The Troubles Of Sloth

It’s easier to work hard than to be lazy. Being lazy, like many things in life, is a type of bittersweet pleasure that many get easily pulled towards. Sloth, like many of the other seven deadly sins, is a human trait that many experience and have difficulty overcoming. It is as if an unknown force is dragging oneself to one’s own demise. One might say that sloth is not a sin, but rather a great blessing due to the fact that a small portion of sloth allows one to rest and complete their tasks hastily. However, to be consumed by one’s sloth can only invoke more harm than reward.

An example of this would be in the famous fable, The Tortoise and The Hare. In this fable, it tells a story of a tortoise versing a hare to a race. Although being the slowest animal, the tortoise was tired of hearing the hare boast about how fast it was, and so, chose to challenge the prideful hare. The hare accepted the tortoise’s challenge happily as it knew that it was the faster animal of the two.

In the story, the hare had fallen into temptation and gave into his pride and sloth. Instead of first completing the race, the hare had decided to take a nap midway and although he had achieved some rest, this resulted in the hare losing the race. Sloth as a whole is generally seen as an undesired behaviour to have. The only thing that sloth can do to someone is deter one to take action on current issues and what one might want to accomplish. A prime example of this would be when a high school student wants to obtain a high enough mark in a class to be able to attend a prestigious university, but then falls into sloth by procrastinating on studying for an exam or completing a final assignment worth thirty percent of one’s final mark. This example shows how large degrees of sloth can come with dire consequences since by procrastinating, one will be forced to hastily prepare for one’s upcoming obstacles.

Also, by allowing one’s self to fall into the temptation of sloth, it did nothing but cause them to limit one’s potential obtaining a high mark due to one’s lack of preparation. Furthermore, it takes more effort to be lazy since by doing something such as reaching for a remote on a nightstand, one might stretch their entire body just to avoid leaving the comfort of their bed rather than to choose to walk and get it. In the end, one’s sloth will only exert more energy than what was needed to begin with. This shows that if one did the task at hand wholeheartedly in the first place, then one might not have needed to exert more energy trying to accomplish the same outcome. As seen in the previous sentences above, many do fall into the temptation that is sloth, and many also struggle with escaping its grasps.

However, one must remember that sloth is just one of many struggles that one faces on a daily. To achieve one’s goals, one must be willing to overcome their sloth and effectively use the opportunities that life has given to them. After all, being lazy takes harder work.