An extra day off would fix many of life’s ills

Editor,

It has been said, quite correctly, that we are not leaving this planet to our children, but are in fact borrowing it from them. Why would we consider, then, handing this world over to a generation of people without educating them properly?

Our country has become consumed with the devil that is industrialized capitalism for the sake of our own growth. But the growth that is important, education and community, has been hampered and hindered along the way. Family has been compromised because we’ve been taught that our value is tied directly to the money we’re earning, the things we’re able to buy. Providing things for our loved ones is the only real contribution we can make.

But what our children really do need is us: our presence as moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins — role models. As a society, we’re missing out on the growth of our children in order to punch a timecard.

Imagine a child in elementary school whose caregivers (mom and dad) both work Monday through Friday, 40 hours per week. Both parents work during the day, come home exhausted, and the child attends a school where the teachers are overworked and exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally because they must compensate for a mom and dad who are also exhausted.  

How many families cope by collapsing on the couch and watching TV, dreading the next day when they’ll have to do it all over again?

The solutions are simple, but let us keep it in context. I propose a countrywide work-week reduction by one day. On the extra off day each week, every school building would be closed. Consequently, there would be no energy costs — gas, lights and electricity.

Imagine the savings! Money saved from that would be enough to fairly compensate educators, or even use toward morale- or team-building parent workshops, study skills, computer/science labs, music programs, the arts, you name it.

The extra day given to us all would be a great way to give us our humanity back. You see, taking care of self is not selfish, but helps us to better care for the ones we love by putting us back into a place of being full, centered and calm, which makes us more effective at the things that we have to accomplish each day.

If we begin to rely on being human, as opposed to being capitalists, and we take the extra day, use it to work with our children and be models of “community,” we will be the anchor leg in the biggest relay race in the history of mankind. We can be the comeback kids who saved the world for our children and actually became better people in the process.

I know that this short work week is only step one in a long line of brain retraining and, actually, systemwide retraining, but trying this would mean that as a country we’re actually willing to invest in ourselves.

Peggy Prostano
Daily Lobo reader