“What we’re dealing with here is the pressure of productivity. This pressure has an economic dimension…. Time is too precious to be squandered on activities that do not concretely develop our personalities. Frivolity feels superfluous to the point of, well, sinfulness.
“This pressure doesn’t just apply to work. If I can’t get enough done at the office, at least I can move the needle at home by being a productive husband, parent, son, or lawn-care specialist. But if I can’t contribute much there, there’s always the task of making the world, or just my local community, a better place.
“The pressure of productivity turns life into an enormous balance sheet…. Grace flips things on their head.”
