When I went grocery shopping with my housemate Christian this morning, only the self-checkout was open at Kroger. On my bike ride afterward, I had very little traffic to contend with on my way to the American Tobacco Trail (10ish miles of paved-over railroad tracks that wind through Durham). As I rode down a hill overlooking part of downtown, I marveled at how still and quiet the city was.
Later, when I went to campus, I saw quite a different picture. It was like any other day. Things were a little more subdued in the Divinity School, but then again we don't have any classes on Monday mornings anyway.
Labor Day is a holiday that has meant nothing to me for 6 years running. I've spent 6 consecutive Septembers at Duke, where Labor Day does not exist. Classes go on as usual. Buses run as scheduled. On-campus eateries keep right on feeding co-eds.
I recently discovered Justin Roberts, a "kiddie rocker" whose album Why Not Sea Monsters? tells stories from the Hebrew Bible in fun, catchy pop songs. The first track, "Why Not a Spark?" is a whimsical retelling of the Genesis account, lightheartedly imagining God's creative process. In it, God dreams up light, sky, vegetables, lobsters and more, all the while comically correcting himself when he tries to create sharks on the first day, pizza on the second day, etc. with the interjection "Wait--that's later!" My favorite moment is the last verse:
On the seventh day,
God said, "Why not a nap?"
And the songs just ends. I love it.
On my bike ride today, I got to thinking about the Sabbath. Labor Day is sort of a nationwide, secular sabbath in some ways. One of my housemates is out playing tennis with his fiance right now. My boyfriend is headed to a cookout in a bit. I'm coming down with a cold, and it's occurred to me that I may not be able to procure sudaphed from the pharmacy...
Anyway. I like how Justin Roberts framed all of God's questions to himself in a "why not?" formula. I think that sort of question is the only way Duke can justify having classes on Labor Day. If you asked "why?" to the question of whether to take Labor Day off, the answer is clear: to let employees have a day to rest and rejuvenate; to allow for time to catch up on the kinds of things that slip through the cracks during a daily routine; to encourage family time and community building.
But if you asked "why not?", the answer is equally clear: there is no tangible proof of the benefit of a day off from work and classes, because the only visible result of a random vacation day is the lack of work getting done.
Of course, the idea of a sabbath isn't about us at all. Abraham Joshua Heschel put it succinctly in his book The Sabbath: "the world had already been created and will survive without the help of
man." Sabbath done right should take our focus off all the things that "need" to get done. It should be a reminder that the fate of the world is not, in fact, in our hands.
And with that, I'm going to get back to my Hebrew homework. Hmmm.
Monday, September 6, 2010
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Monday, September 6, 2010
Why Not a Sabbath?
Posted by
Sarah S. Howell
at
11:50 AM
When I went grocery shopping with my housemate Christian this morning, only the self-checkout was open at Kroger. On my bike ride afterward, I had very little traffic to contend with on my way to the American Tobacco Trail (10ish miles of paved-over railroad tracks that wind through Durham). As I rode down a hill overlooking part of downtown, I marveled at how still and quiet the city was.
Later, when I went to campus, I saw quite a different picture. It was like any other day. Things were a little more subdued in the Divinity School, but then again we don't have any classes on Monday mornings anyway.
Labor Day is a holiday that has meant nothing to me for 6 years running. I've spent 6 consecutive Septembers at Duke, where Labor Day does not exist. Classes go on as usual. Buses run as scheduled. On-campus eateries keep right on feeding co-eds.
I recently discovered Justin Roberts, a "kiddie rocker" whose album Why Not Sea Monsters? tells stories from the Hebrew Bible in fun, catchy pop songs. The first track, "Why Not a Spark?" is a whimsical retelling of the Genesis account, lightheartedly imagining God's creative process. In it, God dreams up light, sky, vegetables, lobsters and more, all the while comically correcting himself when he tries to create sharks on the first day, pizza on the second day, etc. with the interjection "Wait--that's later!" My favorite moment is the last verse:
On the seventh day,
God said, "Why not a nap?"
And the songs just ends. I love it.
On my bike ride today, I got to thinking about the Sabbath. Labor Day is sort of a nationwide, secular sabbath in some ways. One of my housemates is out playing tennis with his fiance right now. My boyfriend is headed to a cookout in a bit. I'm coming down with a cold, and it's occurred to me that I may not be able to procure sudaphed from the pharmacy...
Anyway. I like how Justin Roberts framed all of God's questions to himself in a "why not?" formula. I think that sort of question is the only way Duke can justify having classes on Labor Day. If you asked "why?" to the question of whether to take Labor Day off, the answer is clear: to let employees have a day to rest and rejuvenate; to allow for time to catch up on the kinds of things that slip through the cracks during a daily routine; to encourage family time and community building.
But if you asked "why not?", the answer is equally clear: there is no tangible proof of the benefit of a day off from work and classes, because the only visible result of a random vacation day is the lack of work getting done.
Of course, the idea of a sabbath isn't about us at all. Abraham Joshua Heschel put it succinctly in his book The Sabbath: "the world had already been created and will survive without the help of
man." Sabbath done right should take our focus off all the things that "need" to get done. It should be a reminder that the fate of the world is not, in fact, in our hands.
And with that, I'm going to get back to my Hebrew homework. Hmmm.
2 comments:
- Leigh Edwards said...
-
This post makes me think of Josef Pieper's "Leisure: The Basis of Culture." It has some really great caveats to secular holidays, such as Labor Day, as well as challenging our perception of education itself as "work." That's all!
- September 6, 2010 at 5:50 PM
- Robert Fischer said...
-
According to Michael Nagler, the guy who released the Pentagon Papers was afraid of punishment for releasing them. He had the smoking gun of governmental corruption that lead to death, and he was afraid of doing anything, because he would almost certainly be running afoul of the law.
But then he changed his approach. He said, "If I was willing to go to jail, what could I accomplish?" And that's how the Pentagon Papers got out into the world.
It's all about the approach. - September 6, 2010 at 7:03 PM
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2 comments:
This post makes me think of Josef Pieper's "Leisure: The Basis of Culture." It has some really great caveats to secular holidays, such as Labor Day, as well as challenging our perception of education itself as "work." That's all!
According to Michael Nagler, the guy who released the Pentagon Papers was afraid of punishment for releasing them. He had the smoking gun of governmental corruption that lead to death, and he was afraid of doing anything, because he would almost certainly be running afoul of the law.
But then he changed his approach. He said, "If I was willing to go to jail, what could I accomplish?" And that's how the Pentagon Papers got out into the world.
It's all about the approach.
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