Editorial

Last weekend I talked with a cousin. She and her husband run a farm and they have difficulty getting away for vacation time - not only in summer, but throughout the year. The main reason is that they can't find anyone to help with milking their cows.

They are certainly not alone. According to a study released recently, 37 percent of American workers finished 2006 not using all of their vacation days. Even worse, 24 percent of workers did not take a single vacation day in 2006.

I can understand the difficulties of farm workers. But why aren't other workers taking time off?

Nation of workaholics. America seems to be a nation of workaholics. According to an Expedia.com survey, 63 percent of Americans work more than 40 hours per week and hand back more than $21 billion dollars in unused vacation days each year. Americans took less vacation time this year than last, and feel guilty about taking time off.

Joe Robinson, author of Work to Live: The Guide to Getting a Life and founder of the Work to Live movement, monitors this phenomenon and is working hard to change the tide. According to the movement's Web site (www.worktolive.info), Americans put in two to three times more months in total hours on the job each year than Europeans and two and a half weeks more than the Japanese. The average middle income family now works four months more in total hours than they did in 1979.

Causing problems. In an article on Jobs.net, Robinson says not taking vacation time is causing major problems in our country, both for individuals and businesses. It leads to health hazards, including higher stress, burnout, sleeplessness, heart disease, and more. Working too much can also negatively affect your relationships with family and friends.

From a business perspective, there are many benefits of giving employees time off. "Employees' performance actually goes up after taking vacation and after breaks," says Robinson.

But even when they take vacations, many people still work. One in five people report taking their laptop computers and another 80 percent bring their cell phones. Is it really possible to get away from it all?

We need vacations. It's obvious we DO need vacation time. Besides helping keep us physically healthy and rejuvenating us for our work, vacations can also provide a spiritual boost. Vacations can give us the opportunity to pray, reflect on the Scriptures, and reconnect with God through the beauty of the world he created.

I encourage everyone to take some time off this summer away from work and the distractions of the ordinary routine. Enjoy time with family and friends. And perhaps those who have the opportunity could help out on a farm or other family-owned business so their friends and relatives can get away, too.

Mary C. Uhler

Mailbag

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Candidates' faith impacts
their stands on life issues

To the editor:

Years ago the religious beliefs of candidates for public office were not as important as now. No one challenged the right to life of an unborn baby. Teenagers did not vote even though most came from good homes and stable communities. Schools reflected the best of community values.

Now with different religions divided on the "theology of embryology" it is well for Catholics to know where a candidate stands on life issues relative to his or her religion or philosophy. For example, Mormons, though kind and generous people, believe that personhood is somehow endowed at the time an embryo attaches to the uterus. Prior to that time they think this "mass of growing tissue" is merely biologic material. That is why Senator Hatch of Utah can be anti-abortion but still support embryonic stem cell research.

This thinking contradicts the truth. By the time of attachment to the uterus the tiny embryo is a multi-celled individual that has already, in the divinely ordered way of God, done much of the development work of his or her early life. A human embryo conceived in a lab dish is as human as you and I.

I think many religions are not philosophically or theologically prepared for such ethical dilemmas as presented in this country since Roe vs. Wade. Though it is very important for people to question a candidate on life issues, it is also crucial to find and support those candidates who openly and intelligently defend all human life from conception to natural death while also promoting responsible moral behavior. Such candidates are out there in the race for president of the United States.

Theresa Mangold, Monona

Is there 'regional sin'?

To the editor:

Pope Benedict XVI agreed with the Mexican bishops that the Mexican legislators who voted to legalize abortion were excommunicated automatically.

Is the Vatican aware that 13 of the U.S. Catholic senators and a sizeable number of U.S. Catholic representatives have voted repeatedly for the support and promotion of abortion? This type of voting in the U.S.A. has been happening for many years and they continue to receive the Holy Eucharist. This makes one wonder whether there is such a thing as "regional sin."

Charles Sippel, Waterloo