You know what happened the other day? I was at home by myself, doing some of the usual household chores in the morning, and when I was done I just sat down in the living room for a few minutes, and that's when I noticed it ... silence. The sound of nothing. Living with family (one of whom works in construction and is usually doing some sort of improvement, big or small, on our house), and working a full-time job, I seldom get any peace and quiet ... and even when I'm by myself, I'm such a music fan that I usually have some of it playing in the background. Apparently, I get so little silence that I really notice it when I do.
I'm probably going to sound like I'm whining here, because it's not like I live or work in a big city like New York, and I don't have one of those high-stress jobs either. And I'm thankful that I don't, 'cause if I did it'd probably have driven me crazy by now. But it kind-of says something when a guy who lives a relatively low-key life actually feels the silence wrap around him like a blanket in an instance like I described above. I have to wonder what it's like for those hustle-and-bustle people, who literally never get a moment to themselves. Maybe the people in Europe and Latin America have the right idea with their tradition of the siesta.
I'm thinking that's something we need to introduce here: an hour of napping in the early afternoon, say from 2:00 to 3:00. I've heard that a lot of doctors endorse the idea of the afternoon nap, and I have the distinct feeling that Americans as a whole would probably feel a lot less stressed-out if they got a little afternoon pause like that. It wouldn't be too hard, really ... just introduce the idea that every business is closed from 2:00 to 3:00, and the way stuff spreads on the web these days it wouldn't be too long before everyone caught on that it's the "universal relaxation hour" ... although the word "siesta" does have a much more poetic sound to it.
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