I was just the right age to be tortured by the Watergate hearings. I was 8 years old in 1973 and those hearings pre-empted daytime television for weeks. At that age, it felt like years. I had no idea that a gripping piece of political history was unfolding before my eyes. I thought I would lose my mind, since television was one of my primary forms of after school entertainment back then. I remember wailing, “I’m bored!!!” to my mother, and she’d reply wearily, “Read a book.” Usually I’d just sit on my swing and cry. I was such a brat.
I have no idea where I got the idea that I should be entertained at all times. It’s insane, when you think about it. Saying you’re bored is like saying you are entitled to constant pleasure. I don’t know anyone who enjoys that level of privilege. Even the super-rich have to suffer through board meetings and long flights to Australia. Boredom visits us all.
I suspect that Generation Z will have an even harder time coping with boredom, because they have so many different ways to avoid it. If they’re treated to presidential investigations (fingers crossed, here), well, there’s always Netflix. I would have killed to binge watch something, anything, I Love Lucy, whatever, back in 1973.
Nowadays I’m kind of grateful for boredom. Please, God, give me a routine, predictable day with no surprises. Because the older you get, the more you experience those moments of “un-boredom” that are exciting little tastes of hell. The death of loved ones. Waiting for medical test results. Those times when your kid drops off the radar. Political shenanigans. Work SNAFUs. That strange noise in the back yard when you’re home alone.
You’re not bored at those moments, believe you me! Not even a little bit! That’s when you realize that boredom is actually a luxury.
So boredom can visit me any time it wants. I’m always grateful for an excuse to take a nap. And yeah, okay, my mother was right. You can never read too many books.

They also pre-empted the first two weeks of Match Game. I was so mad…
I know, right? How RUDE!!!!
I wonder how Helen Keller managed to occupy herself in her still, soundless darkness… and do people in sensory deprivation tanks get bored? If you have a clear functioning brain you only have yourself to blame for boredom. My children learned not to waste their breath complaining about it. 🙂
I actually look forward to trying one of those sensory deprivation tanks! There are shops in Seattle where you can do it by the hour. Rest assured, I’ll blog about it if I do!
YEP!! Every morning I would watch JP Patches! Then this stupid Watergate thing came on. I wonder what grown up tony would think of the procedings. Young Tony was NOT happy
I bet every parent in the country was ready to pull out his or her hair as well!
I was twenty-one years old, in college and was working that summer. When I came home from work I would spend the entire evening watching the recap of that days’ hearings. It was fascinating. Somewhat like a soap opera, but more important as the issues were real. And the sense of national peril was real. Would our national government keep functioning and would the USA be attacked by foreign powers while nobody seemed to be in charge?
I think I’d have been engrossed if I had been that age. But at age 8 I just felt unfairly put upon.
Cartoons are definitely better!
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