David Wayne interacts with boredom and a NY Times article about Ben Franklin:
Kottke has a post titled "Ben Franklin Did Everything" which links to a post in the NY Times on Ben Franklin by Maira Kalman called "Can Do." Here’s a quick excerpt:
I don’t think he was ever bored. He saw a dirty street and created a sanitation department. He saw a house on fire and created a fire department. He saw sick people and founded a hospital. He started our first lending library. He saw people needing an education and founded a university. He started the American Philosophical Society where men and women shared developments in science. And then, by the way, he helped create and run the country. He was a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
I love this for the opening line – "I don’t think he was ever bored." Boredom is a decision we make, not something happens to us. There really is no excuse for being bored. . .
Read more here.
Man, that article sure was boring….
Sorry, Chris. Had to do it.
Good one Aaron – tehehehe.
Thanks for linking Chris. Many blessings to you.
Baring is a decision often made by people who have not found anything worth being consumed by.
Many are consumed by the worthless, yet still bored in their busyness.
Others are bored because they give halfhearted effort, and are never fully occupied with anything.
Then others are consumed by nothing, and obviously board of nothingness.
Then there are those who pour themselves out towards others. They need not be busy, but they are simply about their Father’s business. They need not master everything they do, but they are mastered by what is important, and give their whole self to it.
Boring*
I wonder if the “I’m bored” crowd (typically younger) is saying something about themselves rather than their circumstances. In other words, saying “I’m bored” is the same as saying “I’m uncreative, unimaginative, and refuse to make the best out of circumstances.”
Many years ago now, I memorized hundreds of Bible passages and my mind was constantly engaging God’s Word when not engaged in other things. I would never have thought to say “I’m bored” because there is so much to know, think about, ponder, and glory in from the depths of Scripture.