A Case for True Leisure: Finding Rest and Contemplation in Trying Times

A Case for True Leisure: Finding Rest and Contemplation in Trying Times
According to author Josef Pieper, true leisure involves contemplation, the ability to be alone, and "immersion in the real." Serhii Yurkiv/Shutterstock
Jeff Minick
Updated:

Two days before New Year’s, I took my daughter, my son-in-law, and their seven children to supper in a restaurant here in Front Royal, Virginia. Regulations require wearing a mask into this place, but once seated, off come those bits of paper and cloth, and diners may eat without covering their faces between bites.

Seated at the tables around us were another 14 people enjoying their meals and the company of family and friends. Our masked waitress brought the menus, three boxes of crayons, and some paper, and the younger members of the crew were soon coloring away. Everyone, including the 3-year-old, put on a wonderful display of manners during the meal.

Jeff Minick
Jeff Minick
Author
Jeff Minick has four children and a growing platoon of grandchildren. For 20 years, he taught history, literature, and Latin to seminars of homeschooling students in Asheville, N.C. He is the author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust on Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning as I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.” Today, he lives and writes in Front Royal, Va.
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