Of first-world responsibilities.
In another place, I made the point that we have first-world luxuries like peace, the internet and motor vehicles.
It has occurred to me since that we also have first-world responsibilities.
There is a responsibility to ourselves. We have this amazing thing called a body which needs feeding, cleansing and exercising. Like a car, there are also times when it needs taking off the road and servicing. This is called annual leave, family leave, long service leave, and a pyjama day. ‘Go gently’ is a favourite mantra of a colleague of mine. I know he’s right, but it's a difficult thing to accomplish. We feel as though we should be filling up our empty spaces to show how effective dazzling and spectacular we are. How indispensable we must be when our diaries are stuffed full of busyness. The reality is that we would be much more effective and productive if we just did nothing for a couple of hours and let our thoughts and quandaries slush around for a bit. Like the best jobs, the right answers often find us rather than us finding them.
We also have a first-world responsibility to everyone else, especially those who are less fortunate than ourselves. I consider the fact that I have never gone hungry an undeserved privilege. I have always had a roof over my head and I have always had a circle of people who have cared about me and shown that care especially when I needed it most. These gifts show me the responsibilities I have to those who have none of these things. Maybe if we all took a deep breath and looked again at our first-world responsibilities, more people would enjoy the first-world luxuries we take for granted.