In Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean, entertainment options abound. The choice parents make for entertainment however, can have a big impact on their effectiveness in forming their children. Ricardo Yepes of the University of Navarre, Spain offers this insightful article on the meaning of leisure, showing how an appreciation of the profound dignity of the human person impacts on how we understand entertainment.
1. The problem of entertainment
Nowadays many young people identify leisure with entertainment that involves stimulants like alcohol and rock music, and that often leads to staying awake all night.
The purpose of entertainment is to have a good time, which is both legitimate and necessary. We all have a right to rest and to enjoy the good things in life. But there are many ways to have a good time, and the one mentioned above is not always the best way, either objectively or subjectively. What is needed is to learn the best way to rest, to have fun and enjoy the good things in life, realizing that rest and relaxation are undeniable human needs, since without them one’s health would soon deteriorate.
In order to focus our discussion, we can turn our attention first to the nature of pleasure. Pleasure is not only something that isn’t bad: it is something natural, and therefore good in itself. It is the joy and delight that we feel in attaining our aim or accomplishing our purpose. Pleasure accompanies all human activities, both those of the body and senses and those of the mind and will, and imparts to these activities a consummating and perfecting finish.
Without getting into the moral problem that arises from turning the pleasure that accompanies human activity into an end in itself, we can make a distinction between two types of pleasure which can shed light on our discussion of entertainment and recreation.
There are “activity pleasures” that crown an activity when it has been carried out or finished: in these cases, the active effort involved produces or gives way to the pleasure of finishing the activity, as happens when one rests on a mountain peak after a hard climb, or when one enjoys a good game of tennis. In such cases, the pleasure accompanies an activity that requires time and the expenditure of physical or mental energies. But there are also “non-activity pleasures”: for example the pleasure that arises simply from taking out one’s credit card. These are pleasure that don’t require any previous effort: one only has to press a button to get a can of soft drink, etc. Such pleasure often comes from receiving something, and therefore the most common way to obtain it is to purchase something. The only effort involved is working for the money to pay for it.
Clearly “non-activity pleasures” pose a moral problem. To what extent are these something good? The answer lies in understanding the principle mentioned above: pleasure is not an end in itself; seeking it for its own sake is not morally justifiable. Pleasure should not be separated from the needs, tasks and activities whose fulfillment occasions them in a natural way. One can recall here the famous Roman banquets where multiple meals were consumed solely for the pleasure involved.
2. A mistaken notion of leisure
As we see in many people today, it is usually those who are bored with life who practise the most superficial ways to have a good time. These person find their daily work and obligations not only uninteresting, but even burdensome. The sacrifice, effort and fatigue entailed repel them. A person who doesn’t like what he does feels fed up even before beginning his day’s work. Such people find it hard to be happy where they are: they yearn to escape from daily life (at home, at work, at school) because they are bored with it. Nothing seems to satisfy or fulfill them.
These people deep down don’t feel at ease in their ordinary circumstances. They want to be elsewhere, far from the unattractive daily grind. They don’t like to talk about their study or work, or any serious topic connected with the world they find so difficult to bear. But when free time comes everything changes. Now the golden rule is to have a good time and be entertained.
Having a good time here doesn’t mean taking a well deserved rest to enjoy the fruits of one’s labor or to speak more at length with friends. Such activity is considered boring, something for “old folks.” For young people, having a good time often means seeking out new experiences and sensations, especially in “forbidden” activities. But what usually happens is that everyone ends up doing the same thing, which is a form of solidarity among equals that no one dares to break for fear of being labeled “a bore.” The problem is to decide which new experiences and sensations should be tried out. The most common solution is to look at what everyone else is doing and follow their lead. If we do what everyone else is doing we will be part of the group, and we’ll be in tune with the times.
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Such entertainment requires the physical stamina that artificial stimulants enhance, especially narcotics, which open up a whole new world of sense experience.
And what happens when it’s all over? It’s Monday morning again, back in the boring and gray real world: the “same old thing.” The only thing these persons look forward to is the next “blowout” weekend. Many students seem to live this way for quite a long period of time. Seen objectively, this pursuit clearly involves a mistaken sense of leisure, since it reduces life to only two possibilities: having a good time or being bored.
In this mistaken outlook on leisure, work is considered an unfortunate and unpleasant activity, whose only value is to buy the weekend’s or vacation time’s “freedom.” And how can one fill in the time until the weekend? By simply turning on the television and collapsing in front of it. Television becomes a “fill-in” for hours empty of meaning.
3. Leisure rightly understood
Is such a superficial approach toward life satisfying for most young people? Of course not, but often it isn’t easy to find better alternatives.
The real alternative is leisure rightly understood, which is something quite different from what we have described above. Here hobbies play an important role. One can be interested in fishing, listening to country music, reading novels, all of which have in common doing something one really likes to do. A hobby can also involve painstaking work, for example, building model ships, but one has a sense of creating something, a feeling seldom found in a discotheque. Thus one begins to exert control over one’s life: a hobby is something we do when we want to, because we want to. No one forces us, or tells us what we have to do, whether it’s a matter of cultivating flowers or writing horror stories. We are the ones in control of what we do, and we have a good time doing it.
And if we are asked, “What are you doing that for?,” we might respond, “for no reason, simply because I want to.” It’s something we like to do. Actually it is something quite useful, since it provides us with rest and entertainment and deeper interests. We may feel the need to buy a book about raising flowers or playing the guitar. Someone might try to claim that their hobby is to get up at noon every day. But this is clearly a word game, since a hobby means an activity that is carried out freely and happily, and never inactivity or idleness .
Genuine leisure is very useful, since it is intrinsically valuable. We pursue activities we like for their own sake and that bring us pleasure. Hobbies can become increasingly absorbing and even give rise to a professional vocation. In any case, they provide continuity in our lives and bring us to meet others who share our interests. Hobbies can also give rise to strong friendships, for example, among mountain climbing or skating enthusiasts. Engaging in sports is one of the healthiest and most readily accessible hobbies.
When one has “serious” interests, and one truly cultivates them, the idea of going out to have a good time is no longer so appealing. Actually doing something, making a movie, for example, becomes more interesting, more fun, and an opportunity to learn.
Finally, the bad kind of leisure often leads to copying others people’s lives, living a life that is not one’s own. Going along with the crowd, doing things just because everyone else is doing them, is an important part of the bad kind of leisure. This follower mentality implies a lack of personality, not truly being oneself, even in one’s way of dressing. This leads to a superficial life that becomes increasingly empty and meaningless. Being happy requires interior richness: one must have something that fills his life, that gives it meaning.
True leisure helps one to lead one’s own life, impressing on it one’s own unique personality. Moreover, one’s work and interests are what really brings a person fulfillment and satisfaction in life. They enable one to forge a path in life perhaps no one else will follow, discovering something new to offer the world in which we live.
