Maybe we should just do less

Last year as part of a faculty group book-read I encountered Larry Rasmussen’s Earth Honoring Faith. In Rasmussen’s view, sabbath is one of the resources that could be deployed to apply brakes to a society that is over-consuming the resources of the planet and the lives of its own members. The suggestion of the healing possibilities of sabbath resonated with me not only because of my environmental commitments, but also on a more human level. I rush through my life, and in the past two years my health has suffered badly. Semester after semester, my students come to me frantic and overcommitted, bouncing between classwork, athletics, and dozens of activities, routinely diagnosed with anxiety disorders and not infrequently dissolving into tears in my office.

Liberal arts colleges have caught a lot of flak in the national media in recent years for insufficiently preparing our students for post-college life. However, in permitting a campus culture that rewards over-commitment, we are actually preparing our students extraordinarily well to enter American society. Americans work too much and as a result, we’re sick, unhappy, and stuck in patterns of consumption that are terrible for our quality of life. We humble-brag about how busy we are. We rarely feel rested or whole. We drive because we don’t have time to walk or bike, and we get carryout in Styrofoam containers because we don’t have time to cook.

On our campus, as the faculty talk with the administration about making the college distinctive and appealing, the discussion is always about how we can do more: more programs, more activities, more opportunities.