ALL WORK AND NO PLAY

Here are the number of hours the average worker in selected countries works each week, 50 weeks per year:

SOUTH KOREA 47
MEXICO 39
JAPAN 36
UNITED STATES 35
ITALY 31
AUSTRIA 29
BELGIUM 29
DENMARK 29
GERMANY 27
FRANCE 27

The difference between the United States and Germany and France, two countries with respectable standards of living: 400 hours per year.

I was out on the road this morning at 5:15 and there they were...hordes of cars rushing to offices and factories in the before-sunrise darkness, and I had to wonder: Do we work too much in this country? Are we obsessed with work? Would we, as a nation, be healthier, less stressed and happier if we each worked as the French do?

Now, I know all about the importance of work in our lives, its role in establishing our individual identity, enhancing our self-esteem, elevating our standard of living, and so on. But are we overdoing it?

I don't know. Adding hours of weekly travel time to and from work, sometimes having to work overtime, leaves little time during the 5-day workweek for what I call "spiritual time" ---avocations, simple pleasures, quiet contemplation and social exchanges, that focus on the artistic, sublime, side of life. I don't like referring to that time as "down time" because that term suggests that little, if anything, of importance is being done. In fact, the focus on spiritual beauty is vital to our mental health and our overall well being. It gives us impetus for living and, yes, for working. It puts our life and our work in context of the world about us, and adds grandeur to them.

I also don't like referring to that time as "unproductive time." It is very productive--your life being the product.

Squeezing some spiritual time into a packed and pressured weekend is, in my view, good, but not good enough. From my own experience I can tell you that a daily dosage will change and enrich your life in ways far more rewarding than a slight increase in our country's GNP. See if I am exaggerating.