Oh Reason Not The Need
Otherwise known as lessons from Lear
Essential shopping trips.
Essential travel.
Essential work.
2020 was the year of essentials. Where, for many of us, our worlds were stripped down to work, eat and exercise. The essentials. The bare essentials.
It’s only for three weeks we were told. Christmas? Only one day. Stay away from the beach. All you have to do is sit and watch TV. That’s all. Keep yourself safe. Don’t you know there’s a global pandemic on? Stick to the essentials. And so we did. And for many people, it was enough. But that’s all it was. Enough.
The worst of it was we were expected not to mind having our lives reduced to eat, work, exercise.
It made me think of King Lear, one of my favouite plays. In Shakespeare’s play, the elderly king is stripped of his servants and his knightly entourage by his cruel daughters, Goneril and Regan. Why do you need even one, they ask him? And his answer? “ O, reason not the need! Our basest beggars/Are in the poorest thing superfluous.” Lear’s cry is a plea for the importance of non-essentials. He says, “Don’t argue about need. Even the poorest beggar has things he doesn’t need.”
If Lear was a real-life pensioner in 2020, he’d probably be in a care home alone and losing his mind. His daughter, Cordelia would be heartbroken at not seeing him. He’d be looked after by carers on zero-hours contracts.
This year, we have been forced to examine the essential. And I’m sorry — eat, work and exercise aren’t enough. Education is essential or at least it should be. So is visiting your family. So is hugging your friend’s newborn. Or saying goodbye to a friend at a funeral that is both ritualistic and celebratory.
This year was eye-opening. It showed us how little we expected of our lives, how much we were prepared to sacrifice.
Lear goes on to say, “Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man’s life is cheap as beast’s.” If all we have is what our natures need, we are like animals.
To reduce life to the essentials is to abandon joy. To forget fun. To live our lives in fear. To embrace a culture of emotional austerity. To forget what makes us human. Lear. sadly, was right.
We are told the end of lockdown is on its way. I hope your first post lockdown trip is thoroughly non-essential. Completely unnecessary. Pointless even.
Enjoy!
