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A Bustling Day
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Tom's running late. He still has another meeting and his flight leaves in less than three hours.
Yes, I need the number for British Airways at Heathrow Airport.
Oh , what's the latest I can check in and still catch the three o'clock to New York?
I reckon Tom is experiencing the same thing that you get in a car assembly worker, lack of control. He has very little control over his lifestyle, decisions are reached for him, his schedules are being planned by other people. His job is just as insecure as a shop floor worker now. From shop to top floor, people are now job insecure.
Oh...
Sorry.
...come on let me give you a hand. Oh.
Thank you.
You're welcome. Un Heathrow Airport Terminal Four.
Tom's flight to New York leaves in forty minutes.
He certainly seems to be having a very stressful day doesn't he, but I think that we need to be aware that it's the individual's response that actually matters. Some people actually thrive on a life like this and some people don't. So it's not, in terms of health it's not what happens to them it's how they respond to it.
But given the lifestyle he's having and of course it would be a good idea to have a check up.
Can I help you sir?
I'm late; I'm on the three o'clock to JFK.
Thank you.
Hello there Sir.
Tom. It's Clayton.
Oh?
Glad I caught you. Pop round my office when you hit town.
Yes, sure. Everything all right?
Cheerio Tom, see you at seven.
Lianne. I might be a bit...
Any passengers for the BA flight 177 to New York on board now to gate number twelve.
Tom's behavior is pathetic. I mean first of all, he is rushing to catch an airplane. What does he do? He leaves his mobile phone on. He shouldn't do it, he should have shut it off, forget about it. He is now in transport, he is on his way home, and he doesn't need any interruptions right now. All he's doing is creating potential stress for himself.
But worse than that, his boss tells him, off a transatlantic flight he has to turn up in the office.
Tom should have said to him, "Listen, it's my anniversary, I'm going home to my wife, I need to be with them. How urgent is this? Can it wait until after our anniversary?" He didn't do it. Foolish. Foolish man. He's the creation of his own stress.
Many scientists see new technology as responsible for much of our modern day stress.
Would you believe it, the scourge of the twenty-first century?
Look what Tom's doing.
The laptop where he get his e-mails, send faxes.
Just at a time when he should be relaxing and unwinding, what is this man doing? He's working again. It, it seems as if the workplace is everywhere. We, we all lead now kind of tortoiseshell existence where the office is in our back, whether it's on an airplane, on a train, almost in a car nowadays. This is not what a man should be doing, this is, just causes him more stress. What he needs to do is be peaceful, to relax, to kind of unwind.
So what does he do? He takes a book about business, about being a winner.
Not a book that will relax him and not get him to think about work, where he can involve himself a fiction book.
We don't have balance. This is the word everybody's using now, there's a lack of balance.
Life is not all about working.
In a developed world we're beginning to say are these long hours good for our business as well as our families and our health? Shouldn't we control the technology rather than let the technology control us?
Shouldn't we really action what we often mouth in organizations, that the most valuable resource we have is the human resource?
Tom's plane has only just landed. He'll be lucky to see his boss, and get to his anniversary meal on time.
Downtown Liberty Street.
It seems that both Tom and Lianne are placing a lot of emphasis on this one dinner. They're sacrificing having more of a life together, and in place of that they're saying well we can make that up by having one dinner together.
But the reality of their lives is it's going to be awfully difficult for them to pull that off successfully.
And consequently there's even more disappointment and stress in their lives.
So having a single dinner to recalibrate one's life is probably not a good mechanism for gaining perspective.
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紧张的一天
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汤姆迟到了,他还有另一次会谈.他的飞机两个多小时后就要起飞了.
我要英国航空公司希思罗机场的电话号码.
三点飞往纽约的航班还有票吗?
我认为汤姆的生活和汽车装配工的一样,无法控制.他无法控制自己的生活方式,决定下达给他,日程表都是由别人给定好的,他的工作很不稳定.现在,无论是蓝领还是白领,几乎每个人的工作都充满了危机感.
对不起,让我来帮你.
谢谢.不客气.
希思罗机场四号站口.
汤姆乘坐的班机40分钟后起飞.
他这一天看起来的确很紧张,但我们要知道,个人的反应至关重要,有些人很适应这种快节奏的生活,有些人不能适应,所以对健康而言,重要的不是发生了什么事,而是人们对它所做出怎样的反应,所以说每个人都应该检查一下自己的生活方式.
您有什么事?我来晚了,我要赶三点钟去肯尼迪国际机场的飞机.
汤姆,我是克莱顿,下飞机后请到我的办公室来.
可以.一切都好吗?
就这样,七点见.
莉安,我可能得……
该死!
英航177次航班,飞往纽约的旅客,请在12号登机口登机.
汤姆的行为是令人同情的,我是说,首先他冲向了机场去登机,可他是怎么做的呢?他的手机开着.他不应该这样,他应该关机,把那些事情暂且忘掉,现在他正在回家的路上,应该避开任何干扰,而他所做的一切都是在给自己制造压力.但更糟的是,他的老板要他下飞机后就去办公室.汤姆应该对他说:"听着,今天是我的结婚纪念日.我得回家陪老婆吃饭,有什么事等我过完纪念日再说好吗?"他没有这么做,这很愚蠢,是他在给自己制造压力.
许多科学家都认为,新技术给现代人制造了更多的压力,它们简直就是21世纪的灾难根源.看看汤姆在干什么吧?他在用笔记本电脑收邮件,发传真.本该放松身心,好好休息一下的,可他在干什么?他又在工作了,似乎到处都是办公室,好像办公室已成了人的乌龟壳,无论是在飞机上,还是在火车上,甚至在汽车上也是这样.人不该这样,这只能给人们带来更大的压力,他应该平静下来,放松自己,好好休息.他又在干什么?在读一本商业赢家秘诀之类的书,而不是一本能让他放松,不会使他想起工作的,能沉浸其中的小说.我们失去了平衡,这就是现代人的通病,缺乏平衡,工作不该成为生命的全部.在发达国家,人们开始怀疑,这么长的工作时间是否有益于工作,有益于我们的家庭和健康.难道我们不该主宰科技,而非让科技主宰我们吗?难道我们成天嘴上讲的都是空话吗?难道最有价值的资源不是人类自身吗?
汤姆的飞机着陆了,幸运的话,他还能在会见老板之后准时回家吃晚饭.
去自由大道.
看得出,汤姆和莉安都十分重视这次晚餐.他们失去了许多呆在一起的时间,说好要通过这次晚餐来补偿,但是,现实生活却让他们很难做到这一点,结果反而给他们的生活增添了更多的失望和压力,所以说,想通过吃顿饭使生活重新达到平衡,不是一个好的办法.
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