Leisure, A Right And A Duty

For a long time, leisure was seen as something negative. “He is the mother of all vices,” some said. The idea that free time was negative spread due to the interests that prevailed in the industrial age. The slogan was to produce the maximum, and for that reason this kind of ideology, according to which the only commendable thing in life was to work, became popular.

Always producing more to generate more surpluses led to uncontrolled industrial activity. The consequences include a significant destruction of the environment and a noticeable reduction in the quality of life of workers. This living only to work causes more and more physical and mental illnesses. For this reason, leisure began to be claimed not only as a right, but also as a duty.

Now, through science, we know that rest is as fundamental as work. The brain and the entire organism need periods of stillness to function properly. Those who rest as often as they work are more productive, creative and healthy. However, we were not educated for leisure as much as for work.

idleness, a right

As we know, there was a time when the right to rest was limited to a minimal margin. There were no labor rights, an established working day, or a legal minimum wage. Employers had no problem hiring employees for hours of 14 hours or more. In return, they paid what they wanted.

There were many unemployed, so the workers accepted these totally unfair conditions. In turn, in various parts of the world, unions and union organizations began to emerge. Workers across the planet struggled hard to achieve basic and universal rights. This allowed us to arrive at the famous scheme of the three eights: 8 hours of work, 8 hours of rest and 8 hours of family life.

In many countries this scheme is still maintained, although conditions of semi-slavery still persist in several places on the planet. The important thing here is to remember that this is a right won with many struggles, which cost several lives. Giving up a right voluntarily means contributing to it becoming a dead letter and eventually disappearing.

idleness, a duty

Making room for leisure in our lives is an act of self-love; it is part of the self-care that each of us must have. Resting is a responsibility we have to ourselves if we enjoy our health and well-being. It seems a very obvious truth, but in today’s world it has been forgotten. The internalization of obligations is so strong that many people can’t bear to have free time in which they don’t have to be accountable to anyone.

Bertrand Russell, the famous English thinker, shed much light on the theme of leisure. In one of his texts, he gives an interesting example. It defines a scenario where a group of factories produces all the pins needed for a country, employing 100 workers, 8 hours a day. Suddenly, a technology appears that generates the same output, but in half the time. What should happen, and what actually happens?

Russell says that, in this hypothetical case, what happens is that many workers are laid off, either because less labor is needed or because some companies go out of business. In his opinion, what should happen is that the same workers and the same factories work only half the time. That way, everyone would win, as they would continue to sell the same thing, for the same price.

Protect moments of rest

Today, the consumer society has changed priorities for many people. It is not just working to adequately satisfy basic needs, but to have a surplus to consume: to buy things, whether they are needed or not. Replace your goods constantly, always be buying and paying.

That’s why many willingly agree to work harder than is reasonable. They need more money because the market is insatiable. There will always be one offer more tempting than the other. Whoever has clothes wants new clothes, whoever has a house wants a bigger one, whoever has a car wants a plane.

Consumption, in turn, generates a closed lifestyle. You work to consume and consume to work. Free time is used for shopping or consumption. Thinking about free time sometimes doesn’t make sense to many. In fact, it bothers them.

However, this is not a healthy thing. It is important to value our moments of leisure, because it is during them that we get in touch with the truest of ourselves and of life.