If it’s possible for a photograph to be an oxymoron, I nominate the one above.
I’m the target audience of any book with a title “The Power of [____]”. If it purports to have anything to do with human flourishing and I haven’t read it already, it’s on my list. That’s where the depressing photo comes from — a middling book called The Power Of Fun: How To Feel Alive Again. It’s not a bad book, I suppose, but it’s familiar ground for me and cites a lot of studies that I’ve already read. Coming alive isn’t my most pressing personal need — but I share the author’s view that it’s essential, and I’ll keep reading books like this just in case there are new studies or truths to expand my understanding. And so you don’t have to.
Anyway, the particular kind of fun I’ve been enjoying lately is sneaking up on turtles. You have to know where they are likely to be sunning. And they’re easily spooked, so it’s better if you’re not cursing and tripping as you approach.
Because I am not very sneaky, I mostly am rewarded by the plunking splash of turtles I never saw, and the ripples where they disappeared. But I’ve learned they’re eager to come back, so if you crouch on the shore they’ll surface within about a minute. A bonus of doing that means you sometimes sneak up on fish, too.
It’s a strange sort of fun, but it hits the spot for me. I’ll let you know whether there’s anything about it in Part II of the book.
