I see it all the time in my young children, those in-between moments that add up to about eighty percent of their waking life.
So far they seem to be able to fill them pretty well with exploration and wonder.
Will they eventually learn to see them the way grownups do: as boredom? As adults we won't actually admit to calling them boring, even though that's how we experience them.
Teenagers have no problem identifying these moments as boring.
Everything is boring to them.
As grownups we say we're "chillin' out," "thinking," or "relaxing.
" We watch TV, wait for people to turn up or something exciting to happen.
When on occasion exciting things do happen we instantly forget about all the in-between time we've wasted, waiting for them to happen.
We snap into action; we feel alive until boredom sets in once again.
Sure, we all complain about how busy we are, banging our heads against the wall, trying to make ends meet.
But are we really more overworked than our ancestors? Is it really possible that we're just marking time, busying ourselves, trying to escape our boredom? Or have we learned as adults to accept the rat race as inevitable.
As children, new to the rules, Danny and Mary don't care about any of this.
Nothing is boring to them.
How can it be; everything's happening for the first time.
Even in their moments of calmness, they seem to be captivated by a serene stillness-we're lucky to have been blessed with extraordinarily good-natured kids.
Hopefully, they won't learn to call these in between moments boring, impatient for the next big thing like the rest of us.
So far the word hasn't entered their vocabulary.
Inevitably it will.
Productive contemplation, introspection, invention, original thinking, intelligent conversation, self expression seem to have fallen by the wayside in our society.
They are the past times of an earlier era, the pursuits one has to be willing to do badly to do well, the ones that often require a mastery of skills or knowledge.
"Chillin' out" is our way of filling in for what's missing in our lives.
We have instant access to all the wisdom and knowledge of the ages yet most of us would rather "veg" in front of the TV during our "down time.
" Time Magazine once did a fascinating spread on happiness, concluding that it requires three things: 1) an ability to create pleasure, 2) an involvement and commitment to our work, relationships, etc and 3) the desire to give meaning to our lives.
What if, as adults, we were able to appreciate the newness of every experience, to laugh, to cry, to express an opinion about every moment? What if we threw ourselves into our passions and woke up every day as if we were on a vital mission to change the world? Would we go insane? Probably.
Would we upset a lot of people? Definitely.
Could we survive in the "real world?" Not without some difficulty.
Yet this describes the life of most of the poets, artists and visionaries I know, who are in the world to question everything others take for granted.
The artist's life is not always happy, save for moments of ecstasy when we are rewarded with a creative epiphany.
While it's true, being an artist is a restless dance, full of self-examination and uncertainty, at least its not boring.