doing nothing

MONDAY MORNING

A cold wet stay-at-home-in-pyjamas sort of day. It crosses my mind that I could give F the day off school and give us both the Day of Rest that we need after our hectic weekend. We could pretend it is Sunday. 

I wrestle silently with this idea over breakfast.  In favour of staying home: he is tired and so am I and school is so unrelenting and we need time to Do Nothing.  On the other hand, he doesn’t really need to stay home, and he’d probably get restless and cranky by lunchtime. Also floating around in my head is the idea that It’s a tough old world and we all have to get used to it, and that means tromping off to work or school whether we feel like it or not. Life wasn’t meant to be easy etc. I reckon that lot came from my puritanical old no-fun Scots ancestors.

I abandon the internal debate and  off we go, to the school bus, to collect the mail, to Get On With the Day. To Do Stuff.

On the subject of Doing Nothing: I was in  Israel  in 1974 on Yom Kippur, the ‘Day of Atonement’. I’ve never forgotten it. For 24 hours, from sunset to sunset, almost all human exertions ceased. The streets were empty of vehicles and  all shops, and businesses were closed. There were no radio or television broadcasts, no newspapers. Yom Kippur  is a day of fasting, prayer and repentance, a day of making amends.

My memory is of strolling around Haifa - down the middle of the road - with other young volunteers, and some Israeli boys  from the kibbutz; The traffic-less streets were full of people taking leisurely strolls, indulging in the delight of Nothing To Do. 

We sat on a cliff top by the sea. The young Israeli men with us - I guess they were twenty, though they  had already been to war - told how on this day a year earlier the Yom Kippur War had started. Egypt and Syria made  surprise attacks on Sinai  and the Golan Heights.  Apparently the first messengers bringing news of the attacks were abused - or even had their cars stoned? -  for not respecting Do Nothing Day...

I don’t want to talk about war or politics or religion of the awful endless sibling fight between the Arabs and the Jews. ( or how hurling abuse or stones seems rather against  the whole idea of atonement)

But it’s good to remember how extraordinarily peaceful that day in 1974 felt to me. A day of publicly, politically and religiously sanctioned inactivity. It is decreed you must Do Nothing Today. Almost unimaginable in this world of 24 hour shopping  and electronic communication overload.

Yes, I long for peace and quiet  - but then there is the problem of Not Wanting To Miss Out on Things. And there being so very many attractive distractions on offer...