The Tin Man Syndrome

If you rest you'll rust.

That line came from a Denise Austin work out the other morning as I sweated to her Daily Work Out on Lifetime TV.

It gave me pause. Well, I didn't stop exercising but I did look up. Then I started thinking.

I don't want to rust. But I would like to rest occasionally.

I blame the Protestant Work Ethic. This bugaboo has its proponents because it means people work themselves mercilessly. Even in Social Studies at the secondary level, this work ethic is considered a good thing. It is called the Root of Democracy.

This work ethic has made the U.S. the most materially wealthy nation in the world. We're hardworking, prosperous...

We're tired, is what we are.

The New Yorker in 2005 noted that Americans work more and play less than most other nations. Our leisure time is non-existent. The French people work 28 percent less than we do. "Americans trade their productivity for more money, while Europeans trade it for more leisure," the author of this article writes.

He goes on to say this is a result of unions and collective agreements. Europeans had better bargainers. They may have less stuff, but they get to actually enjoy what they have.

In this article about the work ethic in the U.S., note that the Europeans are getting paid vacation. We can't even get time off to have babies, take care of our elderly relatives, deal with sickness... any of the stuff of life. We have to beg and borrow whatever time off we do receive, and then it's given to us begrudgingly.

And when we do finally take vacation, do we spend that entire two weeks away from the office? Nope. We check e-mail, call in, make business phone calls, turn our travel plans upside down to make some out-of-the-area conference.

The reality is, some of us are working hard for stuff. Bigger houses, or a second home, a nicer car, better sofa - whatever.

But it's also a reality that many of us are doing all of this work simply to keep a modest roof over our heads and to pay the necessary bills. I'm talking about utility bills, like electricity and heating, and food bills. There are an awful lot of people who are working two and three jobs just to keep food on the table.

I think millions of Americans can't afford to rest, not because they think they'll rust, but because they think they'll starve.

This is wrong.

I recently learned from the Commondreams article at that link that in 1948, the United Nations set forth a declaration called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I keep up with a lot of things, but I was completely unaware that such a document existed.

As that article points out, the United States violates this document. A lot. And we're in the process of dismantling it even more.

Of course, this document apparently has no legal strength. I suppose it's just a wish list.

I was most interested in Articles 23 and 24, which state: (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24.
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Does working 60 hours a week fall under those rights? I don't think so.

I am not a fan of capitalism. I think it is demeaning system, a way of having slave labor and calling it something else, like factory worker. It creates class distinctions and allows too much privilege for those who by virtue of birth or luck are able to manipulate the system to their benefit. I have long noticed that folks who play by the rules, which seems to be many people, are the ones left without heat because they can no longer pay the bills.

I think there are better ways to do things, ways that are fairer and more humane. Ways in which to get the job done that are fair to everyone concerned. However, until our society en masse decides this, I don't see a change coming.

I am not saying we should not work, or that people should just receive a handout so they can sit around and watch TV. I am saying that I would like to see justice in the workplace, some fairness and equity in the way salaries and vacations are dispensed. I would like to see people love their life, not hate it. Living should be a joy, not a grind, but our work ethic has made life a drudgery.

Rest or rust?

Why should that be our only choice?