Bore-dumb

“A bored person is a stupid person”

As my English professor bluntly declared this one day during a class discussion, in reference to Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust, I could hardly have been more pleased. I wanted to stand up and shout "Thank You!" because she had succinctly and boldly reiterated a point I had been dying to get across for months, when I first started the draft for this post (plus, she gave me a swell opening line, maybe I should print some bumper stickers).

Crime, Drugs, STD's, Binge Drinking, Obesity; these broad categories are just the tip of the iceberg. All of these are inherently or potentially dangerous, even life threatening, common concerns that are very often the result of nothing more than boredom.

A person or a group of people have some free time on their hands. There's nothing good on the tube, they've seen all the movies in theaters, they don't feel like eating out. "What should we do?" wonders Dude A. Dude B responds with one of the following, 1. "I dunno, let's go smash some mail boxes and commit some second degree assaults." 2. "I dunno, you wanna break into your pop's liquor cabinet?" 3. "I dunno, but my cousin Lenny just scored some peyote, wanna try it?" 4. "I dunno, wanna have unprotected sexual relations?" 5. "I dunno, let's just gorge on some Ben and Jerry's." This really is how it starts for many people. A reformed drug addict and dealer whom I know very well told me the real reason he started using drugs wasn't peer pressure, but rather was simply the result of some painfully uneventful summer evenings.

Obviously this correlation between free time and harmful behavior is somewhat recognized, that's why so many after school activities and programs are publicly sponsored, as we hear again and again, it's to "keep kids out of trouble." Although this also has something to do with keeping them out of gangs, it has just as much to do with just preventing general individual mischief, such as that previously mentioned, but despite communities' best efforts, it's inevitable that people will eventually have free time, and they need to know how to keep themselves out of trouble.

All of the aforementioned issues can escalate into forms of addiction or long term problems. They can suck up money and time and cause social, bodily, and emotional harm, and so often these problems are merely the product of boredom. What really angers me about all of this though is that I truly believe there is no reason why anyone should ever even be bored on their free time. I can barely remember the last time I was truly bored when left to my own devices, probably around freshman year of high school. Ever since then I've craved and valued every moment of spare time I can gather. There are so many books I want to read, movies to see, hobbies to pick up, blog posts to write; it overwhelms me how much there is to do, and it's sad knowing I'll never get to do all of it, so how in the blazes can anyone even consider engaging in such behaviors out of boredom? Do they not realize what they're missing out on? It's not as if these are high cost ventures, unless the person in question is unaware of the dual phenomena of the internet and libraries. They only barrier to entry is a small mental toll. The dedication to try something new, the fortitude to actually pick up a book and start reading. And these aren't just solo activities: have a jam session, create a book club. Wow I'm starting to sound like a Community Ed brochure. But seriously: don't be stupid, don't be bored.

Am I being too inflexible here? I actually don't think so. Sometimes we're all mentally exhausted, we want nothing more than to just lay back and kick it. That's what TV is good for, that's what CD's are good for. But when that wears off, when a person recuperates and begins itching for something more exciting, is it so hard to take that extra little step and partake in some activity that requires some intellectual stimulation, especially when it promises much greater fulfillment afterwards, or maybe at least have the brains to stand up and get some exercise? I shouldn't think so.

These aren't the biggest problems facing the world today, but boredom is rarely given credit for the vast and varied number of societal problems it is directly or indirectly responsible for, and the tragedy of it is, that it could all be easily avoided if the people in question simply had the mental aptitude to entertain themselves in non-destructive ways. Are there other factors precipitating some of the stated cultural concerns? Certainly, but none are near so easily remedied.