Leave my husky alone for a bit, and (if she doesn't go sleep under a spruce tree) she'll invent a game. This may be "cut me off as I try to walk to the car." It may be "throw the ball up for myself and run to catch it." It may be "gently wrestle with the cat as it bats my head with its paws." Or it may be "run circles around an older dog on our path just to annoy it." The point, though, is play (versus, say, barking at a balloonist or ultralight pilot as these strange craft slowly crawl over our air space). Even the more sedentary cats know this (they like to play "race around the house chasing each other over around and through everything because it's 5:30 a.m.").
Children know this too---leave them alone, and they'll invent a game. Creativity and play just seem natural.
So what happens to adults? When and why do we lose that sense of playful inventiveness? Why not take rolling chairs and books and construct bumper chair wars, for example? Why do we design "sport" as structured by rules, a serious business that must be done only by proper procedures?
What happened to the game?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I for one am trying to keep the game alive, but it is hard as you grow up and become an adult in an adult world filled with rules and procedures. No one wants to just let go and have fun anymore and it is sad to think how easily we used to be able to entertain ourselves.
I agree with your blog, although when I ponder the idea of "play" I think different adults have different ways of playing, motorcycles, dirt bikes, golf, tennis, and skiing. What I don't understand is why we can't entertain ourselves like we were when we were kids, maturity and maintaining an "image" in society has been made very important in our modern world.
I totally agree with you. when people get older they tend to forget the child they once were and they get so wrapped up in "acting there age" that they forget to enjoy life and everything around them.
people need to learn how to have fun again
i agree with you. i am by no means an adult yet, but i feel like the "game and creativity" in my life has dissapated. i love pointless games, but when you are older and you play pointless games you are seen as immature. why is it that an older person can't have simple fun without being immature?
I just recently got a puppy and every time I am not playing with her she is off tossing one of my socks and then fetching it her self. She just is so creative and inventive with games when she is alone. I think people forget how to play because of all the stress of work and other stressors that there is no time for play. When most people have extra time they spend it doing nothing but that just my opinion.
Post a Comment