The gift of boredom

As we struggle with the challenges of coronavirus quarantine, it’s worth considering the opportunity boredom provides

Ah, the wonderful days of springtime. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the bees are buzzing, and I can relax in the tranquility of unstructured hours, serenaded by the lilting voices of my children calling out to me, one after another, “Dad, I’m bored!”

From whence comes this plague of boredom? Do Eskimo children complain of boredom during the four months of winter darkness? Did the children of feudal Europe or Botany Bay or the Great Depression whine relentlessly that there was nothing to do?

Click to read this recovery from my archives, originally published in 2009.