Bernard was drawing with charcoal on a piece of driftwood when his mother returned home…He was busy at nothing, his energy humming, ready for a focus. – Michael Dorris, Working Men
Michael Dorris was an American writer. The son of a man who killed himself, Dorris took his own life in 1997 at the age of 52.
This quote struck me today because we have spent an awful lot of time recently talking about making our time serve us, about how we all were issued specific talents at birth and how the most useful lives are spent by those who get the most out of those talents. All true.
He was busy at nothing, his energy humming, ready for a focus.
Still though, sometimes we have to do the equivalent of drawing on driftwood with a piece of charcoal for a while. It’s not always easy. There are usually a hundred and one things to distract us from the necessary pursuit of relaxing. But from time to time we must be as vigorous in our pursuit of being busy at nothing as we are as vigorous in our pursuit of making our time serve us.
That’s why you are reading this today. As a writer and candidate for the Colorado Libertarian Party’s US Senate nomination, there are no shortage of things to do. But except for writing this I am not going to do them until later today. Later, the brain will start humming and looking for something to do, but that is a lookout for later.
Doing the equivalent of drawing with charcoal on a piece of driftwood is something we all need to do from time to time. There is no need to feel guilty about it. The rest will do us good in our pursuit of making our time serve us.
