a rat at rest

I took today off from work. This morning I wasn't feeling so good, had a sore throat, groggy tummy, and slight fever which, I knew, would all get worse if I pushed myself. Besides, I'm entitled to call in if I knew I would be less productive and attentive, such is part of my benefits.

After phoning my supervisor to let him know I'm not coming, I remembered that news story on NPR, about how sick workers show up to work with lower output, and they end up infecting their colleagues. What I find pathetic about the American work ethic is that it pressures us to do nothing but live to work, instead of work to live.

Why is that? I think it goes back to religion, or more specifically, overly religious morons following some arbitrary edict stupidly and blindly, something to the effect that if you work your tired ass off you'll win God's favour because He doesn't like lazy asses (wasn't He the one who rested on the seventh day after working His ass off?). That we, as a culture, are also bred to consume complicates matters even more. Because we need to have the latest cell phones, HDTVs, and Prada bags - and hence bragging rights - we thus must make more money to afford them.

And then when we wake up sick and contagious, we ignore our body's warning signs and force ourselves out of bed and into another day in the rat race and we end up feeling far worse at the end of the day for it. All in the name of some retarded rule that God Himself probably never made up and all in the name of that $3000 60" HDTV so our neighbours can say, "Ooooooh!"