Against every principle

In this new technological world we must change.  It is inevitable like evolution that we adapt or die.  I too have made adaptations I swore I never would.  Thought I’d die rather than capitulate, let me explain.

All my life I have looked on in amazement at human activities that I see as a perversion of the soul.  What are these?  It is a huge swathe of stuff from crosswords, to jigsaw puzzles, includes pub quizzes, Suduko, word search books (Find Wally for Adults), Mastermind, Who wants to be a Millionaire, the list goes on.  To me, these are all a complete waste of life.  Those who indulge in such activities have little to expend their mental energies/time on and so indulge in this displacement activity.  I regard them all as that ritual behaviour regularly observed by animals in captivity denied the freedom to express their real nature.  In despair, I observed it in a university staff tearoom where a book on such questions as, ‘who was King of England in 708AD?’ is used to while away the valuable free time at breaks.  I mean what the hell? 

My opinions have brought me into conflict with a wide range of nice people.  Our neighbours would regularly sit and do 10,000 piece jigsaws on carefully constructed boards.  I felt like I had walked in on some masochistic ritual they felt obliged to subject themselves to.  Those who contend that they are good for the mind, please show me the evidence.  I suspect many will, at this point, wheel out the new brain tools hailed as useful in preventing senility.  To which I reply, use it or lose it.  Like your legs, which if immobile in a shockingly short space of time, become incapable of supporting you.  So too, your mind was designed to be active, to achieve, discover, create, engage and progress.  I’ll admit doing something is better than nothing and for those isolated and deprived of viable alternatives activities are needed.  But surely, crafts are a better way to go.  Or hobbies, or travel, or meeting new people, or being in contact with those you already know?  The sad thing is that we have become so socially isolated that we are less able to cope with anyone.  The more we reach for that soothing crossword to keep us company to while away the remaining hours of life. 

But I must confess to doing Suduko this week.  Yes, it is against every principle I choose to cling to.  Let me explain my mother in Northern Ireland is addicted and spends ages doing these bloody things.  People buy her books of the cursed squares.  I once had a colleague in college who pulled open his drawer in our shared office, full of Suduko puzzles.  If he’d shown me a drawer full of dirty underpants I would have not have been so disgusted.  He could tell from my reaction I was not a fan.  He harboured a resentment towards me for some years, probably all my fault.  His hostility only changed the day I asked if he had any deodorant.  I’d come to work in haste having slept in and showered but had omitted to apply deodorant and after a taxing morning with goats in the school animal room could not stand the smell of myself.  I asked my Suduko-liking colleague for deodorant and he opened the cupboard above his desk and showed me a chemists shop of goodies, elaborating on the benefits of each.  I was grateful and he was ecstatic.  Obviously sharing toiletries takes relationships to a deeper and closer level.  Our differences over Suduko forgotten in a haze of Brute deodorant.  If only I could have known that all it took to declare peace and make friends was to ask for a favour.

While on holiday this Christmas I challenged my mum to Suduko.  I liked the way competition threw her into a sweat and spoiled the usual tranquillity of her Suduko hours.  Instead of relaxed contemplation there was panicked filling in, nervous checks of her opponent.  The occasional defeat sharpened her desire to wipe the floor with me.  Having returned to Malta my mother in the evening regularly now comes on Skype and we pick an online puzzle to tackle.  Once we have taken it down the clock is ticking and silence reigns until one of us completes the bloody thing.  Despite my hatred of Suduko and such things, that half hour of shared competition brings my Mum into my day in an immediate and companionable routine.  It may be against every fibre of my being but I must choose to make space for the oddities of someone as sweet and dear as she.