Evening star., 1963-09-17

their play. They play bridge
with customers, golf will h
clients, and 60 out for an eve
ning's entertainment in tn e
hopes of landing a contract.
At such "play" they have the
same tensions they have at the
office, perhaps more.
Play is not so much an ac-
tivity as an attitude. The very
same activity may be either
work or play; for example, the
stamp collector plays at his
hobby but the stamp dealer
works at the very same thing.
We Choose Freely
The eminent DR.. Mark May,
of Yale University, once told
me this story:
A Chinese gentleman who had
never seen a tennis game was
watching some missionaries
play one afternoon. He saw them
swing fiercely at the ball,
cutting, driving, smashing. He
saw them run StrenuouSly back
to the base line, dash wildly
up to the net. He saw the
perspiration form on their
browS.
Finally in a lull between sets,
he gathered up enough courage
to say to one Of them, Begging
honorable pardon, why you not
get collies to do this hard work
for you?"
The distinction between work
and play, DR.. Karl Menninger,
of Topeka, remarks, ''iS not in
the actual occupation but in
the mind" His brother, DR..
Will, thus defines play:
"Play is an activity which
we choose freely without
necessity or outward pressure.
We do it solely for the Satisfac-
tiOn we get out Of it, and not
for any monetary value. We
are free to drop it altogether
or shift to a different kind of
activity whenever we wish"
No COmpulsiOn
If play is to be real play,
there must be no compulSion
in it. There can be a lobbyists
desire to excel, but there must
be no grim requirement to
measure up. It must have moth
ing to do with making a living.
There must be no necessity to
please anybody but ones own
self. Certainly there must be
no boss, no superior to report
to, and no nervous hope that by
doing well one may win a pro-
motion, a bonus, or any other
emolument-just fun.
Work is often, Of necessity, an
anxiety activity. Play must
never be.
Some people play golf grimly.
They are not playing golf. They
are working golf. One friend
Of mine was so nerve-wrackec
on the golf course that he came
home emotionally hamburgered
after nearly every game. His
doctor told him to give up the
game and, as the doctor
paradoxically put it, "Find
some fun you can enjoy.
Medical dictionaries list the
word cherophobia. 1t means
"fear of having fun" Golf,
more than many sports, seems
to attract a vast army of suf-
fererS. Their nerves are as
raw at the end Of a day as
the gashed covers of the little
white balls they cut, top, stub,
and slice.
Balance Needed
The only way to make golf
a healthful activity is to enjoy
it. That is also the only way
to win. l don't care if you shoot
in the low 8OS, you have lost
if you are miserable.
And If you have a happy
time whacking the little white
ball in and out Of woods, in
and out of traps, four-putting
greens, then you will win even
if your score is 12O.
If all work and no play makes
Jack a yOu-know-what, then
what about all play and no
work? No good. Work and play
must form a balance.
And you can't have the
balance unless there is weight
at both ends Of the teeter-totter.
That's why the playboy is clas-
sicaly neurotic. He goes to night
clubs with all the compulsion