Sloth. Spoken slowly, it’s onomatopoeic. Dripping with laziness, indolence, or my favorite description- a habitual disinclination to exertion. Sloth’s a two-fer- one of the 7 Deadly Sins and the aptly- named aboreal mammal. Hanging around, usually upside down is how sloths spends most of their time. They move only under duress, and then at a pace that too sluggish for even a slug. A habitual disinclination to exertion seems generous, given that sloths often keep on hanging with furled toes, even when dead. I guess you could make the case, “Why bother unfurling now?”
This whimsical rendering of the animal got me thinking about the sinning version of sloth. It’s not the deadliest of the Seven but it is unique in that it’s the only sin of omission. We’re slothful not by what we have done, but by what we have left undone. We’ve become acculturated, socialized, even addicted to getting things done. Busy is a badge of honor. If you’re not busy, you’re on your way toward irrelevance. It will be interesting to see if any of the Covid- induced slow-downs, stick. I’m guessing they won’t. So here is a counterpoint to consider from Bertrand Russell, the English philosopher (and a slew of other equally impressive things).
“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”
The trick is knowing whether you’re enjoying your idleness or whether it’s driving you crazy. Can you say you did “not much”, without a bunch of guilty explanations? If so, it’s probably not wasted time. If you’re falling all over yourself to justify “not much” or heaven forbid, “nothing”, maybe it was wasted time. My favorite response to the question, “What are you going to do in retirement?” was from NPR’s Susan Stamberg. “Less”. Pensive, pithy… perfect.
Sloth- capital sin… or capital idea? It all depends.