Thursday, July 30, 2009

The Problem with Modern Day Vacations

As a society we've gone soft. Since the greatest generation (WWII Vets), we've had the silent generation, baby boomers (Me), Gen X, MTV Generation, and the Gen Y kids. We've had less ambition with each generation, less guts and more luxuries than our forebears combined.

Soft is the wrong word. We've turned into sissies.

1. Kids play sports that can't declare a winner since score isn't kept. I just vomited.

2. Everyone on the team gets trophies for being the best whatever....except no one give out the best player award - that would insult the other players.

3.Public schools teach to the lowest learning level making bright kids sit in a pool of boredom day in and day out.

4. The plethora of video games and TV channels have turned our kids into jello. In my day, we played in the street, got sweaty, sunburned and scuffed up. Our baseball games didn't have an on/off button. Only when the streetlights came on did we even think about going inside.




5. Parents are excepted to coddle their children from birth. Spanking children today? Frowned upon. Talk to them. Nurture them. Sissyfy them. Me? I didn't get spanked - if I behaved badly I was struck by my dad's leather belt. That usually got my attention. And when he was little it was the branch off of a small green tree. Ouch.

All of this has led to the Problem with the Modern Vacation.


Keith on Vacation - Always Working




The entitlement earned and fostered during our youth continues into adulthood. People today believe they deserve their 2,3,4 or 5 weeks of vacation to be in joyful and silent bliss.

In a world of split-second communication and instant demands, some people prefer to go undercover for days and it DRIVES.ME.CRAZY.

They want zero contact with the office and all the stressful things going on there. The responsbilities of life are left at their door the second they depart on holiday as vacations are called across the pond and in the land of our forefathers. Holiday. I like it. Catchy.

If people had one vacation a year like in the old days, I'd agree with the, "I'm outta here for one week, leave me alone," statement. Nowadays people are always on vacation - personal days, sick days, vacation days, holidays....they add up to a mindboggling number of times people are away from their work responsibilities. Mindboggling. My dad's generation, the greatest generation wouldn't understand today's worker.

That we have such luxuries as laptop computers, blackberry devices, iphones and so forth that ALLOW folks to stay in touch with their work responsibilities should correct this problem. Theoretically, the new technology should enable the traveler-employee-photographer-explorer to stay linked to their office responsibilies, participate in problem solving matters when needed WHILE roaming the earth.

It doesn't work like that. I don't work like that.

And this is what is stressing me out about the modern day vacation.

People: Be responsible.

7 comments:

steve said...

keith, i'm going on a 4 day vacation next week. don't call or text me.

Anonymous said...

you sound like you need a vacation with no connection to the office...no offense.

Keith A. Runyon said...

Anonymous,
Can't do it. Need to have contact to the mothership at all times. It would be irresponsible of me to not be able to be contacted. No offense of course to those who leave work, turn off their phones and laptops but I could never do it. Old school.

steve said...

why are people so scared to comment and must comment as anonymous? keith, i DARE you to wear the leg warmers to the beach this year.

i had to wear the leg thingys once when i had my gall bladder removed. my girlfriend at the time was a nurse. i couldn't urinate for 3 days so the dr said they would have to do a catheter if i didn't pee in 4 hours. my girlfriend asked the doc if she could do the catheter and the doc said yes. i peed in 2...

Keith A. Runyon said...

Leg tights were tossed on day #3. And no way would I wear them at the beach. Go brown or go home.

Heidi said...

Keith--

Like Dr. Leo Marvin said, we all need a vacation from our problems. Baby steps.

And Steve doesn't need a vacation. He works less hours than an insurance agent.

Andrew

Heidi said...

Did I say less? I meant fewer. Very bad grammar on my part.