Vacations
As regular readers will remember, I didn't take any vacations until I was 60 years old. I think it had something to do with hedonophobia, the fear of pleasure. I think it also had something to do with the fear that I would be letting people down. I was working really hard, people were counting on me to complete my jobs and I took pride in completing things on time. But it also had something to do with a fear of sin, in this case the sin of sloth. Without fully developing my thoughts, I saw a danger of sloth in taking vacations.
Now that I seem to be taking frequent vacations, I've come to realize that it's not sinful to leave work behind, I've not been guilty of the sin of sloth in taking time off. I still suffer from a mild case of hedonophobia, but I think I'm on the way to a cure. However, I still don't feel completely comfortable with vacation time. Now I've begun to think about indolence.
According to my dictionary, indolence is the love of ease, a disinclination to work. Indolence is the same as laziness, a passive or lethargic inactivity. Indolence scares me almost as much as sloth. While not a sin, indolence is not a desirable characteristic. I believe that to live is to remain active, that we need purposeful activity of mind and body to justify our existence. When we become lethargic, when we no longer pursue some activity vigorously, we hurt ourselves. And, it goes without saying, that lethargy renders us unable to help anybody else.
I guess that, as always, the answer lies in fine lines. We should take vacations as needed to refresh ourselves but we must not become indolent. Purposeful activity, whether job-related or not, will keep us alive and as long as we're alive we can help others.
4-11-05
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