I Get The Point...But It Won't Work

 Can't remember where I picked up the meme. It's funny, of course, but it's wrong.

I'm no expert on history. I only know what I've experienced in my almost six decades on this planet, but working less does not solve all of life's problems. Would I like to work less? Yes. Do I many times throughout a work day dream that I'm not only working less, but not having to a job at all? 

Yes.

I remember hearing about a socialist plan where--in their utopian world--the entire workforce only works half time, and two workers do the job that normally only one worker did. That way, the same amount of work would be done, but twice the workers would be "employed." Since all the work would get done, the money would be distributed so everyone would be happy and everyone would only work half the time.

"Imagine," the proponents would say. "You only work half a day. The rest of the time you can take your family to the beach or the mountains or anywhere. Think of all the freedom."

The first thing I thought of was visiting the national parks in Utah. If I worked half the time and had all that free time, I'd love to go to the National Parks in Utah and in other states. Then it hit me...

Everyone else would want to go there, too.

I don't know if you've visited any national parks lately. If there's one word to describe what it's like to visit a national park that work would be...crowded. I thought that if attendance in the parks suddenly doubled then the experience would be horrible. No one would enjoy themselves. Then I thought about it wouldn't just be national parks, but beaches, amusement parks, theaters...basically everything we do for leisure would suddenly turn into a nightmare.

So much for all that freedom.

Would I like to work less hours? Of course. And I have fewer years of work ahead of me than I do behind me. Like I said, I'm no expert, but I do believe there's something to be said for working more than relaxing. I think history has proven me right.