Hell Yeah!

Some Guy from San Francisco: Vacation Rules. One of the big revelations for me in high school came in German class one day, during one of those "cultural education" sessions where you discuss life in the country whose language you are studying. Turns out that Europeans really do take about two months off every year. It's not even a choice; it's mandatory. This is so cool that I feel the need to say it again, in a paragraph of its own, in big bold letters.

Mandatory two month vacation.

I suppose that school teachers really do have the greatest job in America; not only do they get Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, two whole weeks at Christmas, and a random week in March, they also don't have to work in July or August. Is it any wonder that teachers are able to deal so well with children? They're well rested and relaxed!

I've always been a big fan of summer vacation; who wouldn't be? Leave in June (or, in my current educational situation, early May), chill out for a coupla months, and come back in September, rested and ready to go. Why is it that, as we turn 22 (or 18, or whatever age you may be when you begin working for real), we are denied this incredible opportunity to unwind? Life only gets more stressful as we get older, and we could certainly use it more than some eight year old whose biggest worry is which pile of dirt to dig in out back. (I am not putting down digging in the dirt; I, too, once found it to be a wholly relaxing, almost Zen-like experience).

Sure, our GDP might slip a little, but that would only be during the initial adjustment period. Within a year or so, we'd be right back in the growth period we're in now. And what good is a GDP anyway, when everyone around you is so pissed off anyway? Wouldn't you rather be a little more mentally healthy than a few bucks richer?

I don't know how, and I don't know when, but someday, I will realize this dream of doing Nothing. It won't be this year, it might not even be this decade, but the dream will be mine.

April 30, 2002 - 08:42 AM