Vacation

Everyone needs a vacation.

The protesters marching in the streets of New York today need a vacation. The cops walking the barriers keeping it orderly need one as well.

Our troops fighting in Iraq sure need a break, and the insurgents should probably give their eyes a rest. All that squinting in the dark, wiring together IED's must be taking a toll on their mental health and well being.

Once upon a time, I suppose, mankind didn't take vacations. There was only the struggle to survive: Track the Woolly Mammoth, kill it, bring it home, start the fire, feed the kids, repeat.

But these days, caught in the grips of perverse modernism, filled with existential angst, over-stimulated and so fatigued we can't sleep without narcotic assistance, we need to get away once in a while. To recharge our batteries, and remind ourselves of just why it is that we get up every day. To remember what it feels like to laugh and enjoy ourselves, and what is really important.

It's strange that we literally need to forget who we are in order to be happy.