It's Memorial Day weekend, here in the US of A.
As proprietor of a small art gallery (among other things) I spent much of the day in the company of the greater "general public." It's actually a busy weekend, if you're a shopkeeper, because most people have three days off.
I also happen to live in a tourist town, so we get a LOT of visitors here.
The thing I noticed — as I people watched today — was the air of "busy-ness" so many people seem to have, even when they are on holiday. It's like there are "all these things we have to get done," even when we allegedly have time OFF.
Whatever happened to the idea of LEISURE? And the idea of doing things in a LEISURELY fashion?
I spent my teen years in the south of Spain, during a time when the afternoon "siesta" still meant something. Around 1:30 to 2:00 in the afternoon, everything quite simply SHUT DOWN, and you would have little hope of getting anything accomplished till about 5:00 in the evening. People enjoyed slow 2-hour lunches and perhaps even had an afternoon nap.
I always thought it was very civilized, even as a teenager.
But it freaked many people out. They weren't quite sure how to handle time that wasn't dedicated to "doing something."
Fast forward 40 years, and I watched these groups of friends and families seeming not RELAXED, but almost stressed out as they were running around trying to fit so much into an evident schedule.
This being Memorial Day weekend made me wonder if they had "pray and be grateful to grandpa who died in the war" on their schedules from 11:30-11:45... and would follow the schedule without really pausing to consider the actual import of grandpa's sacrifice.
Life is both short and precious. Take time for reflection! And remember to enjoy yourselves!
Steepshot
When we have even the simple things that poor would die for , we aren’t thankful . It’s sad , we should be thankful for food, family , a roof over our head
Fact. I don't begrudge anyone anything; I don't have a lot but I'm rich compared to some... so I just take time every day to be grateful that I have what I have.
"be grateful to grandpa who died in the war"
If you are referring to the First World War, then honoring the "sacrifice" would, imho, be akin to commemorating mindlessness. It might deserve pity, but honor? Come on now.
Honestly? War is pretty much a waste of life, to me. I'm just suggesting to remember the actual people not some aggrandizement of the "glory" of war and sacrifice. I care less about what they are commemorating than whether or not they are doing so with some degree of sincerity.
My point here was more to get people to look at actually Remembering Grandpa if they are doing something, rather than just "go through the motions" because it's on some schedule. If they are just there "because it's some day on a calendar" why not have the honesty to admit that you just don't care, and blow it off?
I’m sure many have schedule exactly when they want to go down to the graveyard to pay respects. Leisure stopped being a thing when you could hold in your hands a portable device that could do so much. When people are not busy communicating they are documenting for all of humanity every single aspect of their life with videos and photos. I’m sure they will be doing much reflecting with their phones.
Speaking of enjoying the weekend I should go get some rest I over stayed this night into morning. Have a good one.
Yeah, it's sad, in a way.
I'm an old fart, granted, but I still enjoy pulling out a chair to a shady spot in the yard and sitting down to read — gasp — an actual book printed with ink on paper. I just leave the electronics in the house. If someone wants to call me, they can leave a message. Steemit, and Facebook, and twitter will still be there when I come back in...
You have a good weekend, too!
It is sad that many people think the outer journey is more important than the inner journey. I have found life a lot easier to handle since I started to be serious about my inner journey.
Yeah, I think developing more inner awareness is a great step in helping to sort out what really matters to us... not just what "looks good, on paper."
Excellent post thanks for sharing!!!
Agree with you bro. Let's make our life worth it while having fun.
Thank you for the reminder! More of this stuff please! Upvoted! Luppers :)
I remember even when Sunday was a day of leisure, before it changed to a shopping errand type of day. I long for those times and try to make Sunday a nothing urgent or commercial day... just putz around and enjoy nature, friends or other such increasingly marginalized ideas. Even just a cup of coffee on the deck to start a calm day is great.
we do not have memorial day and if it comes to the rest: our state wants us all to work hard. Holidays we hardly have and although it is proved people are less active and more accicidents happen at 3pm, Dutch people make work now till the age of 72 so people in south EU can retire earlier.