Take Back Your Time

John de Graaf thinks you should just relax.

Americans work more, on average, than employees in any other
industrialized country. We make do with two weeks paid vacation while the
average European worker gets five to six weeks. In the last decade, we've
worked even more hours per day and days per week than ever before.

So de Graaf and his fellow organizers are encouraging people to
show their concern for overwork by, well... taking the day off. They are
promoting October 24 as "Take Back Your Time Day," a nationwide recognition
that our overworked, overcommitted, overstressed lives are driving us all
crazy.

But Time Day, as the organizers call it, should not just be an
opportunity to get reacquainted with your couch, says de Graaf, a
documentary-film-maker-turned-free-time-activist.

Just as Earth Day became a focal point for the environmental
movement, de Graaf and his co-organizers want Time Day to spark a new
attitude toward the nine-to-five. They are encouraging people to attend
local events where they can commiserate about their own busy lives and
learn how overwork affects health, the environment and family.

But in this work-obsessed society, will anybody voluntarily cut
back? "People are so stressed out," says Barbara Brandt, a Boston-area
activist for shorter work hours. "They're desperate."

The organizers chose October 24 because the remaining weeks in the
year symbolize the additional time on the job that Americans endure
compared with their European brethren.

To find out about local events, see the website at
www.timeday.org.