I really don’t like lengthy conference calls.
I spend an average of 2-3 hours/day in conference calls; sometimes it’s 4 people, sometimes it’s 12, sometimes it’s 20...but I spend a LOT of time in phone calls. All too often, these calls drag on interminably, and my reaction on hanging up the phone is, “Well, there’s an hour of my life I’ll never get back.” Now, to be fair, many folks make a concerted effort to stay focused, take care of business and close the call. There are days when one of the best things I hear is, “OK, that’s everything, so let’s give you 30 minutes back.” I count that as one of life’s little victories — I got some time back.
So, I’ve been thinking — who ELSE needs time back?
In our culture of instant gratification, everything has to be done NOW and done FAST; we’re forced into what I call “reactive mode”, where we don’t really take time to stop and think about what we’re hearing, reading, or doing because it just has to get done. We’re now living with the consequences of the instant-gratification culture as applied to electoral politics; a lot of folks bought into a bunch of soundbites without doing any critical thinking or independent analysis. Now, some folks like to simply pillory those folks as stupid or uninformed, but I would suggest that far too many of them simply didn’t have the time to engage in such thinking. Who am I talking about? Well, here’s a short list:
- Some of us work multiple jobs.
- Some of us are in two-income families.
- Some of us shepherd kids around.
- Some of our jobs blur the line between "work time" and "my time."
- Some of us struggle with illness.
- Some of us struggle with finances.
- Some of us struggle with families.
All of these require us to surrender time to others, whether it’s our employer(s), our doctors and hospitals, our bankers...we burn SO much time with them (and worrying about them) that precious little is left for ourselves. What time we do have left is spent worrying about our mortgage, our bills, our kids...you get the picture.
Now, go down that list and match them up with Democratic policy priorities. Is it just me, or is there dang near a one-to-one match? Fair pay for women, overtime rules, and a livable minimum wage would allow more families to avoid multiple jobs and two-income situations...and give them back more time for their families. Healthcare does the obvious, in that it keeps us healthier...and gives us back more time. Stronger public schools? Reforming student loans? Food assistance? Encouraging collective bargaining and supporting unions? All of these not only relieve direct, specific burdens but also ultimately...give us back our time.
The ripple effect is obvious. We know that kids whose parents spend more time with them are more successful in school and less likely to engage in delinquent/criminal activity. We know that employees who don’t feel overworked and disrespected are more productive. We know that folks who have time to actually prepare meals tend to eat healthier than do folks who only have time for fast food. We know that folks who aren’t in daily, immediate financial stress spend more time in (and inject more money into) their local community. We know that the absence of stress improves both general health and overall lifespans. I fail to see a problem here.
So, the Democratic message? TIME. How about “It’s your time — and we want you to have it”? Time for family, time for community, time for a hobby, time to go back to school, time for whatever...but, by golly, it’s YOURS.