Essay, Paragraph or Speech on “An Apology for Idlers” Complete Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

An Apology for Idlers

According to R.L. Stevenson, idleness “does not consist in doing nothing but in doing a great deal not recognized in the dogmatic formularies of the ruling class”. This is really true of an idler. Idleness does not imply wasting time in the pursuit of useless and frivolous things. It means enjoying life and making the best use of faculties. Idleness is a pleasure; it means taking delight pure and simple in all good things of life. A man of fine tastes, keen sensibility and sound judgment can make the most of life in idleness.

The pleasures of idleness are many. Laborious work kills all spice of life. Life is meant for enjoyment and not for serious thinking and heavy pondering over things which do not exist. We remember the time of our youth spent in idleness with great gusto and feeling. Reading books in the class-room is a dull and boring task. How fine it is to sit by the side of a stream under some shady tree and enjoy the songs of birds and the music of the stream? What a thrill there is when one runs after butterflies in green meadows and sunny lawns, or loiters about in the spring time about the countryside and fill one’s mind with fresh images of roses and lilies, dancing daffodils and frisking lambs! Idleness is a real pleasure.

Idleness is a means to an end and not an end in itself. In the real sense idleness is education. It is a pleasure to learn playing the flute. “Music is the food of love,” said Shakespeare. Music and songs make a person forget his perplexing cares and growing worries. It is only in our hours of idleness that we learn fine arts like dancing, music, painting and sculpture. Dancing makes the body flexible and supple. Music dispels sorrow and grief. Painting is an art; it is also a pastime. It is only in hours of idleness that we can drink deep of beauties of Nature. A bookworm, who shuts himself in the study room, a clerk who pores over files in the office, a labourer who toils and sweats in the factory, or a busy person has no time to see and enjoy the beauties of Nature.

Idleness implies an aesthetic study of life and Nature. The pleasures of idleness are known to the poets. Byron loved to sit on a rock near the seashore and he found pleasure in watching the ships tossing like toys on the boundless, fathomless and uncontrollable sea. Shelley wandered among the pine woods by the side of lakes and gazed for hours together at the snow-capped peaks and watched the rosy light of dawn quivering on the peaks. Wordsworth found books in brooks, tongues in trees and sermons in stones. Poets are idlers. They never stay at home. Idleness has an educative value. And how pleasing and thrilling education is when nature is the Teacher! The pleasures of Idleness are known to the poet, the wanderer, the hermit and the adventurer.

Idleness is an ecstasy, a joy, pure and simple. Idleness implies a sound mind in a sound body. An idler, unlike the book-worm, is healthy and robust. He looks fresh like the morning dew. It is because idleness has whetted his appetite and sharpened his faculties. He looks on life with open eyes and open mind. The pleasure of idleness is real. It implies a healthy outlook on life. Life is a mingled yarn of good and evil. Idleness makes a person cheerful, buoyant and gay. It produces self-confidence.

It is only in hours of idleness that we can read stories of adventure, tales of heroism, romances, detective stories and political selections. One forgets one’s cares and worries while reading such books as The Count of Monte Cristo, Three Musketeers, Pickwick Papers, Henry Esmond, Robinson Crusoe, A Pair of Blue Eyes and a number of other stories. Reading is delightful, pure and simple. The pleasures of idleness are really immense. Idleness keeps the mind and faculties alert. It makes a person learn the art of living. Life is a `boundles joy’. Idleness implies exercising of faculties for their own sake. It is only because of idleness that a person escapes from fits of depression and frustration. Idleness leads one to a healthy outlook on life.