Wednesday, 27 December 2006
The joy in the performing, and not the achieving

The other morning we ran out of water whilst visiting on the farm, and as part
of the process of getting that sorted out, I had to sit next to the tank on top
of the little house the roof of which the tank stands on.  Whilst sitting there, I
noticed some pieces of wire that had been broken off in the course of my
dad obviously tying and loosening pipes during modifications of his water
works.  I started picking these up, and putting them in a little pile.  As I
started doing it, I realized that there is really no purpose, whatsoever, in
doing this.  However, I enjoyed doing it.

I then remembered how I often, as a child did things simply because I
enjoyed doing them e.g. slashing a path going nowhere or digging a hole –
or something like that.  The point is that I enjoyed doing the work, regardless
of whether I really had much hope in the result being useful to anyone at all.

And there was something about picking up those pieces of wire, and putting
them neatly in a pile, that I enjoyed.  It made me realize that not everything
needs purpose.  Not everything needs to achieve something.  Some things
we just do because we enjoy doing it.
Picking up little pieces of wire
How much fun could that be?