Industry

Every Christmas, well really every meal at my dad's parents' house, especially if relatives have driven in from out of town, there is always a skirmish or disagreement as to who will be doing the dishes or cleaning up afterward.  A lot of people at the table insist vehemently that they will do the dishes, and that no-one else should do a thing.  It's seemed like a hospitality thing, like a generosity thing ever since I was a little punk kid. 

But tonight, I was thinking about a quote that I stumbled across in the New York Times.  It was apparently one of William F. Buckley Jr.'s favorite sayings: "Industry is the enemy of melancholy."

Doing something productive with your time is maybe the best way to combat despondency.  It seems like common sense once it's written out on blogspot, but it's not a puzzle I typically put together when I'm... you know, feeling down, or whatever.

Maybe that's what's really happening each time someone insists so vehemently on doing the dishes for everyone else, or on doing anything like that, being determined to the point of becoming angry when others offer to help.  We want, so very badly, to feel useful, to feel like we aren't just sucking up air and taking up a seat.  We want to be productive!  We want to feel it!

Anyway.  Just a thought.