07 November 20XX
My Dear Lucilius:
November continues
unabated and cold. Two days ago we had a break in the snow coming
down, so I got myself outside to see about finding additional
deadfalls to cut up and bring back for burning. I am fortunate in
that non-private land is within a mile of me. That said, a mile can
be a long walk when there are no more snowplows plowing the roads or
chemicals to melt the snow down. I found at least one tree that had
lost a branch small enough to be dragged back for cutting into
smaller pieces for burning. To reward myself, I heated up water for
a soak.
The snow picked
right up the day after and has continued since then.
As I sat in my soak
(oh, how glorious it was!), I had the opportunity to think about
boredom.
Boredom is the great
enemy. It is now the great enemy of all that are alive, where
previously its victims were more selected: the retired, the shut in,
the unemployed, the “bored” class with no need for money and
nothing but time. It has now reached out to encompass all sentient
beings.
In one sense,
boredom is less of an issue in the immediate sense. For most
individuals now, they are thinking either 1) where their next meal
is coming from; 2) how soon until all their next meals are gone; or
3) when this whole experience will end. Survival thinking is the
great killer of philosophy.
But in the other
sense – if you have a meal or you know where they are coming from
for a while or even if you do not have a meal and no chance of
securing one – boredom now fills your every waking moment.
We are directly
coming out of a society and a philosophy where entertainment and
distraction was easily available, readily accessible – and our
God-given right, according to some. So much was at the touch of our
finger tips, available for our listening and viewing pleasure.
With the snap of a finger, all of that has been erased.
I am fortunate. I have a small library to read, a martial art to practice, and an exercise routine to follow along with a daily rhythm of chores to do. But even with that, I find that there is only so much I can do: I can only read so many books. I can only practice sword so long. I can only do so many push-ups and squats. And (especially in Winter) there are only so many chores to do.
One works on ways to
keep the mind engaged of course: organizing and re-organizing,
playing solitaire (with a physical deck of cards, of course!),
planning for what to do when Spring arrives, practicing drills for a
home invasion, moving things around to maximize heat retention. But
all of these still only consume so much time.
There are vast
stretches of time where I have nothing to do and little enough to
think on.
And this is me, with
what I have listed above. I can only imagine the struggle of those
that are not positioned as I am. What do they think about? What are
they doing?
I fear, Lucilius,
that Spring will come only to reveal that those that were physically
well prepared were not so mentally.
Your Obedient
Servant, Seneca
Dear Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteI am in receipt of your comment dated 26 March 2020. For the first time in 15 years of this blog, I will not be posting your comment. I have posted comments that disagreed with me or that I disagreed with but yours is the first non-spam entry that will be traveling to the spam folder forthwith. I will, however, provide a reason and a response:
1) You used profanity. That is something we just do not do around here and automatically gets you banned for life. Call me old - call me "Boomer", as you did (although I am not, just for the record) - but we have ladies present and on the whole we manage ourselves civilly here.
2) You used the term "Boomer" (see above) as a pejorative. To be clear, I consider the term as appalling and ageist and discriminatory as an other term - which, by the way, we do not do around here as well.
3) You note "'We' (Boomers, I suppose) do not care about the climate". I challenge you to visit the blogs of the folks listed to the right. You will find a group of people passionately concerned about the environment - they are conservationists, who believe the environment should be protected - and used. What they do not want is wanton government oversight and control and demands that we shut down everything (which, by the way, thanks to Covid-19 we are now doing. The skies are clear, but 2,000,000 are about to file for unemployment. Certainly at least some of these are your compatriots. I assume you will be assisting them with re-employment).
4) Your rather hopeful and insistent request that I - or at least those "Boomers" - die, is sad - but completely anticipated by someone who seems to have a lot of anger issues based on your language. I assume you have shared your opinions with all of your own older friends and relations and they have welcomed your death with open arms.
6) Anonymous attacks do not happen here. I am happy to post anonymous comments that actual discussions or even disagreements. Drive by verbal attacks go nowhere here.
Friend, you are free to have an opinion. But an angry, death seeking, foul mouthed opinion is not something that is welcomed or approved here. You are precisely the reason that I (and many others) have argued for some time that we need to separate into two countries, one with your opinion and one with ours.
If you are spoiling for a fight as you appear to be, might I direct you to my friend Glen at filthiestbox.blogspot.com? I have not informed him of your coming, but I am sure he is more of your speed in terms of a quick and inflammatory discussion, which you seem intent on.
Someday friend, you will be the next age bracket to the younger generation who will think you failed everything. I wonder if at that time you will be as equally eager to die as you appear to wish upon me and my community?
Fools are not tolerated here.
Your Obedient Servant, Toirdhealbheach Beucail