We as a nation need to call a time out.
If the rWorld is about improving the quality of our lives, what steps can we take to improve our quality of life?
The simplest and most radical change we can make is to reinstitute a common day off in America. A day where shopping, commerce, is severely restricted and youth sport league play and practice is forbidden.
At this point you might be wondering if I am part of the Christian equivalent to the Taliban, or that the tower in which I dwell is built exclusively of ivory.
Lend me your ears for a minute more.
Presently we reside in a nation where we have scheduled ourselves within an inch of our lives. We don’t have time for ourselves, to say nothing of time for others.
It’s hard to use the phrases “family life” and “quality time” in the same sentence.
In most families both parents work, and it is the exception if they work the same days and hours. Indeed many parents believe they need to work completely different schedules in order that one may be at home, most of the time, to take care of the children.
The numbers of minutes in a day that a nuclear family can all be together are few. The numbers of hours in a week in which they can all be together is fewer.
Scheduling a family event is an ordeal.
Scheduling an event with the extended family has all the ease of leading a camel through the eye of a needle. Quite frankly, if such an event is to take place it will be at Thanksgiving or Christmas, depending on which side of the extended family is chosen.
We live in a nation of people that are scheduled within an inch of their life, some by choice others of financial necessity.
We live in an iWorld where the best many of us can do is schedule appointments with our family members one at a time.
This illustration is the poster child for ways in which the quest to increase standard of living undermines the quality of our lives.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
The solution is simple: Reinstitute a common day off in America.
By legislating a common day, during which commerce ceases along with all organized sports for children, we each get the opportunity to get our lives back.
What would we lose? 24 hours of commerce a week and the opportunity to drive our kids dozens of miles to their various games and practices.
Who would it hurt?
Not business. Business could eliminate 24 hours of labor overhead without suffering a lose of revenue. People won’t buy less, they will simply alter their shopping patterns
By my calculations, the only people who will be hurt will be those who work part-time, minimum wage jobs without benefits at retail outlets. But with just a little creativity we could use the tax revenue generated by businesses who financially benefit from the 24-hour moratorium to help support and transition those impacted.
The benefits?
A nationwide collective sigh of relief, akin to the relief that is felt when a snow, wind or ice storm give us an unplanned day off.
Only we’d get a “snow day” once a week.
We’d get a day set aside for re-creation.
Literally a day where we can be re-created through recreation.
Recreation includes any activity that re-creates us.
Worship
A nap
An extended cup of coffee
Unscheduled time to be with those you love and who love you.
Family time.
Extended family time.
Personal retreats.
Is this possible?
Absolutely. Many countries legislate a common day off.
One example would be the Germans.
Do the Germans do this because they are so religious?
Not now. They do it because it is a terrific idea. It provides enormous personal and social benefit at no cost.
Could we work out the details?
Sure. The devil is not in the details.
The devil is in the chaos we presently call living.
It’s time to call for a time out.
Rev. Dale Kuehne is the author of “Sex and the iWorld. Rethinking relationship beyond the age of Individualism.” He is associate professor of politics and founding director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. He serves as pastor of Emmanuel Covenant Church in Nashua, NH and regular ShareWIK.com columnist..Source
