“Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids!” jibed the children. The Rabbit, who only wanted to enjoy a bowl of artificially flavored modified food starch based breakfast cereal, would inevitably be thwarted by the end of each commercial, his elan giving way to depression. You might be thinking “Why, on a fitness blog, would you bring up a blatantly manipulative advertising campaign directed at children watching innocent Saturday morning cartoons?” Because YOU don’t want to end up like the Rabbit!
Case in point, on a recent visit to a local park, I noticed a sign at the entrance to the playground that read “Ages 6-11 only”. Six through eleven!? That’s an outrageously brief window of opportunity to play on a playground! “Play” for adults has come to mean organized sports, “adult” activities, or buying expensive things and tooling around like a, well, tool.
Play, in its purest most unpretentious form, is available to all of us and at any age. The sheer joy of bounding around a playground, clambering over obstacles, monkeying across bars, and swinging on swings should never be denied, bottled up, and repressed. How sad is it that society pressures us into redirecting our inner child towards self-destructive surrogates of genuine play.
Of course, the idea that we can experience great happiness and fulfillment freely and without need for addressing ourselves to a cash register is subversive. Our consumer culture functions primarily off of the inverse of this notion. However, if we can release our inhibitions against play without requiring the lubricating effects of drugs or alcohol the bliss of childhood can be relived. Just make sure to hit up the playground while school is in session. Kids always hog the swings.
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