I’m Bored 5 April 2007
Posted by Obi-Mom Kenobi in Uncategorized.trackback
I ran up against something again today that I don’t often think about, boredom.
It’s spring break around these parts. OK, it’s snowing right now and last night I had to scrape my car after The Boy’s fencing lesson, plus last night’s 11 o’clock news anchor was almost giddy to announce that 3 of the local highways had to be closed for up to an hour due to dozens of car accidents on the icy roads. Still, it’s spring break week, that means 9 blissful days of freedom (if you count both weekends) for school children to finally do what they wish – no more teachers, no more books, that sort of thing.
I was out by myself this afternoon, running errands, and the “I’m bored” refrain seemed to be coming from every direction. Little people and not so little people were begging to go to the movies, whining for a toy or a candy bar, or arguing about getting a McLunch. What really surprised me though was that each assault started with this line, “I’m bored…”
Maybe I’m an ogre, but I believe that the real translation of I’m bored is I’m being boring, as in I’m being so boring that I can’t even interest myself in being around me. When I catch myself feeling “bored“, I find that I’m invariably looking for something outside of myself – something that will either do my creative thinking for me, won’t require much effort or will tell me what to do. These are the times that I catch myself watching a movie that I’ve already seen (instead of hunting for frogs down at the pond), calling a friend even though I have nothing to say (when I could be playing a game with The Boy), or checking my “Personalized Recommendations” list at Amazon (which isn’t nearly as good as going for a walk or picking out a new book from the library).
What do you think? What is your take on boredom?
Hi, Certainly in agreement with the majority of your comments on boredom.
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Disagreement? Would argue that depending on the film, another viewing often helps to add depth to the understanding of the writer’s/directors’/actors’ intentions … and even watching an intellectually unchallenging ‘comfortable’ film can serve the purpose of positively recharging your outlook on life (i.e. not boredom, but perhaps just an energising little mental holiday?).
Back to boredom in general though, some words from Carl Sagan came to mind when reading your comments; “We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers”. In short, I agree with you that a supine approach to life without ongoing curiosity is a fair definition of boredom, and with life and the universe being as complex as they are, how can you run out of questions?
More power to you and husband’s home-schooling ethos, and despite the snow (saw some Great Lakes and East Coast footage on the UK broadcasts of CNN, chilly huh?), hope you all have an enjoyable Easter break. In the UK it doesn’t matter whether you are religious or not, today is the Good Friday Bank Holiday, followed by Easter Monday Bank Holiday – and English schoolchildren have two weeks Easter holiday – even longer to get bored than their American counterparts eh?
Regards from the UK.
Perhaps you should have taken your cat for a walk?