Work Less Party (Vancouver BC) Tickets for Rushing through Life

Really? All that work gets me lots of money that I can spend on whatever I want. I work 40 hours a week. I can deal with it. You go ahead and work less, though. When I retire, I'll think of you living on your $400 a month eating cat food. And my health is just fine, thanks.

to steve: you're really happy working 40 hours a week?! what, do you not have much of a life outside of work? that's sad. personally, i do a lot outside of work that doesn't i don't get paid for, but it's fulfilling for me and/or for my community and friends/family. i'm not working 40 hours now (more like 32-36 or so, including lunch breaks), and i don't relish going back to 40.

i get really jealous of europeans at times (ok, all the time), because of the amount of holidays and shorter work weeks most countries seem to have. We put in up to three months a year more than Europeans when you compare the hours worked and vacation time. On average, Americans get four weeks less than their European counterparts. Let's see, my friend from the Czech Republic says they're guaranteed a month vacation from most jobs. In Spain, I know it's at least a month, maybe 6 weeks. the fact that our labor unions aren't militantly demanding less hours and more vacation time is pathetic.

that said, i'm a bit critical of some of the "take bake your life, work less" rhetoric. i think some of it is that it often comes from young people without the same amount of responsibilities as say, people w/ kids, people with low wages struggling to make ends meet, and it comes off as preachy. i think some of it, too, from the "voluntary simplicity" side of things (e.g. "you can work less if you spend less") is likewise preachy, and unrealistic for many poor folks.

but that said, i agree, we (americans) work (for wages) far too much. our communities suffer, our family life suffers, and we suffer as well.

He had no cherent arguments to back up his opinion/rhetoric regarding needle exchange, and probably won't on this either. You're right on the money, though. In the U.S., we're more productive than many other countries, but work WAY more hours---we are actuall quite a bit LESS productive per hour than many countries that have more time off. I also think it's a matter of priorities. Many Eurpoean countries place more value on education, art, liesure--whereas here in America we're indoctrinated from birth into this compete/consume/get more stuff/ect. ---kind of a greed mentality, where we're conditioned to care less about others. Very Sad. Kudos to those who can break free of that crap.