Hi Everyone,
I suffer from ennui like I suffer from second-and-third-hand-smoke. This is what I mean.
First off, I am a non-smoker for over two years. I am telling you this because even when I did smoke I don’t recall suffering from ennui. It, by the way, is the French word for boredom. In English it means a worldly disappointment, an emptiness of one’s existence or a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction.
In all the years that I smoked, which for anyone who is interested, is over 20, I might have suffered from ennui for about 25, or 28 hours. Keep in mind that there are 168 hours in a week, 720 hours in a month that has 30 days and 8, 760 hours in a year that has 365 days. Being bored, feeling empty, weary or dissatisfied is not my thing, yet other people seem to have mastered it. Here is where the second and third hand smoke analogy comes in.
First hand smoke is me smoking a cigarette meaning that I suffer from ennui. Second hand smoke is my inhaling someone else’s smoke or having to listen to someone tell me how bored they are, how they suffer from ennui. Third hand smoke is my smelling smoke on clothes, inside of small areas like a car, condo, furniture or having to listen to someone tell me how so-and-so is suffering from ennui.
“If you are bored you are boring,” is a saying that people who inflict their ennui on others do not like to hear. You know what I get it. When people are bored they want to be entertained. But here is the thing, not everyone feels like doing that. There’s always a chance of getting stuck somewhere you don’t want to be with people you don’t want to be around so why don’t people prepare for that is beyond my understanding. Every time people don’t bring something to read or do it’s almost like boring people want more of the same—more boredom.
Here’s the thing that people forget, you are always doing something. This is what I mean.
Years ago, I had this job that was a bit unpredictable. Even though I would go into work, there were times I would sit around for a few hours waiting. This man and I would wait outside if the weather was nice or in the cafeteria if the weather wasn’t. I would read the papers or a book and write the whole time. He couldn’t.
After he read an article or two in the papers he would start asking questions he knew I couldn’t answer. Things like when I thought we would start “working,” get to leave because he had things to do. After I told him I didn’t know, I would suggest things for him. He didn’t like that. All he wanted to do was work. “But you are working,” I would tell him. “We’re getting paid to sit in the cafeteria until someone tells us to do something. That’s our job.”
I was okay with getting paid to read, write or think. I don’t know how many people would love to do that, but I am guessing it is more than two or a few! He wasn’t. One shift became the next and the hours would flow into each other. I always brought something. He didn’t. His first-hand ennui became my second-hand ennui. Naturally our supervisor eventually found out how bored he was and I wasn’t. I had to tell him, “Look, this is out of everyone’s control. Stop complaining because you are going to get us in trouble. Or just stay at home.”
That last sentence got him to look me in the eye. He was my ride to and from work. If I was suggesting he stay home, there was a problem that was only going to get bigger without my help. Everyone else who worked there could see us sitting in the cafeteria while they worked. Not good. Soon they started complaining.
Look all I am saying is a lot of us prepare ourselves by bringing things with us in case we are stuck with nothing to do with people we possibly don’t like or we want to get things done. Don’t let your ennui become someone else’s. And remember, “If you are bored, you are boring.” On a side note, I am of the belief that the reason some people do drugs is beceasue they are suffer from ennui. My thinking is, if you can’t find excitement in your life, drugs are most likely a short term fix for a long term problem.
Thank you for reading, A. Rebel’s Rant! ;D
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