An article in the Guardian, supposedly lambasting the French work mentality, has morphed into a heated debate on the subject of work. Arguments fly about why we should criticise 'the Anglo-American obsession with work' and be heading to a 20 hour week supported by comments such as "Good for the French. Even 35 hours a week in a hamster wheel is way too long. 35 hours per month is more like it" and "Give me idle summers any time: I'll work as little as possible, just enough to pay my way. And spend my brief time on this planet being fulfilled, rather than rich" from contractor0000.

On the other hand, a strong message from businessman Sodball - "..Humans need activity, and work, to keep us from becoming listless and weak. France urgently needs to get a grip and stop sponging off its neighbours and relying on them to carry it. A bit more work, and fewer handouts, wouldn't go amiss."

Sodball's view was in response to the challenge that all the technologies we have should allow us to work less. His correct answer, with examples, is that they did but then we then subsequently filled the new spare time up with other productive tasks such as, in his case, running a business. Funny enough Jiri's contribution of "People in agrarian societies spend less than half of their waking hours for sustenance. People in hunter gatherer societies spend even less time for sustaining themselves...." sort of reinforced my view of the issue.

Most of us know that a lot of the really successful people, not just wealthy individuals, tend to 'work' ungodly hours, seeming never to tire of the hustle and bustle of what they do. When many are asked how they do it, they tend to say that it is because what they do does not seem like work. I'd hazard a guess and say Sodball likes the business he is in.

Industrialisation has led us to the separation of 'living' and 'working'. For all other societies, Jiri's examples included, living and working are the same thing. You can see examples of this mentality in many minority communities in all industrialised nations. In Jiri's examples, you may argue that he said that they spend less time working, I would argue against how that was measured. I would say that some of their activities may not be directly attributable to sustenance, but I bet, most of their actions lead to those making sustenance activities possible.

Living is working, the trick is to find work that does not feel like work and you will never have to worry about work week ever again, it will be one big fulfilling life.

[First published on my NotTheNews blog on specified date]