HAVE LONGER VACATIONS

PAUL HARRIS, GUARDIAN - The old saying that Americans live to work while
Europeans work to live often rings true. There is a huge work ethic in
America built on hard labor and sacrifice, and not too much in the way
of leisure time, in which there is much to admire. But also very little
to envy.

One brutal statistic sums it up: taken as a whole the average European
gets about six weeks a year in holiday. The average American gets only
two weeks. In America this difference is often mentioned by columnists
and economists in celebratory terms.

They point gleefully to America's superior productivity rates and higher
GNP. They see Europe as economically moribund. This is bizarre to the
European mind. It's not so much a Transatlantic argument, as two
entirely different conversations. Of course, work is good. But it is not
all there is.

When did a productivity rate last get you a nice suntan? Given the
choice between contributing a bit more to national GNP or spending an
extra two weeks in southern Spain, which would you take? A little less
work is a good thing.

But I believe that it is time for Americans take a break. Or more
precisely several breaks. An extra two weeks holiday for all Americans
would do the country a whole lot of good. . .

With just two weeks holiday to spend (with some days used up letting in
the gas man or visiting relatives) it becomes difficult to spend the
time and effort to get anywhere outside North America. That leads to an
inevitable lack of interest and knowledge about much of the world that
can feed into politics. Before he became President, George W Bush had
never been to Europe. This not to say Americans wouldn't love to find
out more about the rest of us, it is just that on two weeks leave they
don't get much of a chance.

This is what leads many Europeans to look in bafflement as Americans
visit their shores in frenetic bursts, snapping pictures and ticking off
as many countries as they can. Europeans tend to slip into an easy
anti-American prejudice when they see this behavior. But the truth is
that if you've flown all the way from Ohio, and only have five days to
'do Europe' on your one holiday that year then of course you are going
to try and pack in as much as you can.

So, with an extra two weeks off, Americans could relax. They could
travel more often, more widely and much more slowly. They would get to
know the world a bit better. The rest of the world would get to know
them better too. Everyone would be happier. In troubled times like these
how could that be a bad thing?

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/columnists/story/0,,1824906,00.html?gusrc=rss