Outline:
- Idleness brings disinclination to work and lack of activity. Idle people are irregular at their work and waste their energies in doing nothing.
- The evil of idleness. Happiness is ruined. Economic prosperity is affected. Men tend to become vicious. Talented people, if idle, are less successful than men who may be less intelligent but are more hard-working.
- Idleness must be discouraged as it ruins people. Proper division of work and recreation must be observed.
Of all the evils that a man suffers from, idleness is the greatest. The opportunity for getting work and uncongenial atmosphere are altogether different things but under normal circumstances work must be done. IT is a natural law. Even animals and plants are involved in the continuous activity. Work means life and absence of work or activity means death, decay and degeneration. It is, therefore, not natural and healthy that men should be idle. Idleness means lack of desire to do work or to be irregular in the work undertaken. Waste of time and energy is harmful to be happiness and prosperity of the individual. One may be interested in sports or games, gossiping or sightseeing but none of these should be such as to overwhelm a man’s tendency and desire to work. Idleness of the mind and the body leads men to evils, degeneration and demoralisation.[the_ad id=”17141″]
One of the main evils of idleness is that it spoils the health and happiness of man. A body which remains useless starts decaying. Likewise a man who does no physical labour rots and allows his body to become unhealthy and weak and if the slightest burden is put on him and the need arises the man find himelf incapable to do those things. An idle man will hate doing work and will be inactive and inefficient. He cannot make good progress and his happiness and the happiness of those who depend on him will be affected. If the breadwinner of the family is an idle man and does not take interest in this work, all chances of promotion and progress are finished and his wife and children become unhappy and miserable. The health of the children is all neglected. Men who are idle in some cases also tend to become vicious. It is often said that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. The saying is most true, for an idle mind is not usefully occupied and harbors evil and destructive ideas. A man may start doing bad things which may harm others or to break the monotony of his own existence he may become addicted to drugs and narcotics. One finds examples of such ruined men in the form of thieves, drunkards and opium-eaters. Idleness gives birth to a vicious circle.
First the man feels unhappy, then for relieving the dullness of life and inactivity he wants to do things to recreate himself and is always led on ruinous path. For his recreation he will need money and his wants will make him cheat and rob people and in the end he will be caught and punished. Another evil of idleness is greater than all these. Some unfortunate talented people ruin their lives by being idle while men who are possessed of lesser intelligence but are persevering and hardworking will be more successful, happy and prosperous. It is often said that in the scheme of things talent is but one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. Even intelligence becomes a waste if the possessor of it is not industrious and hardworking.
If the prosperity and happiness of the individual and the welfare of the society and the state have to be looked after then we must discourage idleness at all costs and by all means. Proper division of work and recreation just be observed but no quarter or encouragement should be given to either idleness or idlers.