ON ISLANDS OF BOREDOM
“There
are no uninteresting things,
only
uninterested people.”
G.K. Chesterton
“I am a
human, not a stone.” I keep reminding it to myself, whenever I feel bored.
Like everyone else, I, too,
had invested so many years of my energy and time pursuing things dear to my
heart. And, suddenly, like everyone else, I, too, felt disoriented and helpless
during these uncertain months of pandemic…
But then, is my situation as
bad as so many around me? I am 63. What about those kids, young ones and the
middle-aged? What about the very elderly and the sick?
It’s easy to say “I am bored”
or “Life is boring”… Very easy.
But, what benefit does it
serve?
Boredom is a natural state. As
I said, if I am not a stone, I would experience it, now and then. But, if I
complain about being bored, endlessly – and whether during the pandemic or
normal times - then, I say, that it’s
sheer lack of zest for life…
Life is unpredictable. If we just
accept this truth with our eyes and hearts open, we are able to stay zestful…
Creativity is born in this state… Inventions and discoveries come from this state…
On the other hand, when we are
not ready to accept the reality, that life is unpredictable, that it wouldn't always
go as planned, take it from me, we are bound to rock our boats on the islands of
boredom… That’s when we find ourselves constantly complaining – “I am bored” or
“Life is Boring”…
Life can never be boring, Sir… We can be!
After
decades, the other day, I was listening to a wonderful audio rendition of the old classic ‘Robinson Crusoe’… What a story!
Crusoe loved to be at sea… He loved voyage.
But, rough seas and shipwrecks are part of this ‘sea-love’ – aren’t they? So,
when he was thrown on that godforsaken island and made to live there for some
28 long years – alone, with nothing to hope for and live with – what did he do?
That makes this fiction so thrilling and inspiring! It’s creativity and zest at
its best… You can, literally, touch hope!
Similar was the story of Nelson
Mandela, who had to spend 27 long years in his tiny prison-cell on Robben Island…
He was made to work like a slave, live with only a bucket and a jug , only
one visitor could see him in one year, just for 30 minutes … All that he could
do, caged alone inside the prison cell, was to see blue around him and blue
above him. That’s all!
Was he bored?
Jawaharlal Nehru spent about
3,259 days (9 years) in various prisons during the freedom struggle…
Was he bored?
I don’t know, if we would have
ever gotten to read ‘The Discovery of India’, and see a South Africa free of Apartheid,
had Nehru and Mandela not been thrown into the isolation of their prison cells.
I wonder, if we would have been ever enchanted by the story of Robinson Crusoe,
had he not been thrown into that godforsaken island for 28 long years!
Do I
hear some around me shouting, “Good for Crusoe, Mandela and Nehru… What about
us?”
Yes, what about us – the ones
whose lives are not as desolate and dark as theirs?
Should we keep complaining – “I
am bored” or “life is boring”?
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic’s.: 1. www. pinterest.com 2. www.trendflickers.com
Video: Charlie Chaplin
Comments