Plato once said that you can get to know a person better in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. The older I get the more I'm convinced that when both children and adults take time out for play, their lives are richer and more meaningful. I'm jealous of the Europeans who get four to five weeks paid vacation from their employers, no matter how long they've been working. Americans have to earn our fun. What does this say about our priorities and values? Even if we were told to take time off, would we take it? Or would we end up listless and bored and back at the office? I wonder if we've forgotten how to play.
Here's an article in the NY Times about the medical research behind play called "Taking Play Seriously."
1 comment:
What an interesting idea. Kids are fabulous at reminding us of the importance here; of how we emerge from some (poor, sleepy) woman's womb with this innate knowing about play. Kathleen Norris wrote about the monks' philosophy, that in every day there is time enough for work, prayer, and play. (There is a fourth...). Perhaps we live too far out of today to make genuine, worshipful, playful life a reality.
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