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Greetings from Guam It is most important that we should keep in this country a certain leisured class. I am of the opinion of the ancient Jewish book which says 'there is no wisdom without leisure.' - William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet, playwright. There are two possible interpretations for this quote. Representing the first interpretation, is my dad, of the Older generation; and representing the heart and soul of the new, and irresponsibly-improved-Party-Down-Dude-generation, is me. Dad: You see? It is precisely because of this type of billowing blather, blah-blah-blah, flimflamflummery that today's kids are being subjected to, that our national standardized test scores are plummeting! Me: So our test scores are down...at least we're enjoying the ride! And so goes the indomitable battle of the generation gap. But I must say that living here, it is quite easy to see the wisdom in that quote...I mean at least from my current vantage point - stretched out here on the beach, with a pina colada and all my toys...and it's Monday and I'm suppose to be at work! Serious leisure begets serious wisdom. Hey, that sounds like it could be the next big advertising promo for the GVB - Guam Visitors Bureau. I see the t-shirts now; the Yeats quote on the front, and the Healy quote on the back...throw in some coconut trees here and there and presto - you're not cool in Japan unless you got one! And man don't they need some leisure?! I'm not saying that the Japanese are not smart or anything like that - although I seem to recall them calling us Americans lazy about 10 years ago, but that's all water under our super, kickin' it, high-flying Economic bridge. What I mean is, that the Japanese are work-aholics. They need leisure. They got them there super stressful competitive schools and career path exams starting in third grade or something ridiculous like that. One minute you're a ten-year-old dreaming about becoming a doctor, and the next you're being whisked into a line marked, 'Career path 249 - Separate large and small objects.' Okay, so they got a lot of pressure and stress in their schools. Let's say a few make it out alive, they then become psycho-workers. Their work is their life. I love how some workers in Japan go on strike - they wear black armbands which signals their collective discontent ... but they keep right on working. That, to me, is a clear signal of a nation and a culture that needs some serious leisure. Come on, they don't even know the right way to go on strike. They are like work delirious over there. But the problem is that when they do go on vacation to a place like Guam, they still have absolutely no concept of what leisure is. They vacation like they work - 100 mph. It's actually kind of funny. I'll be lying on the beach (Ypao Beach) and a bus or two will pull up and throngs of tourists will clamor out dressed for a Mount Everest Summit attempt, and storm the beach with cameras clicking. A few will kick off the socks-n-shoes, roll up their pant legs or hike up their dresses and wade into the water - pose for another photo...again with the peace sign - and then get back on the bus after a leisurely ten-minute stop at the beach. My heart rate always rises to about 50 bpm (beats per minute) when I watch them invade the beach. Some of those package tours that people sign up for are just agonizing to watch - that is not vacation, that is work. My ideal vacation is to go to a beautiful tropical island in the Pacific and just kick back for a couple of twenty years or so. Please, someone pinch me. Hafa Adai Copyright © 1999 |
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