How you spend your free time - November 2
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 56, 57, [58]; PM Psalm 64, 65; Ecclus. 38:24-34; Rev. 14:1-13; Luke 12:49-59
I came across a fascinating letter this past week. In 2006, a group of high school students in New York was encouraged to write their favorite authors for advice as part of an assignment. Kurt Vonnegut was the only author who replied, and I am enclosing a copy of his response here.
“Dear Xavier High School, and Ms. Lockwood, and Messrs Perin, McFeely, Batten, Maurer and Congiusta:
I thank you for your friendly letters. You sure know how to cheer up a really old geezer (84) in his sunset years. I don’t make public appearances any more because I now resemble nothing so much as an iguana.
What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.
Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives. Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood, and give it to her. Dance home after school, and sing in the shower and on and on. Make a face in your mashed potatoes. Pretend you’re Count Dracula.
Here’s an assignment for tonight, and I hope Ms. Lockwood will flunk you if you don’t do it: Write a six line poem, about anything, but rhymed. No fair tennis without a net. Make it as good as you possibly can. But don’t tell anybody what you’re doing. Don’t show it or recite it to anybody, not even your girlfriend or parents or whatever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK?
Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces, and discard them into widely separated trash recepticals [sic]. You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what’s inside you, and you have made your soul grow.
God bless you all!
Kurt Vonnegut”
The school claims that the letter is real. Who knows as Vonnegut died in 2007. But this advice is as timely as ever. How many of us are told that we are valued and measured by what we can produce? Listen to the author of Ecclesiasticus who says, “The wisdom of the scribe depends on the opportunity of leisure; only the one who has little business can become wise.” What a counter-cultural approach! We cannot learn solely from news, books, and classroom instruction, but must nurture our soul in order to gain the wisdom of the Lord. Our children might have lost six months of formal education through this pandemic, but maybe they have developed something much more important. Maybe we all have come to appreciate a little more the gift of leisure.
This section of Ecclesiasticus continues by contrasting the importance of labor. “All these rely on their hands, and all are skillful in their own work. Without them no city can be inhabited, and wherever they live, they will not go hungry. Yet they are not sought out for the council of people” (38:31-32). The author of this ancient letter is claiming that for wisdom to flourish, we must have ample time to spend in leisure.
Vonnegut offers us a why. In his words, to experience becoming, you have to learn what is inside of you. You have to nurture what is underneath. What a fascinating and timely idea when over the next two days our country will be voting for local and national leaders. I have never considered the relationship between leisure activities and leadership before in how it shapes someone to appreciate even more in this life while bestowing upon them the qualities to lead. And the same wisdom applies to you and me. If God has created everything thing that is and ever shall be, maybe our own practice of appreciating the beauty of the world will fill us not only with joy and wonder but wisdom as well. What should you be doing in your free time?
John+
Questions for self-reflection: What are your hobbies and leisure activities? How do you unplug from work?
Daily Challenge: Take Vonnegut’s advice and write a six-line poem that rhymes. Make it meaningful, and yet write it merely for your own pleasure and enjoyment.