Life is for Play

[david]

Play gives children a chance to practice what they
are learning ... They have to play with what they know to be true
in order to find out more, and then they can use what they
learn in new forms of play.

--- Fred Rogers, 1983

From a child’s play, we can gain understanding of how he
sees and construes the world—what he would like it to be,
what his concerns are, what problems are besetting him.

-- Bruno Bettelheim, 1987

Children, who play life, discern its true law and relations
more clearly than men, who fail to live it worthily, but who
think that they are wiser by experience, that is, by failure.

-- Henry David Thoreau

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When we think about play, children nearly always come to mind. Thoreau cautions us, however, warning that once we begin to view life as being other than play, we lose perspective and often fail to live life worthily.

I agree with Thoreau.

“I take fun seriously.” My wife and I worked together as community recreation professionals and she presented me with a gift: a stained glass panel with those words inscribed.

When most people are challenged to recall their fondest memory – the best day of their life – most describe events that took place during leisure. Favorites include travel, boating, fishing, camping, hiking and other popular pursuits that are – in my opinion – forms of play.

This sentiment is far from modern. Thoreau was around at the start of the industrial revolution – a time when leisure took on new meaning as urban and industrial centers began to replace farm communities.

About 25-hundred years ago, Socrates warned, “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” Aristotle chimed in 100 or so years later with, “We are unleisurely in order to have leisure.”

I agree with Socrates and Aristotle.

A lucky few – hopefully a significant plurality – have jobs and careers that create the same kinds of benefits that wholesome leisure activities provide to the rest of us. Even those who claim to love their work, however, would probably rather be fishing – or engaging in some other discretionary activity.

Similarly, many people attempt to add value to tasks they are compelled to perform by incorporating creativity or other elements of play into the mix. They subscribe to the Seven Dwarves’ philosophy and “whistle while they work.”

Adding value to otherwise unleisurely activity sometimes turns what could be drudgery into a game. Mary Poppins suggests that “a sthingyful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”

I agree with the Seven Dwarves and with Mary Poppins.

These authorities all believe that adding elements of fun into what one must do can transform those activities – and life in general – into joyful experiences. One wonders why so many among us turn away from joy and, as Thoreau suggests, fail to live life worthily.

Well, I blame the Protestants.

Half a millennium ago, Europeans – who were struggling to emerge from the “dark ages” – were introduced to a new form of Christian theology that came to be known as Calvinism.

Though the Reformation can be credited for opening the door to very positive changes in the area of human rights, and could have been a catalyst for important advances including the rise of capitalism and democracy, it also introduced a way of life that came to be known as Puritanism.

And the Puritans, as we all know, were disproportionately represented among the colonists whose descendants later established the United States of America.

Thanks to those Puritans, our culture is laden with anti-fun tenets including the work ethic.

Unfortunately, the Puritans frowned upon play. In fact, they generally considered having fun to be evil.

Other religions enforced similar prohibitions on their followers; but they were less influential in the formative years of our new nation.

So, I blame the Puritans for taking a lot of the fun out of life and for burdening us with a philosophy that creates what today’s youth sometimes refer to as a “buzz kill.”

Predictably, I don’t agree with the Puritans.

Fred Rogers, who spent more than 30 years presenting “Mister Rogers Neighborhood” to children and their parents, understood the value of fun. He used the context of play to create immeasurable benefits for his viewers.

His simple messages fostered self-respect as exemplified by his frequent repetition of a wonderful mantra: “I like you just the way you are.”

Proof of his ability to influence others to rise above their more base nature is an anecdote from 1990. A car thief who made off with Rogers’ Oldsmobile realized after the fact that he’d stolen from the famed broadcaster. The car was returned a day later.

Millions of us who spent time playing with Mr. Rogers in his neighborhood became better people for having done so.

I agree with Fred Rogers.

Those who believe fun is kid’s stuff, those who subscribe to the so-called “work ethic,” those who say adults should “put aside childish things,” and those who always insist on being productive miss out, in my view, on the real meaning of life.

Like Socrates and Aristotle, like Henry David Thoreau, like Mary Poppins and the Seven Dwarves, like Fred Rogers – and unlike John Calvin – I take fun seriously.

Life, is for play.