At
the
beginning
of
last
month
I
looked
out
of
my
window
and
saw
the
telltale
signs
:
increase
traffic
,
early
-
morning
crowds
,
glum
faces
.
Yes
,
that's
right
,
the
children
____________________
____________________
____________________
to
school
and
parents
____________________
____________________
a
new
work
year
.
And
I
asked
myself
an
old
question
:
do
we
have
the
work
/
life
balance
right
?
A
new
generation
of
economists
____________________
____________________
the
century
-
long
assumption
of
economics
:
that
men
and
women
are
motivated
by
more
-
more
profit
,
more
possessions
,
more
work
.
Is
the
hectic
pace
of
life
what
we
really
want
?
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
14
-
hour
days
long
into
our
golden
age
?
And
will
it
make
us
happy
?
The
number
of
people
in
mid
-
career
who
seem
ready
to
abandon
the
desperate
climb
up
the
corporate
ladder
____________________
____________________
____________________
.
And
now
,
several
journalists
and
social
commentators
____________________
____________________
us
to
go
slower
and
enjoy
life
.
Tom
Hodgkinson
,
in
How
To
Be
Idle
,
says
the
prominent
literary
figures
____________________
____________________
____________________
the
idle
life
for
centuries
.
He
____________________
Bertrand
Russell
,
Samuel
Johnson
and
others
.
Carl
Honoré's
In
Praise
of
Slow
also
suggest
that
slowing
down
may
be
the
best
way
,
and
he
provides
a
telling
anecdote
.
He
recalls
a
time
recently
when
he
____________________
____________________
extremely
fast
in
Italy
because
he
was
late
for
a
Slow
Food
meal
.
The
irony
of
it
!
