11.26.2007
A cause I could get behind: Staying in bed longer during the winter to conserve energy.
Here ("The Big Sleep," NYT, 11/25/07). It's hard to imagine an economy where you could basically work really hard for five months to produce everything you would need except salt and iron, and then spend the other seven months of the year sleeping and playing cards. Even vacation doesn't feel so much like vacation these days, since it becomes so busy with errands and home improvement projects.
But to accept the life described in this op-ed, you'd have to accept a life with five months of working much, much harder than I ever have, and seven months of monotony. Also, in general, a life with a much narrower range of experiences. I'm thinking in terms of food--you would eat just what you grew or your neighbors grew, travel (no money economy = no travel, I think), and leisure (no taking out books from the public library). These are all things that I take for granted and would be very sad without, even if it meant that I could spend seven months of the year sleeping.
But to accept the life described in this op-ed, you'd have to accept a life with five months of working much, much harder than I ever have, and seven months of monotony. Also, in general, a life with a much narrower range of experiences. I'm thinking in terms of food--you would eat just what you grew or your neighbors grew, travel (no money economy = no travel, I think), and leisure (no taking out books from the public library). These are all things that I take for granted and would be very sad without, even if it meant that I could spend seven months of the year sleeping.
# posted by Abacaxi Mamao : 11/26/2007 04:07:00 PM
