As I’ve been working with Wendy Casper on our chapter about singles-friendly workplaces and reading relevant papers, I keep coming across the phrase “work-life balance.” I do realize that for lots of people, work is something that needs to be ‘balanced’ with the rest of life. Still, an uncritical use of the concept seems to neglect something significant: There are some fortunate people who love their work. They see their work as part of their lives, not something to be set against everything else they enjoy.
Ted Sorensen, who was President Kennedy’s celebrated speechwriter and also his friend, died this past weekend. I’ll miss his attitude. Asked by the New York Times whether his working relationship with President Kennedy was “the great love affair of your life,” he replied, “Yes, of course.” He seemed to know that words like love and romance have big, broad meanings.