Letters Uv
the Editor
to
>ng with Leisure
Wou^ n?t like to leave unchallenged the Pek s*atement by Miss Williams in the ebruary 1963 "Mental Health" that: the f?ns whieh are not directed towards mJutiire and towards goals or achieveare sterile". retirement I have begun to 11Se ^ ?ur consciously how much we miss active life in always working t
rs rea]'nce
nards
in
goals,
and how
richly
we
gain
that life itself, the act jHr. discoveryhave an absolute value, Ma>ving, canthat were once considered
0?
things triyj ^ and irksome are now seen to have bg S? on^ because of their interference Mth what were then judged to be more 'Uift
activities. Taken lher^r^ant e'Ves become
they
reu,
CVungnitdren
by
as
ends in
significant and
show their natural wisdom
with spontaneity and joy to g0a[,eacting "ess activities, and I was interested t0
in my old childhood's Browning that had double pencil-marked the lines from ??{J Saul': good is man's life, the mere living! fit to employ frJ. fieart and the soul and the senses, In tne tuVer in joy-"of retirement we can years c0m C t0 this attitude, not with the *
?ld c?ns
v
?
CK
^hke spontaneity, but with
a
and awareness of life's W0nj10usness that enriches our experience. 0r,er>age can he a new
experience, ?Wcti With ?ut and timeless, without aim and hurry, probably the only stage in hves when we can consciously saVo. living as something that ifnas a act ?f value. unique ^
advice to my conwhatever you do don't useful; too often in doing so Vou ?. JUst. make yourself a nuisance. 0pD ^unities for little acts of usefulness Wiij corrie your way, not as deliberately -? tetHiD is, try ^?raries he
sought objectives, but just as part of the pattern of living. For the rest, let be, and learn to live for the joy of living, to savour each moment, to "look thy last on all things lovely every hour". It is not everyone's answer to this phase of life, but to some it can be an answer that is very far from sterile, and one that I never see advocated. G. Bathurst (Mrs). Hampstead, N.W.3.