Boredom

‘I’d say the quantity of boredom, if boredom is measureable, is much greater today than it once was. Because the old occupations, at least most of them, were unthinkable without a passionate involvement: the peasants in love with their land; my grandfather, the magician of beautiful tables; the shoemakers who knew every villager’s feet by heart; the woodsmen; the gardeners; probably even the soldiers killed with passion back then. The meaning of life wasn’t an issue; it was there with them, quite naturally in their workshops, in their fields. Each occupation had created its own mentality, its own way of being. A doctor would think differently from a peasant, a soldier would behave differently from a teacher. Today we are all alike, all of us bound together by our shared apathy towards our work. That very apathy has become our passion. The one great collective passion of our time.’

Another excerpt from “Identity” by Milan Kundera. Found this quite true of our lives, thought I had share.