Just Six Weeks Until Memorial Day

Quote of the day:
“Four decades after the murder in Memphis of a friend of the working man—a hero who was always being denounced by the FBI for his choice of secular and socialist friends and colleagues—the national civil rights pulpit is largely occupied by second-rate shakedown artists who hope to franchise ‘race talk’ into a fat living for themselves.”
--Christopher Hitchens, in yesterday’s Slate

It’s time for another burst of work. Spring breaks are done. Memorial Day is six weeks away, and summer another three after that.

Now it’s the old nose to the grindstone, and work hard to find ways to escape to Starbucks or even to that long-delayed dental appointment.

I’m fascinated by the rhythm of the work year--how most everyone seems to be on about the same schedule of work during several periods each year. These are the times when the freeways are really clogged at rush hour, food stores are jammed after five and people are generally tired and cranky. The beach is clear as far as the eye can see.

The most-intense work bursts are several. The worst is mid-September through October, which includes very heavy business travel and conference scheduling in October. It’s relieved by Halloween, which has become a much-more-important holiday over the last ten years. That is followed by gradual “loosening” as Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, with the latter bringing on serious partying.

Early January through mid-February is tough. In addition to the grindstone we have to deal with darkness and cold. That’s why we need both Presidents’ Day weekend and Valentine’s Day. After that, there’s a gradual easing until spring break, which continues and accelerates as summer approaches.

In between these work periods there are long-weekend times off or weeklong times when we’re officially at work but the mood is not work. An example is the week between Christmas and New Years. The week before Labor Day also qualifies. In fact, all of summer really qualifies. Think about it--what serious work conferences are held in the summer?

It seems we lurch among three modes: working long hours and like crazy, taking time off and convincing ourselves how deserving we are, and sort-of working while pretending that we are still working long hours and like crazy.

Maybe it would serve all of us better if we could simply integrate work and rest better. But I guess we are too obsessed and self-deluded for that.

It’s the old story of seeing ourselves as much more indispensable than we are.