Leisure has the effect of building community co-
hesion, strengthening social bonds, and fostering
the enjoyment of life—the keys to a happy, healthy
society. These are perfect examples of play, of rec-
reation, and I’d argue that such play time was inte-
gral to human development. It’s our primal instinct
to respond well to free leisure time; the problem is
that too many of us no longer get free time. Or if
we do, we feel guilty about enjoying it. It’s no less
important to us city dwellers, perhaps even more
so because of the constant, chronic stress heaped
upon us, but we don’t realize that.
Play becomes a flitting, unreachable fantasy.
People speak about play wistfully, as if it’s long
gone, never to return—for kids only. It rarely, if
ever, enters an adult’s mind to just drop every-
thing, head out to the nearest grassy hill, and roll
down. Try getting a game of adult tag going; you’ll
be laughed out of the room.
Look at the word itself. Play. What do you think of
when hear it? Childhood, free time, carelessness.
Freedom and happiness. These are virtues, real
badges of pride, but they seem unattainable. Oh,
people pay lip service to leisure, they’ll spout off
about some study they read that shows people
with more vacation time lead happier, more stress-
free lives—but then they never act on this knowl-
edge! They’ll see the “slackers” fooling around at
the park with a Frisbee and be secretly envious,
but then think, “Oh, I could never do that.” Why the
hell not? They speak as if play is strictly the realm
of children, as if adults are physically incapable of
engaging in frivolous physical activity. As if “kids’
stuff” carries the weight of a cosmic proclamation.Even kids rarely play anymore. Instead, they go
on play dates and follow strictly regimented sched-
ules. Every hour of every day is accounted for in
advance. Games like tag or dodgeball are banned
by school districts for being too dangerous or pro-
moting competitiveness. No child left behind winds
up leaving every child behind!I say we should embrace kids’ stuff. It’s not about
being childish. It’s about uncovering an essential
aspect of our humanity that work, stress, and re-
sponsibility enshroud. Our sense of play is hidden,
even from us, but it’s definitely ready to go.Play cont’d 76