Longform, which just happens to be one of the best websites in this galaxy, recently posted an old interview with George Carlin. With his right-on social commentary, it’s no surprise that a quote from the interview caught my attention.“It’s the American view that everything has to keep climbing: productivity, profits, even comedy. No time for reflection. No time to contract before another expansion. No time to grow up. No time to fuck up. No time to learn from your mistakes. But that notion goes against nature, which is cyclical.”That’s from an interview in 1980, but it’s just as true today as it was then. And although in that particular instance Carlin was talking about taking some time off to take care of his health and drug addiction, he intended for his words to be applied to all of American society.I’ve often thought about this idea of “go, go, go” and “grow, grow, grow” and expansion. It’s pervasive in American culture.The most obvious example is the economy. God forbid we have an economy that’s not growing. And if the economy should—gasp!—shrink, we unleash scary-sounding words like “recession” and “collapse.” We better buy and sell more stuff—consume, consume, consume—or there’s going to be hell to pay and we’ll all suffer.But this demand for never ending growth, expansion, and improvement isn’t limited to the economy. We must always move forward. We must work more hours, and study more subjects, and cut down on the amount of down time, and who the hell needs sleep anyway?
Every summer I read an article somewhere about how so many Americans won’t take time off of work to use their earned vacation time. They’re afraid of falling behind, or appearing to lack commitment, or being outdone by a co-worker. So they give up vacation days, and work longer hours, and never separate themselves from the electronic devices that constantly connect them to work.People at work know that I have kids and they inevitably ask, “So what are the kids up to this summer?” When I answer with some version of, “Playing video games, hanging out, going to the park, eating ice cream, and staying up until one in the morning,” some people are surprised.My apologies for not sending them to that Young Astrophysicists camp for the summer, or having the audacity to permit unstructured moments of time in my children’s lives. Maybe I am setting them up for failure by letting them watch the Disney Channel in the evening instead of practicing the clarinet, or doing hitting drills, or learning verb tenses in French.But I’ll take my chances.When did we forget about the cyclical nature of life and the world around us? Nature doesn’t just continue to grow unchecked, out of control, forever. Things grow for a period of time, then pause, or even die out, and then grow again.What makes us think we’re so exceptional that we can just continue to proceed at break-neck speed and continue to grow without ever stopping to slow down, gather ourselves, reflect, and maybe make an adjustment or two? Why do we admire the employee who skips his vacation, or the kid who’s in four sports and every club, and plays an instrument?I’m not saying we should admire slackers who don’t do anything, but shouldn’t we all realize that we could all benefit from just taking a minute? Can we just hit pause, do nothing, and reflect on where we are, how we got there, and where we want to go? How could a little bit of silence, a little freedom from electricity, a little time to do nothing be unhelpful for us?Why must we do something? What’s wrong with inaction? What’s wrong with allowing some time to pass, taking a moment to think about things, watching how things unfold, and then proceeding? If we do something just because we’re expected to do something, how do we know we’re doing the right thing?I take my vacation days. I relax. I do nothing. I think. I play. I wait.Then I do.The doing is important, but not more important than the rest of it. Because to quote the great philosopher Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”PREVIOUS POST: Taylor Swift and the End of My Musical ElitismIF YOU LIKED THIS POST I BET YOU'LL ALSO LIKE: What I Believe, Crash Davis Style+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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