[H&F] "In Defense of Vacation"

[rfmcdonald]

My History and Futility co-blogger The Oberamtmann has a worthwhile post about the importance of vacations, wondering why more Americans don't take advantage of them.

Year after year I see magazine articles, newspaper editorials, and so on exclaiming about how Americans do not work to live but live to work. Yet it does not improve; if anything, it only gets worse. The reason we should have vacations, including at least one two-week vacation a year with days off throughout the rest, is because we are human. I want to enjoy my life, and so do you. This is not a paean to idleness. It is a reminder that while American workers contribute to the economic majesty that is the modern United States economy, horribly disfigured warts and all, they do not get to enjoy as much of it as you would think because they are in their cubicles. Americans may make more, on average, than their European, vacationed counterparts, but a) that is a misnomer as it ignores the wider earnings disparity in America and b) is likely largely lost in the extra time spent at work. Money does not buy happiness. If it did, it would not matter. You’re never home to enjoy your 3D-TV anyway.

There are national benefits to vacations beyond productivity which may or may not be improved through vacations. Vacations lower stress. How much lower would American health care costs be if workers took vacations? Better blood pressures, fewer heart attacks, etc. Has anyone examined how much money Americans would save on health costs if they all took just five to ten more days of vacation per year? Call it the margarita effect.

But why do we have to justify vacations and other benefits to workers through economic benefits? We could simply say “vacations make people happier” but instead we propose it as “encouraging vacations make employees more loyal.” This only perpetuates the idea that everything must have an economic basis. Social, too. Vacations mean more time spent with families. Might more unbroken American families, which currently usually have two overworked parents, remain together if not for the stress of conflicting schedules? Long-term planning and compromise function best when there is time to sit and think. “Family” political candidates should think about the benefits children would receive from the additional parental attention.

Go, read.