Free Time - Spend it Wisely!
In today's society, pleasure often overpowers work. To be honest, when having the choice of writing a paper or going over to a friends' house, I would have to choose the latter. Wouldn't most of us? In today's time, yes, most of us probably would. Back in the 16th century most people would also choose play over work. If they had to work to live, then their off time would be spent with friends just relaxing -much like ours. This has lasted through all the ages because it is purely human nature and cannot be changed or undermined. Children do not have to work so they can easily spend time with their friends. Adults know their burdens and the consequences if they do not get them done but that makes their down time all the more precious. After a long, hard day at work, wouldn't one want to spend the time with their family and friends? The truth is people enjoy the casual interactions with their friends and acquaintances. Whether it be at the market with a simple "Hello, how are the kids?" or sitting at home with some friends over, everyone likes to have company surrounding them. In Thomas More's Utopia, however, there is no time for pure relaxation. The Utopians spend their free time bettering themselves and enhancing or
The Utopians, it seems, are not true human beings. They focus on goodness and strive for well balanced lives -something, unfortunately, we do not always do. During the day, the Utopians work a solid and demanding six hours. In the real world our days would be spent working more hours because "few people actually produce what the human race consumes" (77). According to Utopia, our days are spent not doing 'essential work', and a Utopians day is solid and produces "everything that's needed for a comfortable life" (76-77). The morning and evening free time they are allotted, is for them to spend "not [wasting] their time in idleness or self-indulgence, but [making] good use of it in some congenial activity" (76). They allow the Utopians to use their free time for extended education. One would believe this to be unjust but the ironic thing is the Utopians are not forced to do this; they simply have no desire to spend their time 'in idleness'. It is just human nature for them to use all of their time wisely. In a sense this would be ideal. No one would be corrupt, and all would be better. But we know that our human nature does not allow this. So why don't we try and change it? If we changed our natural instinct to slack off and rest during work hours and on our free time, respectively, then we would begin to see a change in the world. It would benefit the general happiness of the human race and lives would be changed. People have the need to relax and settle their thoughts, in the same way that it is human to want more in life; a bigger house, a better job. People spending all their time contemplating the goodness of their characte
Some common words found in the essay are:
According Utopia, More's Utopia, , Maybe Utopians, human nature, days spent, true human, completely happy, human race, change world,
Approximate Word count = 1117
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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