My dogs sleep all day. It’s just what they do. Except when they’re busy chewing up my 48th pair of reading glasses.
They sleep, sleep, sleep. And amazingly, after a full day of sleeping, they don’t feel guilty about it. Not even a little.
They don’t appear to undergo any self-loathing for laziness. They don’t hate themselves for exhibiting careless unproductivity. They don’t worry about their inability to “carpe” the current “diem.” They just crawl off the sofa, wag their butts, stretch, and go outside to pee on something.
We aren’t like them. And by “we” I mean Homo sapiens, as well as many forms of Congresspersons. “We” aren’t carefree enough to sleep all day.
In fact, we don’t sleep at all. Over one half of Americans are sleep deprived. This statistic continues to rise. Americans already lead the world in consumption of sleep aids and tranquilizers.
Even our children aren’t sleeping. Approximately one third of American children do not get adequate sleep. Some researchers believe this is due to brain patterns affected by electronic devices.
Which
isn’t surprising. The average American child spends five hours on electronic devices per day.
The average adult spends eight.
Still, I can’t help but wonder what life would be like if we took a cue from dogs?
My dogs certainly don’t spend any time on devices. They will, however, occasionally eat one.
Not long ago, my dog, Thelma Lou, ate one of our houseguests' smartwatches. When the deed was done, we were worried about our dog. Our vet said it was no big deal. Then he said immortal words which I shall never forget: “This is just another way for your dog to ‘pass the time.’”
You know what else my dogs do? They sit by the door and wait…