“I am bored”

Ever had someone say that to you? Probably yes. It is a very generic and common statement made by people when they get sick of the dull, tiresome, or uncongenial proceeding of the general state of affairs of their lives at any given moment in time. Its a pretty normal, neutral and docile thing to say. There is seemingly nothing wrong or bad about it. The word “bored” is not vulgar or offensive. And yet, something really irks me when someone makes that statement.

Here is why…

You see, my problem with this is that the opposite of “boring” is not “entertaining”, it is “interesting”. “Entertaining”- to me – offers connotations of passiveness and inertness, like watching TV. Its a one way thing. It is like a toddler picking up a toy, checking it out for a while, and dumping it instantly in favor for another. Its like “I am waiting to be entertained…amuse me”. The “interesting”, however, is something that must be searched for, dug up, dusted off and marveled at. It must be appreciated and studied. It must be preserved, pursued and hunted for. It involves interaction, thought and imagination.

TV is entertaining. (some) Movies are interesting. Package tours are entertaining. Independent travel is interesting. Pop music is entertaining. Jazz is interesting.

Get the point?

I don’t quiet understand how people can get bored. There is no real and passable excuse for boredom (unless you are, God forbid, under total paralysis and an only move your eyeballs..or something like that. Nah, scratch that..you can still read books). There is so many cool places to see, things to do, inspiring people to meet and good books to read that one life is simply not enough. What is the problem then? That problem is that you are just a lazy bastard. You watch too much TV. You don’t read enough (or the only thing you read is the daily celebrity gossip column). You hang out with equally dull people. Only the commonplace and mundane occupy your mind. To put it bluntly, YOU are the bore. And boredom breeds ignorance, denseness, shallowness and fat butts.

Ok, not you, anyone who reads this blog is ultra cool and a friggin genius. Just do yourself a favor and turn off your TV.