On a sailing trip to Tonga years ago, my husband and I were told to keep our knees covered as a sign of respect and never engage in any buy-and-sell transactions on Sunday. We would end up in jail.
Sunday in Tonga is celebrated as a strict Sabbath, enshrined so in the constitution, and despite opposing voices, the Sunday ban is not likely to be abolished soon. No trade is allowed on Sunday, except essential services. (Buying fuel for your boat isn’t one of them.) Those who break the law risk a fine or imprisonment.
What do you do in Tonga on Sunday? Well, you go to church, then eat. After that, you do nothing. It could be called rest.
While Tonga isn’t likely to change anytime soon, apparently France is giving up their devotion to rest on Sundays. French legislators presented a divisive bill in June 2009 that allows more stores to stay open — and more people to work — on Sundays.
One of President Nicolas Sarkozy‘s key reform pledges, the bill’s proponents said expanding Sunday opening hours will give the French economy a much-needed jolt as the nation wrestles with recession. Mr. Sarkozy also was apparently embarrassed in June when U.S. first lady Michelle Obama wanted to buy children’s clothes in Paris on Sunday, June 7. (He intervened; she shopped.) He said he felt shops closing on Sundays was “backwards.”
Michelle has been shopping on Sunday like the rest of us in the U.S. since the mid 1970s when sanctions against stores open on the Sabbath loosened. The U.K.’s allegiance to resting on Sunday can be traced back to the Middle Ages, but the restrictions have all but disappeared since the mid 1990s.
But in France there was plenty of opposition to Sunday work hours, including from the Catholic Church, France’s leftist opposition, and even within the ruling party. Philippe Meunier, a lawmaker for the Lyon region successfully lobbied to maintain Sunday shopping restrictions in his constituency in order to preserve the tradition Sunday respite. He said it was “an essential element of our way of life.”
Do you remember when stores weren’t open on Sundays? If you can’t, try to imagine it. The closest we come nowadays is Easter Sunday, where Wal-Mart still remains open but Target and most others do close.
In our culture time for rest is not sanctified, and we don’t seem to feel it’s an “essential element of our lives.” When’s the last time you wrote on your to-do list – “do nothing”?
Sabbatical-goers given as much as 3 months away (often paid) have the opportunity to state one of their goals as “rest and rejuvenation”, and many do. Why does it take getting away from our careers to feel okay to do this?
If you’d like to try out the seventh day with complete rest, head to Tonga. The French Senate vote, which followed two days of debate, was passed 165-159 on July 23, 2009.
Another day of rest lost in a cultural shift. Au Revoir to a time-honored tradition.
2 Responses (add yours)
I do recall when Sundays were considered a day of rest with the fondest of memories. But alas, the busyness of life has intervened. While researching for our book, Ordinary Greatness, Brian Jones and I discovered that a significant blinder that is preventing us from recognizing the greatness in our lives is our “check the box” kind of existence. We are expected to fulfill one obligation after another, whether at work or in our personal environment. Multitasking is the new survival skill, and as a result, we feel there is no time to make relationship building connections with our friends, neighbors, co-workers. and others. “Git’er done” seems to be the rule of the day. Relationship building falls by the wayside. I have to admit that I often long for the “good ole days” when my life wasn’t ruled by a cell phone, blackberry and computer and when Sundays were kept for family time, friends and self-reflection and stores closed. I need to stop and ask myself more often, “What is my schedule like today, tomorrow, and next week? Is there room on it to do the things critical to my ability to flourish as a human being?” If not, how will I find the time to recognize the ordinary greatness when it touches my day or someone close to me? I’m working on it!
Pam your comments are chocked full of solid take-aways for all of us. Questions I’m asking myself::
1. What is the source of the pleasure I get from checking something off my list? Am I a victim of “Git’er done”? (ugh, I hate that victim thing.)
2. If multi-tasking is the new survival skill (as you point out and I sadly have to agree), is it really necessary 24-7? i.e., Why am I compelled to take my blackberry to the beach when I decide to go at the end of the day?
One of the most powerful messages in the book, “Ordinary Greatness” is exploring blinders ( there are 5) of why we don’t see the “greatness in others.” Understanding that my choice of “busyness” keeps me from observing others’ greatness, gives me good reason to change. Selfishness compels me more.
Finding my own “ordinary greatness” gets obscured in a packed schedule. And for sure, I want my own OG!