Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year. It is the day before George Washington’s birthday. It is two days after Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. It is Valentine’s Day, too.

You should be out. You should not be reading this. You should not be sitting at a computer. You should not be scrolling your way through life, your right thumb cybernetically connected to your smartphone. This blog should not be your moments-long, skimming break from unending work.

attribution: guapan (Flickr, 2008)

Because you should be living. Carousing. Raucously. With innocent celebration. There are precious few sunny days. You should wake up with a loved one, huddle into toasty coats and over to your saccharine&salty local brunch cafe. Live graciously, after a calm, drunken slumber. Take the afternoon in at American wannabe-pub. Watch The Game at A Friend’s. Any game will do, anywhere for anyone.

But: you are a public interest lawyer. You cannot. There is work to do. You love this work. In the idiotic spaces of dull-witted conversations, you curse yourself for leaving the work. “I should be working, right now. I’d rather be working, too.”

You almost want to growl at these people, it would be cartoon-like. But it’s more morose than that. Because you are grieving for The More, the more than you do not have time/have to make the time to work on: there is so much in the world, so much right here, it happens and no one notices it. Maybe, you do not even notice it. You should notice it. You should be doing it. There is so much to do, and why aren’t you doing it?

Work, work harder. Then, you can celebrate.

About this contributor:  Naureen Shah is a writer, researcher and legal advocate focusing on international human rights issues. Read more from this contributor