Thursday, May 08, 2014

The Value of Leisure

Just how a person spends his leisure reveals a great deal about him. If a grown man tells me he spends most of his free time watching American Idol and playing video games, I simply will not consider him the equal of a man who devotes much time to studying a foreign language, playing the guitar, or tending to a garden. You can deem me an elitist, but in order to value some things, we must devalue others: the very notion of value—inherently comparative—vanishes if we are not willing to make certain distinctions.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does it say something that I know very few women with any real hobbies?

Russell said...

I can't totally agree with the article...I, for example, really enjoy video games, and play several different games competitively. It is relaxing and enjoyable to me, exactly what the author says leisure should be.

But I also use my leisure time to improve myself in other areas. I read, learn new skills, work out, and so on. While I get the guy is aiming at spending your time wisely, and some people waste it, you have to be careful about what pursuits you deem wasteful - you can't make blanket statements about what is good and bad for someone.