Why a Medieval Peasant Got More VacationTtime Than You
2nd September 2013
It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way: John Maynard Keynes, one of the founders of modern economics, made a famous prediction that by 2030, advanced societies would be wealthy enough that leisure time, rather than work, would characterize national lifestyles.
And, as we all know, Keynes was always right.
In addition to relaxing during long holidays, the medieval peasant took his sweet time eating meals, and the day often included time for an afternoon snooze. “The tempo of life was slow, even leisurely; the pace of work relaxed,” notes Shor. “Our ancestors may not have been rich, but they had an abundance of leisure.”
Most of which was spent trying to figure out where their next meal was coming from. The modern day laborer is the functional equivalent, and if you aren’t willing to trade your day job for that life, then quit whining.
These thumb-suckers who write 1000-word essays that boil down to complaints about American having ‘no national vacation policy whatsoever’ are about as tedious as Old Media can get, and the fact that such crap fills the pages of the New York Times is certainly a contributory factor to why they’ve been losing money hand over fist.