ADD Nation
Our children are overscheduled, we are all too stressed, we place too much emphasis on material wealth, we encourage children to be overachieving perfectionists...we've heard this all before. And we believe it, mostly because so many of us live it. Do we sign the kids up for soccer or tennis or both? Soccer is very social and "all the other kids do it." We like tennis, and it would be great if the kids learned an individual sport. OK, so let's do both. But what about swimming lessons? And doesn't lacrosse start in first grade? When do we fit that in? And will we start music lessons in elementary school?
Adults are no better. We work, we volunteer, we socialize (OK, I've heard this is true, but I'm not sure I believe it), we seek and/or maintain marriages and relationships, we pursue our hobbies, we keep house, we shop...or maybe that's just me. I also take classes, and I have a husband who works crazy hours. So when am I going to find time to read the veritable mountain of books next to my bed, go to the gym, tend to my as-of-yet non-existent garden, see any of the movies nominated for Academy Awards, and, finally, watch the entire first four seasons of The Wire? I look at that list and really don't know what I'd give up. In fact, it would be much easier for me to add to the list than subtract; I haven't even included many of the things I must and will do but don't want to.
I read the passage below in Eric Weiner's Geography of Bliss, and it seems to relate, if only tangentially. The excerpt appears to address the relationship between economic wealth and spiritual wealth, but that's not what interests me. The more we have the more we want? We want too much? Learn to want less? I'm not sure what conclusions I can draw. We have a great kids' book called So Few Of Me by Peter Reynolds, which tells me I should just figure out how to want to do less. Every time I read it, I think, "Yes. This is the right way." But I can't make the mental shift. I don't actually want to do less. I'd like to be less busy. Don't get me wrong, mama likes her leisure time, but my "bucket list" would be enormous. I'm not even going to try to make one, because it would just depress the bejeezus out of me. According to this passage, with which my gut agrees wholehearedly but about which my head is undecided, I want to do more because I've been discouraged from this tendency by some powerful social-cultural force. Damn you powerful social-cultural force!
"Wealth is liberating, no doubt. It frees us from manual labor, working in the fields under a merciless midday sun or flipping burgers, the modern-day equivalent. but wealth can also stymie the human spirit, and this is something that very few economists seem to recognize. As Schumacher said, 'The richer the society, the more difficult it becomes to do worthwhile things without immediate payoff.' That is a radical and profound statement. In a wealthy, industrialized society, one where we are supposedly enjoying a bountiful harvest of leisure time, we are discouraged from doing anything that isn't productive - either monetarily or in terms of immediate pleasure."
Adults are no better. We work, we volunteer, we socialize (OK, I've heard this is true, but I'm not sure I believe it), we seek and/or maintain marriages and relationships, we pursue our hobbies, we keep house, we shop...or maybe that's just me. I also take classes, and I have a husband who works crazy hours. So when am I going to find time to read the veritable mountain of books next to my bed, go to the gym, tend to my as-of-yet non-existent garden, see any of the movies nominated for Academy Awards, and, finally, watch the entire first four seasons of The Wire? I look at that list and really don't know what I'd give up. In fact, it would be much easier for me to add to the list than subtract; I haven't even included many of the things I must and will do but don't want to.
I read the passage below in Eric Weiner's Geography of Bliss, and it seems to relate, if only tangentially. The excerpt appears to address the relationship between economic wealth and spiritual wealth, but that's not what interests me. The more we have the more we want? We want too much? Learn to want less? I'm not sure what conclusions I can draw. We have a great kids' book called So Few Of Me by Peter Reynolds, which tells me I should just figure out how to want to do less. Every time I read it, I think, "Yes. This is the right way." But I can't make the mental shift. I don't actually want to do less. I'd like to be less busy. Don't get me wrong, mama likes her leisure time, but my "bucket list" would be enormous. I'm not even going to try to make one, because it would just depress the bejeezus out of me. According to this passage, with which my gut agrees wholehearedly but about which my head is undecided, I want to do more because I've been discouraged from this tendency by some powerful social-cultural force. Damn you powerful social-cultural force!
"Wealth is liberating, no doubt. It frees us from manual labor, working in the fields under a merciless midday sun or flipping burgers, the modern-day equivalent. but wealth can also stymie the human spirit, and this is something that very few economists seem to recognize. As Schumacher said, 'The richer the society, the more difficult it becomes to do worthwhile things without immediate payoff.' That is a radical and profound statement. In a wealthy, industrialized society, one where we are supposedly enjoying a bountiful harvest of leisure time, we are discouraged from doing anything that isn't productive - either monetarily or in terms of immediate pleasure."
Comments