Pause Day
There should be a pause day. National or worldwide? I’m not sure. I’m still working out the details, or maybe someone else can figure it out. It would last 24 hours, same as a non-pause day, but it would not have a date. Maybe next week, between October 17 and 18. Or maybe between October 16 and October 17. Or maybe between October 18 and 19. So it would go October 18, [pause day], October 19. It would not be the same day annually; maybe next year we “won’t need” the pause day between October 18 and 19, which will be untrue, we will, but you’ll never be able to get as many pause days as you need, so you have to use pause day carefully. What happens on pause day? Nothing. You stay at home, you lie around. You look out the window. You make dinner. Nothing is done, no one expects anything of anybody, no one talks to anyone outside of the people who live in their homes. Elected officials are momentarily not in office, as the offices they formerly held do not exist for the duration of pause day. What about something like the wildfires in California? That is tricky. I was hoping to not get into specific details, to imbue the discussion of pause day with a sense of what pause day could bring, but it seems like at this point one would need to bring up the wildfires. Ideally they would pause. What about people in the hospital, etc.? Doctors, etc., would probably still have to work during pause day, but they can treat it the same as a holiday. The hospital staff, etc., who work on pause day get another holiday day off in the future. Everyone else gets paid normally but doesn’t have to go to work. You don’t get errands done on pause day, I’m sorry. Parents still have to take care of their children, so, you know. Do they really get a pause day? Less than others, but pause day, like life, is imperfect. The weather outside on pause day would be cold and rainy. Would pause day mess with our period tracker apps? Yes, but it will mess with a lot of things, so probably our period tracker apps won’t be a top worry. It will be worth it. So, again, to explain what you do on pause day: you lie around. You think, or you don’t think. It’s up to you. You take a moment. You sit in a chair and you know that at least, for the moment, nothing is happening. Everyone is pausing. It is not a day, technically, it is just a momentary shared presence. It’s a small pause. I think this would be good. Please donate to my pause day Kickstarter. Just kidding. But please sign my Change.org petition, just kidding. But please make Pause Day, if you are in a position to do so.
Thank you.