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Understanding The Role Leisure Has Played in Our Life Essay

Decent Essays

To understand how leisure plays an important role in our daily lives today, we should have a complete understanding of how leisure has impacted our lives historically. Just as important would be the role that geo-political events and technology have played throughout history and its effects on leisure.
Western civilization uses Aristotle definition of what leisure is “a state of being in which activity is performed for its own sake or as its own end” (Grazia pg.13). The concept of leisure was first formed by the Greeks, Aristotle said that “the life of leisure was the only life fit for a Greek” (pg.19). They (Greeks) felt as if they could not succeed as a city state without leisure. There were many forms of leisure, gymnastics, wrestling, …show more content…

It was during these social gathering that many would buy, trade and sell goods since the advent of grocery stores or shopping malls hasn’t donned on civilization yet. This was also a chance to socialize with members of their community as well as other members from neighboring towns and villages.
At the same time members of these communities were swapping goods they were also sizing up potential mates, although this was not a choice for an individual person but rather the members of the community. The evenings would be filled with music, drinks and dance. It is also no wonder that Cross noted “a disproportionate number of babies were born nine months following these festive periods” (pg.11). The fact is without these gatherings in the off season there would have been no socializing with others. The hours they put in during season would not allow for the activities that they have in off season months.
Technology or lack thereof also played a factor in trade for many goods as they came from faraway lands via ships. There were no definitive time tables on ships arrivals to many trade ports. Cross points out that many merchants in New England were sometimes to wait months for goods like sugar and slaves (pg.12), and there were also times that ships and their cargo just simply did not make it to port. Most of the time this was because of sea fairing accidents and wooden ships that were not designed to battle such

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