I like erotica. I also like politics. If I were asked to choose, I’d be hard-pressed to pick one over the other. Good erotica is, well…orgasmic. Good politics also gives me that just-fucked feeling. Come to think of it, bad politics gives me a similar just fucked-over feeling.

Hmmm…

If there’s one thing that keeps me coming back to the sorry-ass state of US politics, it’s Fareed Zakaria. I’m going on record to say that Mr. Zakaria can buy me a drink anytime. He’s cool, calm, brilliant. Sex on a stick.

I digress.

How about that vacation? What’s this? Haven’t had one in five years? (camping doesn’t count ladies. it’s ten times the work for half the fun)

You’re probably asking yourself: What do vacations, Fareed Zakaria and erotica have in common?

Answer: A lot

According to a recent article by Mr. Zakaria:

Nowadays the average European gets about three times as many days of paid vacation as [her] counterpart in America. Italy has the most vacation days, with the average worker there getting 42 paid days off.

That’s six weeks of vacation. Per year. And, what the article doesn’t say is that most Europeans take all six weeks IN A ROW.

The United States was near the bottom of the list with the average worker getting 13 days off.

Less than two weeks off, rarely in a row. Do you take your two weeks off in a row every year? According to Mr. Zakaria, for every ten Americans reading this, only four will even take all their vacation time each year.

If you’re worried that working less will mean America lags behind: Don’t worry. America’s growth historically has been fueled mostly by investment, education, productivity, innovation and immigration. The one thing that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with America’s new growth is a brutal work schedule. [Some] experts believe that working harder might actually depress productivity numbers because the additional hours worked rarely generate strong output. (We’re not as productive at 8 p.m. as at 9 a.m.)

So take a break, go to the beach, read a book, or surf the web. Wait a minute, you are surfing the web.

I say it’s time to take a real break from it all and lose yourself in a good book for a few, quiet hours. No, ‘Mom, I’m hungrys,’ no laundry, no dishes, just a few precious hours to yourself. Some time to let someone else do the thinking while you go along for the ride. Step up and demand those vacation days because, between you and me, the constant battle over dinner, laundry, dishes, homework, extracurricular sports, raising children and tending to our families, we tend to care for ourselves last or not at all.

Go ahead. Take that vacation. Lose yourself in some sexy hot fantasy. You’ve earned it.

Cabana boys, anyone? I’ll take three.