Play?

I'm observing something rather odd in the mass behavior of hysteria and random obsession. Where we aren't overly concerned with safety and following laws, we're equally rushed around with no time to be bothered with anything for anyone else. On top of that, there's the complaining, the woe-is-me attitude of stagnant anti-activity and wishful thinking for change.

To this, I ask a simple, not-so-eloquent question, WTF?

I feel like many of the things that ought to be taken seriously are not and things that need to be downplayed and gotten over become the center of attention.

Here's a conversation I overheard leaving my daughter's school (it was a half-day):
Boy: Excuse me, Mom?
Mom: What? (said quickly/sharply)
Boy: Do you think we could go by the park today?
Mom: Oh, I don't have time for this, just play your game. (She handed him a game which I assumed was a DS or PSP or something along those lines.)
He didn't respond, only climbed in the car slowly, shutting his door.
The mother rushed and sat down, nearly slamming her car door.

 

I can't help but wonder...what has the woman so wound? I mean, my parents never would have said, forget the park, dear, play your video game. Have we really gotten so hateful of our lives that we don't even want our children to play? I know the world would be a better place if we all played more.

When I was in high school, the ticket booth for theater was a place we all colored during our shifts to sell tickets. I adored it--just the act of taking pigment to paper allowed so much stress relief. So why is it the simple things we give up? Do the big goals, more money, more cars, more vacations, more designer jeans, more bragging rights--do they make people happy?

I couldn't tell you, but I do know that spending an hour at a park with two gorgeous children will wear me out, giving a surefire good night's sleep. I can tell you that the pain in my thighs from bending and hiding behind rocks hurts just as much as my laughing muscles, and my mind feels clearer. It's hard to care about the arbitrary demands of life when there is so much beauty in every small moment.

I'll continue chasing and swinging and playing and doing arts and crafts. I don't want to be that video game angry mother. I don't want to let my life just gloss over and conform to angry chaos...what would be the point of that?