Slackers
“Chang bowed his thanks for the information. He took a keen interest in languages and liked to weigh a new word philosophically. “It is significant,” he said after a pause, “that the English regard slackness as a vice. We, on the other hand, should vastly prefer it to tension. Is there not too much tension in the world at present, and might it not be better if more people were slackers?”
― James Hilton, Lost Horizon
Americans have never been practitioners of the fine art of doing nothing. Everyone pushing, selling, filling every moment of every day. We went to lunch at Big Muddy’s on the Mississippi River the other day. A beautiful view, excellent food, and yet virtually everyone was on their cell phones or busy talking business. No one just sitting back, enjoying the view, the food, or their companions.
Why can’t people be slackers for 30 minutes? Enjoy and relax for a few moments? I can change, I swear! Soon I will be embracing the concept of “la dolce far niente” on a more complete basis. And I will be more productive, more creative, happy…. for far more than 30 minutes a day.