As you know, a Russian has two great joys and hopes in the year, two periods that are looked forward to and often shudderedly remembered: New Year’s Eve and May. Of course I’m talking about the holidays.
Literally everything begins to remind of the beginning of May. And not just the sun outside the window, but the smell of the first kebabs in the parks and state symbols on the streets. No, first of all – usually “Let’s do it after May!” Business letters that begin or end with the phrase. Nearly any task that requires a lengthy solution is split into “before” and “after”. Some will never live to see the “next” era and will fade into oblivion – forgotten, pushed into the background. The Russian knows very well that in May he will fall into a working coma, and after that he will walk away from him for a long time, remembering who he is, where he is and for whom he works.
Have you ever seen townspeople celebrating the May holidays? Sorry, I’m watching. Literally the other day, on “May 1”, I found myself in a Moscow club. And a single question remained in my mind: Where are all these people so tired that they are forced to rest like this?
I will not bore the reader into details, but I will say this – to relax in this way, the city dweller, in my opinion, should lay on sleepers for at least 12 hours a day. Year. No breaks or weekends.
Many will object: perhaps the author is wandering somewhere and observing the relevant condition. And good people spend long vacations in the country. And the author will say: For many years I lived in a private house in the nearest suburbs. And I watched the crowds of townspeople come to celebrate the May holidays. When compared to the capital club, it will appear as in the following anecdote:
– Tell me, do you have fresh gingerbread?
– No, what are you, you’ve been lying for a year, moldy, withered, you can kill them.
– And the cookies?
Oh, young man. Get better gingerbread cookies!
So in the hut: you better go to the hut! There are at least some restrictions in the form of security and video surveillance, in the cottages citizens relax on a much larger scale. And a natural question arises: why all this? What’s the use of a long weekend?
For starters, any employer is clearly losing money by paying the rest of their beloved employees while washing down the barbecue with hard drinks. So the economy does not benefit from the holidays, quite the contrary.
Maybe the holidays strengthen the institution of marriage and family? The reader will ask. Here, too, he will be mistaken: the curious can be convinced that there is a wave of divorces in the country twice a year: after the New Year and May holidays. This is such a noticeable leap in stats that it’s impossible not to notice.
And why? Yes, everything is simple: people live side by side for years, see each other for several hours a day, somehow get used to each other, are distracted by work and other leisure activities. And when they are alone with each other for a long time, all communication problems take on bulk and frightening forms, misunderstandings and resentments are revealed. Any psychologist will say: to save a swaying marriage, you need distance, intimacy destroys it completely. By the way, exactly the same picture was observed in quarantine: divorce statistics increased significantly around the world.
What will be our end? Long vacations not only affect the economy (government and business), but they are also far from having a positive effect on people’s relationships. And if you add here the long drinks that catalyze the process – and not at all.
After the vacation, the Russian remains in a mental and emotional coma for a while. Trying to adapt to the work process and get rid of a hangover.
In general, I would of course cancel this week of idleness if it were my will. But the most paradoxical thing is that the reader of this column, who consistently agrees with all the above arguments, must now be inwardly enraged: how was it canceled ?!
That is why nothing can threaten either May or the New Year. They are with us forever.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editors’ position.