DC is full of workaholics. Workaholism is a dominant cultural undercurrent here. Unpaid overtime seems to be the norm. 35 hours a week is part-time. I’m expected to check my work e-mail everyday (whether I’m working that day or not, whether I’m on the clock or not, whether I have health benefits or not…). I hate this.
When I was taking a Spanish class in Spain, I was the only non-European in the class. The teacher didn’t comment on anyone else’s culture (Why does being an American always mean exceptions to the rule?) but she did one day comment on an American’s view of one’s job and how it completely contradicts a Spaniard’s. “An American lives to work, we work to live”. The dichotomy was so clear, I considered defection. (Just kidding, although moving to Granada would be ideal) She continued, “An American actually believes that if he works hard enough, he’ll become a better person”. Her incredulity indicated that a Spaniard would find this utterly laughable. You work because you have to; because you have bills to pay- it is a means to an end, not an insular entity.
I tend to agree. I’m not a workaholic or at least I am trying not to be. My identity is not in my job, although that is very tempting to me as a teacher who is also a people pleaser. I know that I have to be conscious about drawing boundaries with work otherwise it will take over my life. For lots of Washingtonians and lots of Americans, one’s job is one’s life. I do not want this to be true for me, however. My job is a part of my life. Teaching is certainly an important part; it represents both my professional and academic life and in many ways (especially with my current students) fulfills my spiritual vocation. Nonetheless, in this environment I am walking against the tide. I care deeply about my teaching. I want to do my job well but I also want to leave my job at work and have a social and private life. This Mediterranean sensibility which I have so intimately adapted as my own is counter-cultural here.
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God… 22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them? (Ecclesiastes 3)
Apparently it’s my lot. I will now spend the better part of my Saturday doing stuff for work.
