by June Matthies

Created on: November 11, 2008

BOREDOM: PERHAPS IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK When I think of boredom, I remember a Sally Forth comic I read; allow me to paraphrase. Sally is lugging a basket of dirty clothes through her messy living room and is looking a bit tired and disheveled. Her daughter is stretched out on the couch, and says "I'm bored." Sally stops and says to her "July the twentieth, 1990." Her daughter asks what she means. Sally replies, "That's the last time I was bored."

Mothers everywhere hear the "I'm bored" lament. A sulky child will plop themselves directly in her path or follow her about like a hungry penguin chick lamenting their boring existence. To the suggestions of entertaining their own selves, finishing homework, calling Grandma, etc., the penguin chicks bemoan the unfairness of life, the lack of cash, and the grind of existence. The Good Mother stops herself short of replying that she knows exactly what the chick is talking about, and welcome to Real Life. The Good Mother might even begin to suspect that the chick IS entertaining itself, by torturing her.

I was not what you would call a mum that put a lot of stock in psychology. I was all about nurturing, just not at the expense of my sanity. If my kids wanted to inform me of their boredom, I sympathized. If they wanted, however, to express the opinion that their boredom was my fault, I tended to get a bit Judge Judy on them. Boredom is the refuge of those without the capacity to use their intellect, I would inform them. If they were implying that I gave birth to two simpletons, well, there was always floor and bathroom scrubbing to occupy their tiny little minds. My kids, being much smarter than they wanted to admit, got the hint and began to entertain themselves Bigtime.

Being that you, dear Reader, are not of my immediate family, let me express myself in more polite terms. Boredom is not an indictment on any external source; it is an indictment upon oneself. Mark that, underline it, and then burn it into your mind as a rule to live by.

There are always things to be learned, causes to join, people to help, jokes to be cracked, letters to be written, opinions to be expressed, relationships to mend, stories to be told, and love to be found. How can anyone be bored? Even if you give this old world of created things just half a chance, there will never be time for boredom.

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