Leisure

I was told to begin with a quote, so I have gone the extra mile to bring you two. First of all, “All of the biggest technological inventions created by man - the airplane, the automobile, and the computer - says little about his intelligence, but speaks volumes about his laziness. ~Mark Kennedy” and secondly, “Ask me no questions and I will give you no answers.” Now I ask you a question, what is it that humankind has sought after since those dark days in caves? Leisure, freedom from the struggle to the sweet joys of relaxation. From the beginning, man has sought the easy path in life. Look upon every invention and you will see that its main purpose was to make life easier. How well it achieves this is a wholly other matter. I shall give three examples; I shall show you history, evolution, and culture.



In time, all of our great leaders have done impressive things. Why? Because it was hard? Because they found it unbearable to leave well enough alone? No, they did it to make things easy for example working out back breaking trade agreements with formerly proud peoples so that rather then making their own goods they could force others to do it while they spent their own time on the things they enjoyed. The pyramids and The Tower of London, were commissioned by rich men, who paid other men to build them and at times not even that.  If the artist did no need money, he would not so readily paint portraits for those richer than himself. If the farmer did not wish to starve, he would work his fields religiously. If the drop out did not need money he would not pawn his television. Necessity is the motivation behind all trials of life; with necessity fulfilled, we live lax and comfortable lives. Laziness is the goal behind all hard work; such is the dream of early retirement. People have always dreamed of an easy life.



Evolution is the simplest to explain, for every trait that survives and is passed down from ancestors to us is meant to make life easy. The Kakapo, nickname the feathered wolf for is viciousness, has evolved to become the heaviest parrot and flightless instead roaming the land with malevolent hatred for all things that are edible… or even move. Right there it has seen fit to give up flying, get fat, and lives a remarkably easy life savaging any creature it wants, and now another quote for you describing the bird , “1. This bird was too fat to be able to fly. 2. It was too dumb to remember it could not fly. 3. It would spread its wings and fall like a brick.” Yet still it thrives. The Platypus is a mammal, but it lays eggs. It is poisonous, and with its duck’s bill, beaver tail, and body like an otter, it looks like something that could only have resulted as some sort of drunken bet by God. However, it has characteristics traits that allow it to live a comfortable life despite being the Mr. Potato Head of the animal kingdom. So even the strangest, seemingly most ill suited to survival thanks to evolution can live well and rest at any time.



Now culturally, this is gonna be easy. We‘ll start big then get simple; the arts are our biggest source of pleasure in this world from the physical to the visual and journeying into sound. Think back, how many songs involve wishing to be a Rock Super Star? How many paintings reassure you of what you are doing in life? What do you enjoy so much that you will call in sick to work or school so you can have it? The arts are made to make life easy and in this through diversity, we find all that we are denied in actuality. Within this country, you can see it among us, the growing dress sizes, the need for bigger belts, and the higher standards of living. Even the homeless manage to survive, why? Because we feed them Few countries go so far as to feed people with no work or residence. You are all privileged to be here, rather than stalking your meal through the savannah or hills and beating each other down for food. For all its faults this country was founded on dreams of luxury, the work forced unto those in need of money or simply those extremely unfortunate who will go unnamed. People all around the world, despite hating us still wish to come here and live lazy lives compared to the hard work of their motherland. Yet it is not easy enough and many of you are still discontent, that is the extent of our laziness, how much easier can it get? Is the question we need to ask ourselves.



There you have it, life does not exist to live in strife, it exists to live in leisure and happiness. In the ongoing spiral of humanity upwards to the heavens we seek to create heaven on earth. There is always going to be work to be done, it shall be hard and thankless and perhaps never once shall we take joy in it, but it is always in the hope of later doing nothing in an idle stupor of contentment that drives us. All you out there who have given up on simple pleasures such as doing nothing, I thank you. Because someone has to work hard, at times without recognition, and while that is all of us at one point, it can be agreed that every second you work harder makes life easier for those around you. For all the advancement we have made we know in our hearts that life can be much easier for it even has a special word in our language, “Progress” which shall lead into “Laziness” the new American dream.