Life is like a holiday

Dear editors!

Colleagues reproach me for congratulating them on the holiday after the holiday has passed. This is how it happened with the Day of Russian Science, and this, alas, will happen with the Day of Defender of the Fatherland. Alas, my favorite newspaper is published only once every two weeks, and with such a schedule it is difficult for me to be sufficiently efficient.

Although belated, I congratulate all of you, dear male colleagues, on February 23! And those who served in the ranks of the Armed Forces, and those for whom the prospect of joining the army was depicted as a nightmare, and the army itself as a place where the only end for any normal person could only be a cruel, violent death. Even such specimens are under the protection of those who guard our Motherland.

However, there is a holiday on which I can still congratulate my dear colleagues on time, and I will do this with great pleasure. It's International Women's Day.

Dear ladies, women, girls! Chief researchers, accountants, employees of planning departments, students and graduate students! I congratulate you all on a wonderful women's holiday, taking place under the shadow of mimosa and other flowers. I wish you happiness, health, further success in your work and personal life!

But, congratulating Russian scientists, defenders of the Fatherland and beautiful ladies, one cannot help but think about how many good and different holidays have accumulated in our lives, and, as usual, there are noticeably more different ones than good ones.

Let's take for example a wonderful and ancient holiday - New Year. In Soviet times, we, having raised glasses of champagne to the sound of the chimes and eaten Olivier, rested on January 1, but already on the 2nd we went to work. No one in a bad dream could have dreamed that they would have to sit at home for another whole week!

What about the May holidays? This year, from May 1 to May 12, we will have as many as three working days! It is clear that these three unhappy working days, by hook or by crook, will turn into non-working days. There won't be such long holiday breaks until the end of the year, but holidays will still occur.

In general, it turns out that even officially dozens of days are lost from the workforce, but informally the picture is even worse. Working days before holidays are shortened; holidays are often associated with the consumption of alcoholic beverages not only at home, but also at work. After the January and May holidays, people do not immediately get into the rhythm of work, but before the holidays they begin to relax in advance.

Why the country needs all this is unclear. Women's Day is wonderful, but what prevents it from being a working day? Why can't you give women flowers on a working day? A men's, army holiday is wonderful, but does everyone remember that February 23 was not a day off in the USSR? Did this undermine the defense capability of our country? What about Spring and Labor Day on May 1st? Why should we celebrate Labor Day outside of the workplace? Absurd!

We need to increase labor productivity, work harder and better, and not turn life into a continuous holiday. Doubling the number of publications, building a synchrotron on Russky Island, launching new scientific vessels - these are the tasks the government sets for us, executing the presidential decree.

However, it is no wonder that with so many holidays, pre-holiday and post-holiday days there is not much time left for work. Therefore, I have a proposal: to radically reduce the number of holidays that have become weekends. Let there be one such holiday in each season.

In winter we will celebrate the New Year, in the spring - Victory Day, in the summer - Russia Day, and in the fall, on October 7, - President's Day. And that's it, that's enough!

The country will breathe more freely, become healthier, and work more. And you and I, colleagues, will stop whining that because of writing grants and reports, because of running around with papers, we don’t have time for actual science. There will be time! Including the need to write more articles, and even here, as we know, whining can be heard: guard duty, reporting on government assignments is increasing! I congratulated the women in my institution and went to write an article. This is how I wish to see our reality next year!

Yours Ivan Ekonomov