しかし,これを可能にすべきだと提案することは,リンゼー判事(Benjamin B. Lindsey, 1869-1943)の運命からわかるように,(当時の社会道徳から見れば)'不道徳'である(参考:sex education)。リンゼー判事は,その長い名誉ある経歴にもかかわらず,このことで汚名を着せられたが,彼の唯一の罪は,おとなたちの頑迷さの結果こうむった不幸から青年たちを救ってやりたいと考えただけにすぎない。しかし,ここではこれ以上,この話題を取り扱わないでおこう。なぜなら,それは「ねたみ」のテーマに属するものであり,次章で「ねたみ」についてとりあげることになっているからである。 |
From Free animation library https://www.animationlibrary.com/a-l/ A very frequent source of fatigue is love of excitement. If a man could spend his leisure in sleep, he would keep fit, but his working hours are dreary, and he feels the need of pleasure during his hours of freedom. The trouble is that the pleasures which are easiest to obtain and most superficially attractive are mostly of a sort to wear out the nerves. Desire for excitement, when it goes beyond a point, is a sign either of a twisted disposition or of some instinctive dissatisfaction. In the early days of a happy marriage most men feel no need of excitement, but in the modern world marriage often has to be postponed for such a long time that when at last it becomes financially possible excitement has become a habit which can only be kept at bay for a short time. If public opinion allowed men to marry at twenty-one without incurring the financial burdens at present involved in matrimony, many men would never get into the way of demanding pleasures as fatiguing as their work. To suggest that this should be made possible is, however, immoral, as may be seen from the fate of Judge Lindsey, who has suffered obloquy, in spite of a long and honourable career, for the sole crime of wishing to save young people from the misfortunes that they incur as a result of their elders' bigotry. I shall not, however, pursue this topic any further at present, since it comes under the heading of Envy, with which we shall be concerned in a later chapter. |