Enough Already!
Courtesy of iStockPhoto
First, we had to write about envy. Fine. Envy I could do. The following week, gluttony. Apparently both topics were related. Seven Deadly Sins. But gluttony I don’t know from and I really struggled with that post. Which brings us to this week.
Another week, another deadly sin. Why not?
For this week’s prompt, let’s talk about sloth. Emotional or spiritual apathy. It’s not doing what we think we should. It is closer to apathy than it is to simply being lazy. It is putting your kids in front of the TV instead of playing with them, for instance.
I found this quote – I believe from Samuel Beckett – that I love for this prompt: “Sloth is all passions the most powerful.”
First of all, putting one’s kids in front of the television instead of playing with them presumes that I one had any intention of playing with them in the first place. Next, sometimes putting them in front of the television is the only way that I one can make dinner.
My own issues aside, I thought sloth was a noun. I also thought that it was an animated character. My good friend, JaneTheWriter, thought so as well.
A favourite Go, Diego, Go! episode in our house features Sammy the Sloth, who seeks Diego’s assistance in rescuing a mama sloth and her baby..
Cute, no?
Sammy is a bit on the slow side. No, not that kind of slow. Let’s just say that Sammy moves with little speed. Rather than see this physical limitation as a negative, the storyline highlights the slow speed of Sammy’s movement as saving him from a few harpy eagles.
As it turns out, there is more to sloth than a cute furry marsupial. But I don’t want to write about it. Because I just don’t care.
You see, we’ve got **count them** six hundred thirteen commandments. I’m pretty busy keeping up my end of The Bargain. I don’t have time to worry about someone else’s anything.
Which, as it turns out, is sloth. I think.
Red Writing Hood is a writing meme. This week’s word count was 600 words or fewer. My reluctantly-written submission was well under that. As always, constructive criticism is appreciated.
Frume Sarah is Shabbos-observant -- in a Reform way, that is. Please note that from Friday afternoons until one hour after sundown on Saturday evenings, Frume Sarah will be unavailable, in observance of the Jewish Sabbath.
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Thank you for your understanding...and gut Shabbos!!! 
Frume Sarah's World 
Amen! 🙂
Thanks 😉
FS – I really enjoy reading “Frume Sarah’s World.” You are refreshing.
As far as “sloth” is concerned, I like the definition given in a wonderful book by Solomon Schimmel (“The Seven Deadly Sins” – Jewish, Christian, and Classical Reflections on Human Nature – Free Press, 1992). He writes: “Sloth, then, is the loss of one’s spiritual moorings in life, and the ensuing spiritual vacuum manifests itself in despondency, and flight from the worship of God and service to man.” Then he says, “A related feeling is spiritual aridity or ‘dryness,’ a condition of particular concern to mystics. When experiencing aridity the individual has difficulty praying with proper direction, performing rituals with enthusiasm, and feels painfully distant from God.” My guess is that we rabbis often feel that spiritual aridity, Just a thought. Shabbat shalom to you and your folks.
Hillel, thanks so much for the compliment AND the book recommendation.
I cannot address the spiritual aridity of other rabbis. I do know that I have always loved to pray. I feel connected to God through the liturgy and, of course, the melodies. Whether traditional Nusach or contemporary compositions, the words come alive and take my soul to the Vastness that is God. And I sense God’s Presence with me always.
Maybe that is why I have such difficulty relating to this “sloth” notion.
Shavua tov, my teacher.
hahaha very witty, I really enjoyed it.
Thanks, Julie. The best part, of course, is that I did not set out with any intention to be witty. 😉
Apparently this week has been bad for men in red dresses ‘cuz I haven’t touched any of them. Oh well. Slothlike is a good description for some of the people in the current admin and their understanding of Middle East politics.
As for 613 mitzvot, well I Jackmailed a letter to the guy in the sky and asked if it was ok for me to select a few really important ones and ignore the rest. I told him that if he took his time responding that would be ok after all he created the sloth and it would only be appropriate for him to honor the sloth by occasionally moving slowly.
Someone get me coffee…please…. 😉
Let’s not even touch upon the whole Middle East thing right now. I’m still sorting through my feelings about the whole thing.
You should know that the Guy in the Sky has released us from a goodly number of them til, may the day come soon, we are back in the Temple. Until then, you should probably concentrate on the “really important ones” and keep adding to them.
Hope you got your coffee!
Too apathetic to write about sloth?
I can’t point fingers. I haven’t even done it yet.
But I blame procrastination, not sloth lol!
Is there a relationship between the two, I wonder?
Sarah, you did the prompt!!!!! Oh my goodness, I laughed right through that…and what a great use of “sloth”.
I used to tell people that I was decedant of “sloths” meaning I loved to sleep and move slow…turns out there is much to SLOTH..even after watching that movie with Brad Pitt. As a Catholic I should have known. 😉
Loved this…!!!!
Hey, I love to sleep too!!!
I never saw that movie. Am thinking I might need to add it to my NetFlix queue if this theme keeps up.
Glad you enjoyed it and I really appreciate yoru comment.
How else are we supposed to get anything done without putting them infront of the tv??? I’ll tell you this, loud voice aside, I’ve come to admire Dora a little. For being so attractive to my three year old. It’s the only time I get a minute to myself.
I find Dora’s voice so irritating! She sounds as though she is always yelling. That being said, I am so with you regarding the idea that anyone who can grab the attention of a 3 yo is deserving of praise.
[Note: we are not a free-for-all household. Barney was banned simply because I could not abide that insipid purple dinosaur.]
Hmm.. you seem more angry about the prompt than slothful! lol The example I gave is more about how you should probably be playing with your kids, but you don’t wanna. Not about putting them in front of the TV because you have to get stuff done. Not that I ever do either of those things. Ahem.
Is anger one of the 7 deadly sins?
I actually think that parents ought not play with their kids too often. Seriously. I want my kids to learn to occupy themselves. Also, grown-ups tend to direct the play a bit too much, making the kids passive participants. I will often sit in the same room and silently observe, but that is a different thing entirely.
Thanks for the shout-out!
Anytime. I enjoyed your post a bunch!
Interesting point of view on sloth. Different from the others I’ve read and certainly different from mine. Unfortunately I know exactly what it is to be a “sloth”. Enjoyed the humor. TRDC
Thanks. Mine is different truly because it is not a familiar concept to me. No other way for me to approach the topic. Sheesh — I hope we take a break from this whole sin business this week. Tough to find much inspiration.
This was soooo clever! I also struggled with what to say about this one. And I also dig Diego:) But you did it right! I guess I could have written about how lazy this topic made me feel. Then I actually could have linked up this week. Brilliant, lady, brilliant!
I’m new to TRDC so I feel obligated to do each and every prompt. I can’t say if that will last, but I find the challenge of writing to someone else’s prompt pushes me outside of my fairly narrow comfort zone. This week really stymied me. Thank God for Diego!!
And thank you for the compliment!!
I love it! Perfect! That speaks for me today, as well! I skipped it, too, but you hit it on the creative head, IMO. Wonderful. Rock on, mama! 😉
Thanks, Andrea. I did the best I could given the cultural disadvantage 😉
Those are difficult subjects to write about aren’t they. In my case because it forces me to face up to some things and that’s never easy.
I agree with “Sloth is all passions the most powerful.”
I would agree that the first one (envy) definitely took me to some tough places. It was the next one that started to derail me. I’m Jewish. We don’t have these seven deadly sins. We don’t really have sins. At least, we have a very different understanding of sin.
And I really did think that “sloth” was a marsupial.
Clever my dear friend! Very, very clever! 🙂
Thank you, thank you. I wish I could take some credit for being clever, but it was completely unintentional. So does that still count?
I was a little miffed by the description of sloth as putting the kids in front of the tv. And it’s not really a universal pprompt.
apparently I stutter. p-prompt.