Welsh poet William Henry Davies hit the nail on the head when composing his well known poem Leisure. “What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare”! The summer holidays have started and it has been a hectic year for most of us.
Time, however, due to our inability to translocate, forces us to adjust to the requisites of the period in which we live. There is a time for everything in life: “a time to be born and a time to die” says Qohelet, and now is the time for rest. In today’s world, rest and leisure are extremely important activities. Today’s life, obsessed with the perfectionism and blind ambitions that are requited by a highly technological and fast bureaucratic world, leads many to reach high levels of anxiety and stress in all sectors of the economy but particularly those where people work with their mind. Consequently, leisure is a basic good that may be grasped by natural reason. When the time to play and rest presents itself, we should grasp the opportunity thus presented as a self-evident good.
Spending time admiring the wonders of nature is not time wasted. We recharge our internal batteries and we also learn to appreciate and respect the beautiful wonders and interrelatedness of the world around us. There is much we can learn by immersing ourselves and observing nature close up. It is a relaxing and inspirational activity but one which is also highly educational and introspective. There are many questions we can ask ourselves and there are many answers that we have often taken for granted. “No time to stand beneath the boughs, and stare as long as sheep and cows. No time to see, when woods we pass, where squirrels hide their nuts in grass. No time to see, in broad daylight, streams full of stars, like skies at night.”
Our somewhat neglected relationships with spouses, family members and friends may be reinvigorated as we rediscover the beauty of our relational natures, another self-evident good. The time to build up some good quality relationships with the ones we love and with whom we share our lives is now too good an opportunity to miss and we will all be the poorer if we do miss such chances. Life passes very quickly and we should learn to cherish the memories provided by such times of leisure. It is time to think about the more important things in life! “No time to turn at Beauty’s glance, and watch her feet, how they can dance. No time to wait till her mouth can enrich that smile her eyes began.”
Some will, of course, behave as if time did not present this opportunity for leisure. They will continue to ‘humbug’ their way through life as if nothing has changed, will fail to see the writing on the wall and will fail to understand the essence of love. They will fail to notice how things are slowly changing, how the seasons are passing and how we may be wont to notice that we are passing with them. What is the quality of our present life? Have we allowed the rat race and scramble for money and power to obscure the finer things with which providence has provided us in our lives? Does the memory of looking back at our lives provide an enriching experience or is it devoid of the emotions that bring us happiness? Do we love and are we loved in return? Do we offer love so that we may find love? What are the more important things in our lives? Is it time for a rain check? The answer of the poet rings out clearly like a bell: “A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.”
Happy holidays, everyone!
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