Essays

"What is this life, if full of care. We have no time to stand and stare."     —W.H. Davies

Leisure in life is immensely important. Both work and relaxation are important ingredients of life. How we use our leisure is equally as important to our joy as our occupational pursuits. Proper use of leisure requires discriminating

Judgment. Our leisure provides opportunity for renewal of spirit, mind, and body.

 Leisure is not idleness. The Lord condemns idleness. He said, "Thou shall not idle away thy time, neither shall thou bury thy talent." Idleness in any form produces boredom, conflict, and unhappiness. It creates a vacancy of worth, a seedbed for mischief and evil. It is the enemy of progress and salvation.

We are living in a machine age which provides numerous labor-saving devices and leaves plenty of time at our disposal. Some of us do not know what to do with all this leisure. In future, as life grows more mechanized, man will become more confused as how to spend all the extra time. An idle mind is a devil's workshop. No wonder more and more people get involved in gambling, drinking and other useless activities.

 The proper use of leisure brings us pleasure. It is beneficial for everyone to cultivate a suitable hobby to help in the proper channelizing of free time. Great men in the past have realized the importance of this. It is said that Stalin found pleasure in shoe-making and Winston Churchill spent so much of his leisure in painting that he became a good painter.

The leisure time of children must be constructively directed to wholesome, positive pursuits. Too much time viewing television can be destructive, and pornography in this medium should not be tolerated. It is estimated that growing children today watch television over twenty-five hours per week.

Leisure time in student life, if made proper use of, would help to strengthen character and make life more enjoyable and fruitful. In the campus, if student bodies were to organize group activities, students could be made to co-operate and channelize their collective energies to promote social welfare. What immense good youthful energy and talent could be put to, if only leisure is well utilized. Remember, leisure is a pleasure, always to be treasured.

Vocabulary

1. ingredient—component, element, part; 2. leisure—freedom, holiday, vacation; 3. pursuit—chasing,   chase,   hunt;   4. immense—huge,   vast,   enormous; 5. salvation—deliverance, rescue, recovery, escape; 6. plenty—abundance, bounty, profusion, prosperity, plethora; 7. construct—assemble, manufacture, fabricate, make; 8. pleasure—diversion, satisfaction, gratification; 9. gamble—wager, punt, chance, lottery; 10. strengthen—harden, stiffen, toughen, steel.