Unit 13

Our Schedules, Our Selves

Jay Walljasper

1 DAMN! You’re 20 minutes — no, more like half an hour — late for your breakfast meeting, which you were hoping to scoot out of early to make an 8:30 seminar across town. And, somewhere in there, there’s that conference call. Now, at the last minute, you have to be at a 9:40 meeting. No way you can miss it. Let’s see, the afternoon is totally booked, but you can probably push back your 10:15 appointment and work through lunch. That would do it. Whew! The day has barely begun and already you are counting the hours until evening, when you can finally go home and happily, gloriously, triumphantly, do nothing. You’ll skip yoga class, blow off the neighborhood meeting, ignore the piles of laundry and just relax. Yes! … No! Tonight’s the night of the concert. You promised Nathan and Mara weeks ago that you would go. DAMN!

2 Welcome to daily grind circa 2003 — a grueling 24-7 competition against the clock that leaves even the winners wondering what happened to their lives. Determined and sternly focused, we march through each day obeying the orders of our calendars. The idle moment, the reflective pause, serendipity of any sort have no place in our plans. Stopping to talk to someone or slowing down to appreciate a sunny afternoon will only make you late for your next round of activities. From the minute we rise in the morning, most of us have our day charted out. The only surprise is if we actually get everything done that we had planned before collapsing into bed at night.

3 On the job, in school, at home, increasing numbers of North Americans are virtual slaves to their schedules. Some of what fills our days are onerous obligations, some are wonderful opportunities, and most fall in between, but taken together they add up to too much. Too much to do, too many places to be, too many things happening too fast, all mapped out for us in precise quarter-hour allotments on our palm pilots or day planners. We are not leading our lives, but merely following a dizzying timetable of duties, commitments, demands, and options. How did this happen? Where’s the luxurious leisure that decades of technological progress was supposed to bestow upon us?

4 The acceleration of the globalized economy, and the accompanying decline of people having any kind of a say over wages and working conditions, is a chief culprit. Folks at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder feel the pain most sharply. Holding down two or three jobs, struggling to pay the bills, working weekends, no vacation time, little social safety net, they often feel out of control about everything happening to them. But even successful professionals, people who seem fully in charge of their destinies, feel the pinch. Doctors, for example, working impossibly crowded schedules under the command of HMOs, feel overwhelmed. Many of them are now seeking union representation, traditionally the recourse of low-pay workers.

5 The onslaught of new technology, which promised to set us free, has instead ratcheted up the rhythms of everyday life. Cell phones, e-mail, and laptop computers instill expectations of instantaneous action. While such direct communication can loosen our schedules in certain instances (it’s easier to shift around an engagement on short notice), overall they fuel the trend that every minute must be accounted for. It’s almost impossible to put duties behind you now, when the boss or committee chair can call you at a rap show or sushi restaurant, and documents can be e-mailed to you on vacation in Banff or Thailand. If you are never out of the loop, then are you ever not working?

6 Our own human desire for more choices and new experiences also plays a role. Just like hungry diners gathering around a bountiful smorgasbord, it’s hard not to pile too many activities on our plates. An expanding choice of cultural offerings over recent decades and the liberating sense that each of us can fully play a number of different social roles (worker, citizen, lover, parent, artist, etc.) has opened up enriching and exciting opportunities. Spanish lessons? Yes. Join a volleyball team? Why not. Cello and gymnastics classes for the kids? Absolutely. Tickets to a blues festival, food and wine expo, and political fundraiser? Sure. And we can’t forget to make time for school events, therapy sessions, protest rallies, religious services, and dinner with friends.

7 Yes, these can all add to our lives. But with only 24 hours allotted to us each day, something is lost too. You don’t just run into a friend anymore and decide to get coffee. You can’t happily savor an experience because your mind races toward the next one on the calendar. In a busy life, nothing happens if you don’t plan it, often weeks in advance. Our “free” hours become just as programmed as the work day. What begins as an idea for fun frequently turns into an obligation obstacle course. Visit that new barbecue restaurant. Done! Go to tango lessons. Done! Fly to Montreal for a long weekend. Done!

8 We’ve booked ourselves so full of prescheduled activities there’s no time left for those magic, spontaneous moments that make us feel most alive. We seldom stop to think of all the experiences we are eliminating from our lives when we load up our appointment book. Reserving tickets for a basketball game months away could mean you miss out on the first balmy evening of spring. Five p.m. skating lessons for your children fit so conveniently into your schedule that you never realize it’s the time all the other kids in the neighborhood gather on the sidewalk to play.

9 A few years back, radical Brazilian educator Paulo Freire was attending a conference of Midwestern political activists and heard over and over about how overwhelmed people felt about the duties they face each day. Finally, he stood up and, in slow, heavily accented English, declared, “We are bigger than our schedules.” The audience roared with applause.

10 Yes, we are bigger than our schedules. So how do we make sure our lives are not overpowered by an endless roster of responsibilities? Especially in an age where demanding jobs, two-worker households or single-parent families make the joyous details of everyday life -- cooking supper from scratch or organizing a block party — seem like an impossible dream? There is no set of easy answers, despite what the marketers of new convenience products would have us believe. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make real steps to take back our lives.

11 Part of the answer is political. So long as Americans work longer hours than any other people on Earth we are going to feel hemmed in by our schedules. Expanded vacation time for everyone, including part-time and minimum wage workers, is one obvious and overdue solution. Shortening the work week, something the labor movement and progressive politicians successfully accomplished in the early decades of the 20th century, is another logical objective. There’s nothing preordained about 40-hours on the job; Italy, France, and other European nations have already cut back working hours. An opportunity for employees outside academia to take a sabbatical every decade or so is another idea whose time has come. And how about more vacation and paid holidays? Let’s start with Martin Luther King’s birthday, Susan B. Anthony’s birthday, and your own! Any effort to give people more clout in their workplaces — from strengthened unions to employee ownership — could help us gain much-needed flexibility in our jobs, and our lives.

12 On another front, how you think about time can make a big difference in how you feel about your life, as other articles in this cover section illustrate. Note how some of your most memorable moments occurred when something in your schedule fell through. The canceled lunch that allows you to spend an hour strolling around town. Friday night plans scrapped for a bowl of popcorn in front of the fireplace. Don’t be shy about shucking your schedule whenever you can get away with it. And with some experimentation, you may find that you can get away with it a lot more than you imagined.

13 Setting aside some time on your calendar for life to just unfold in its own surprising way can also nurture your soul. Carve out some nonscheduled hours (or days) once in a while and treat them as a firm commitment. And resist the temptation to turn every impulse or opportunity into another appointment. It’s neither impolite nor inefficient to simply say, “let me get back to you on that tomorrow” or “let’s check in that morning to see if it’s still a good time.” You cannot know how crammed that day may turn out to be, or how uninspired you might feel about another engagement, or how much you’ll want to be rollerblading or playing chess or doing something else at that precise time.

14 In our industrialized, fast-paced society, we too often view time as just another mechanical instrument to be programmed. But time possesses its own evershifting shape and rhythms, and defies our best efforts to corral it within the tidy lines of our palm pilots or datebooks. Stephan Rechtschaffen, author of Time Shifting, suggests you think back on a scary auto collision (or near miss), or spectacular night of lovemaking. Time seemed almost to stand still. You can remember everything in vivid detail. Compare that to an overcrammed week that you recall now only as a rapid-fire blur. Keeping in mind that our days expand and contract according to their own patterns is perhaps the best way to help keep time on your side.

日程，自我

杰伊·沃尔贾斯珀

1. 讨厌!迟到了20分钟——不对，差不多半小时了——本来还想着这早餐会议可以早早结束，然后去赶8:30在城市另一端召开的交流会。在那边开会的时候还有个电话会议。还有一分钟，就得出席9:40的会议。这可千万不能错过。嗯，下午已经排满了，不过大概可以把10:15的预约往后推一推，然后边吃午餐边干活。这样应该可以了。唷!这一天才刚刚开始呢，你就已经在算着时间盼着傍晚的到来，那时总算可以回家去，幸福、快乐、满足地无所事事了。瑜伽课就不去上了，住户会议也算了，成堆的脏衣服就无视好了，尽情放松一下。太好了!……大事不妙!今晚有音乐会呢。几个星期以前就答应了内森和玛拉要去的。可恶!

2. 欢迎来到苦元2003——一场全天候与时间赛跑的紧张比赛，哪怕是获胜者也在疑惑自己的生活中到底发生了什么。我们坚定不移、全神贯注地按照日历的命令快步跑过每一天。片刻闲暇、驻足反思、任何奇遇——在我们的计划中都没有立足之地。停下脚步与某人闲聊，或悠闲地享受下午的阳光，都只会让我们赶不及下一轮活动。从早上起床后的那一分钟开始，大多数人的一整天都已经规划完毕。一天中仅有的意外竟然是晚上倒头睡觉之前才突然想起我们计划了的事不知道是不是真的全部做好了。

3. 无论上班、上学还是在家，越来越多的北美人实际上已成为日程表的奴隶。填满我们日程表的有繁重的责任，也有奇妙的机缘，而大多数都介于这两者之间，不过加在一起就实在是太多了。太多的活儿要做，太多的地儿要去，太多的事儿冒出来——一切的一切在我们随身带的掌上电脑或记事簿上都以一刻钟为单位精确地安排好了。我们不是在过日子，只是在跟从一个让人晕眩的时间表，这表上有职责，也有承诺，有需求，也有选择。这一切是如何发生的？几十年的技术进步本该赐予我们的奢侈闲暇如今安在？

4. 经济全球化的加速发展，以及随之而来人们对薪酬、工作条件话语权的丧失，是造成这一切的罪魁祸首。在社会经济底层的人们对这种痛苦感受最为切身。要保住两三份工作，尽力付清账单，周末照常上班，没有休假时间，缺乏社会保障，导致他们常对自身命运生出无力掌控的感觉。但是，即使是成功的专业人士，那些似乎完全掌握自己命运的人，也会为其所苦。以医生为例，按照各级健康维护组织的规定，他们的工作强度高到无法想象，个个身心俱疲。很多医生现在都在寻求工会的帮助，而在传统上工会是低收入职工的靠山。

5. 新技术的冲击，原本有望让我们解脱，却反而一步步加快了日常生活的节奏。手机、电邮、笔记本电脑，都让我们期待别人能作出即时行动。这种直接沟通在特定情况下可以让我们的日程变得较为宽松(临时改变安排变得更方便)，但总体而言，它们让“每分钟都必须有安排有交代”这种趋势愈演愈烈。如今，想把职责置之不理已经不太可能了。不管你是在看说唱表演也好，在寿司店用餐也好，老板或委员会主席都可能一个电话打来，就算你在班夫或泰国度假也好，文件照样可以传到你的邮箱。要是你根本摆脱不了自己的工作圈子，那你的工作哪有消停的时候？

6. 我们自身渴望有更多选择和新的体验也是一个原因，虽则这是人之常情。我们就好像一群饥肠辘辘的人，聚集在摆满丰盛美食的餐桌前，想不安排太多活动还真是不容易。近几十年来，不仅文化活动日益丰富，而且我们还如释重负地意识到，每个人能游刃有余地扮演多个不同社会角色(工人、市民、爱人、父母、艺术家等)，这一切使我们可能拥有精彩纷呈、振奋人心的机遇。学西班牙语？好。参加排球队？干嘛不呢。给孩子们报大提琴班和体操班？肯定要。买票去参加布鲁斯音乐节、美食名酒博览会和政治献金筹集活动？当然啦。我们也不会忘记为学校活动、治疗课程、抗议集会、宗教服务和朋友聚餐腾出时间。

7. 诚然，这一切都能让我们的生活更加丰富，可每天只有二十四小时，所以也会失去某些东西。你不可能再在路上偶遇一个朋友然后决定一起去喝杯咖啡了，也不可能带着愉快的心情细细回味某一经历，因为你的脑子早已飞速转到日程上的下一个条目。在繁忙的生活中，没有事先安排的事情就不会发生，而且往往还得提前几个星期安排。我们的“自由”时间也不过是像工作日一样事先安排好的。一开始只想好好玩玩，最后往往变成必须解决的问题。去试一下那家新开的烧烤店。完成!上探戈课。完成!坐飞机到蒙特利尔度个悠长的周末。完成!

8. 我们用事先安排好的活动把自己的生活填得满满当当的，根本就没有时间留给一些妙不可言、随心所欲的事情，那是最能让我们感到生机与活力的时刻。我们很少停下来去想想，我们把预约本写满的同时，又有多少体验从生活中删去了啊。提前几个月就把篮球比赛的门票预订好，可能意味着你会错过春天第一个芬芳的夜晚。孩子们下午五点的溜冰课，与你的日程配合得天衣无缝，你却从没意识到，那正是社区里的其他孩子聚在路边一起玩耍的时间。

9. 几年前，激进的巴西教育家保罗·费赖雷参加一个中西部政治激进分子的会议，一再听到人们说起每天面对的职责如何令他们不知所措。最后，他站起来，用口音很重的英语缓慢地宣布，“自我比日程更重要。”全场掌声如雷。

10. 的确，自我比日程更重要。那我们如何确保自己的生活不被没完没了的责任所压倒呢？尤其是在这样一个时代，紧张的工作、双职工家庭或单亲家庭使得日常生活的那些快乐细节——把蔬菜和鱼肉做成香喷喷的晚餐、组织街区聚会——变成了一个个不可企及的梦想？要想做到这一点没有什么轻而易举的答案，尽管那些新型便利产品的推广人员会让我们相信这一点。但这并不意味着我们不能采取一些实际措施收复我们的生活。

11. 从政治领域入手可以解决部分问题。美国人的工作时间只要还比地球上其他民族更长，我们就会一直被行程安排所围攻。有个办法显而易见，而且早就应该做到了，那就是延长每个人的休假时间，兼职员工和最低薪酬员工也不例外。另一个合乎逻辑的目标是缩短每周的工作时间。在20世纪早期劳工运动和进步的政治家就已经成功做到了这一点。40小时的周工作时间又不是上天注定神圣不可改变的；意大利、法国以及其他欧洲国家都已经缩减了工作时间。每十年左右给学术界以外的员工一个公休假的机会，也是个时机已经成熟的主意。休假时间再长点，带薪假期再多点，怎么样？我们可以从庆祝马丁·路德·金的生日开始嘛，还有苏珊·B.安东尼的生日，你自己的生日!任何能让人们在工作场合有更多权力的努力——从加强工会权力到推行员工所有制——都有助于我们在工作和生活中争取到迫切需要的弹性和灵活。

12. 从另外一个立场来讲，你对时间的看法也会对你的生活感受产生很大的影响，这一点本辑中的其他文章已经阐释清楚。想一想，你的日程出差错之时，如何促使你最值得怀念的那些瞬间得以发生。临时取消的午餐让你有一个小时在镇上闲逛。星期五晚上的计划泡汤了，就捧一碗爆米花坐在壁炉旁边。只要没有不良后果，就不要有顾虑，尽量抛开你的日程吧。有了经验之后，你会发现其实可以比想象中逍遥更多。

13. 另外，在日历上腾出某些时间，让生活以它自己不可预测的方式呈现在你面前，这样也可以滋养你的灵魂。时不时腾出几个小时(甚至几天)不做任何安排，并且将其视为一种严肃的承诺。还要注意抵抗住诱惑，不要把一时兴起或偶然的机遇变成另一个预约。索性说“明天我再跟你说这事吧”或“等到了那天早上我们再看是不是时间还合适”好了，完全不算没有礼貌或是效率不高，因为你无法预知那一天可能会有多么忙碌不堪，另一个任务可能会让你觉得多么索然无味，或者就在那时那刻，你会有多么渴望溜旱冰或下棋或做点别的什么事。

14. 在我们这个工业化、快节奏的社会，我们经常把时间看作另一个可以用来安排的机械工具。但时间自有它变幻无常的形状与韵律，任我们再怎么努力，也不可能让它乖乖就范，将它禁锢在掌上电脑或日历本的精确线条里。《时间平移》的作者斯蒂芬·雷希茨查芬建议你回想一个可怕的撞车(或险些撞车)的场景，或一个美妙的激情之夜。时间仿佛已经停滞了。你可以记起每个细节，历历如在眼前。跟这些相比，过分忙碌的某一周在你的记忆里只是一连串的模糊影子。要记住，我们的日子是会按独有的模式来伸缩的，这也许是助我们与时间为友的最佳良策。

（完整word版）Unit 13 Our Schedules, Our Selves课文翻译综合教程三