7 Deadly Sins - Sloth

Whatever did Sloth do to get named a deadly sin?  There it was, sitting quietly on the sofa, minding its own business, with a rather cute, if mossy, mammal named after it.  So how deadly could it be?

You could argue that while you’re lounging about you’re not doing anyone any harm. But, of course, you’re not doing any good either. You’re not running around helping the poor and picking up litter from your local park.

The slothful time wasting is a sinful waste and sloth’s sinful status is based on the idea that if we weren’t doing nothing, we’d be doing something useful instead.  But don’t get smug because you jogged round the park this morning – wasted energy counts as sloth too.  So unless you were chasing a mugger, your sloth points remain the same as if you’d had a lie-in. 

Basically, if you want to be sure you’re not committing the sin of sloth, you need to spend as little time as possible idle, but when you are busy, make sure it’s for the right reasons.  I’ve always looked around at the panting, sweating people running to nowhere in the gym and wondered whether all that energy couldn’t be used to  work the lights or the telly or something more productive.

Scientists say that the energy produced by weightlifters and static rowers is in a form that’s not convertible to electricity.  To which I say, stop being so slothful, scientists, and work out a way to convert it, then.

For those of us who ran like the wind from PE lessons at school (thus rather defeating our own purpose), there are plenty of things we can be doing instead that aren’t slothful.  If I choose to spend an evening with my feet up eating organic chocolates, I like to think of myself as being engaged in the active consumption of produce.  If I choose my chocolates wisely, I am improving profits for a fair-trade cocoa farmer somewhere in Ghana or Ecuador, and increasing turnover for a company who share my beliefs in quality products and ethical commerce.   

If I’m watching an episode of Come Dine With Me or Gok’s Fashion Fix at the same time, so much the better – I’m providing an audience for the programme-makers whose livelihoods depend on it. 

And you never know, tomorrow I might buy something I saw in one of the commercial breaks.  This is all hard work, and allows me to rest on my laurels.

If you are guilty of this kind of sloth perhaps it’s more of a deadly sin to slave at the gym than to sit in front of the telly eating chocolate. 

Cindy George

Posted Thu, 07/08/2010 - 15:56 by Cindy.George