and airports scrambling for the top, only to find it's nothing but crow's feet, cholesterol counts, erectile dysfunction, and an 18-year old escape valve. Women, facing the glass ceiling and "No Entry" signs on old boys' networks, work doubly as hard for the same dismal twilight decades.
While at first glance it might seem that wealth and material power are the golden carrots driving the American overwork ethic, instead signs are suggesting that a more ephemeral concept serves as incentive: The Satisfaction of Success. And what is success? An accumulation of insignia that has no meaning aside from what other people are willing to assign it. An idea whose definition lies in the very hands of us, the people who inhabit this country and likewise give meaning to celebrity, justice, beauty, and prestige. If we can define it, then surely we can redefine it.
This Holiday season, as many of us enjoy time away from the office and see families who we think of less often than we think of refilling the coffee pot, I hope we might take a moment to acknowledge and appreciate the more relaxed pace of day and wonder why it must be axiomatic in American culture that such days are viewed as errant and even indulgent. Utopia might be a long way off, but change is never impossible and always starts somewhere. I hope that following anticipated Democratic victories in 2006 and beyond, that we are able to reshape the culture and restructure regulations (such as the rampantly violated 80-hour work-week cap on resident physicians) to genuinely encourage an American ethos of quality over quantity.
I'd welcome any input. Thank you for reading.