"Sunday, Sweet Sunday..."

Seldom do programs, plays, or movies resonate with me to such an extent that time is spent dwelling on them but once in a while one seeps through.  This is the case with a recently viewed episode of the Andy Griffith show from 1962, reinforced by comments made by Deanna O’Daniel in her memoirs of life growing up in Louisville and environs.  That which comes to mind is the concept of a day of rest, when all things are closed and people do nothing except relax from the weekly schedule.

One can say that I am only on that schedule that I impose upon myself but lately I am seeing more of my time being allocated to obligations of one kind or another.  For example, starting last week I joined the cast of a play that rehearses on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the Whodunnit rehearsals will overlap with this and go on until performances in November and December, Stage Movement classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays,  my pool teams compete on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Saturdays are for riding, golf on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, deliver meals on every third Thursday, Rotary Club meetings on Tuesday mornings,  and spend time as necessary as Community Services chairperson.  In addition to these there is time that must be spent learning lines and songs for current productions and other chores.  And just now I agreed to work in the lobby for the current Whodunnit production.  Maybe this is why the concept of a day of rest is rising to the surface. 

The day of rest is meant to be a time that the brain is allowed to regroup and restore some sense of calm to the being and it requires a certain discipline of its own to accomplish.  The description provided by Deanna O’Daniel, the AGS, and my memory of Sundays at home from 1940 to 1960 is consistent. 

One goes to church in the morning after a breakfast of coffee cake and coffee, comes home to read the Sunday paper, eats a large noon meal together at the table, then cleans up the mess, and simply sits around the rest of the day.  Usually mom would lie down across the bed, pop would lie on the sofa in the living room, Barbara and I listened to Sam Spade, The Shadow, and Gangbusters detective stories on the radio from time to time later on Sunday afternoon, otherwise we did nothing in particular.  the evening  supper, was usually very simple, hot dogs, sausages, or lunch meat, potato salad or maybe pork and beans, and tomatoes.  We rarely had company.  Then after supper or even during, we’d listen to the radio for the Jack Benny Show.  I think it came on at 6pm central time there in Saint Louis.  This was the routine except for the many Sundays we went to Troy but even there the routine was very similar.

There is biblical reference to a day of rest and it has been adopted by religions throughout the centuries.  The concept may have been around for a lot longer than recorded history, we don’t know.  It is certainly commonsensical to take a day of rest and seven days is a good enough interval in between.  It almost makes me wonder if there isn’t some sort of psychological reason for it.

We sleep several hours every day and this was brought about by the light-dark cycle of the day but even this sleep phenomenon is deeper than simply being in the dark and waiting for daylight.  All day long the brain is besieged by situations that have to be handled and it winds up a little jumbled up after a while.  “So everyday along about evening, when the sunlight’s beginning to fail…” we are overcome, eventually, by fatigue that is both mental and perhaps physical. 

Rest and even sleep is necessary for the maintenance work required on the body and the brain.  I’ve dealt with sleep in previous writing and won’t go into it here.  Suffice it to say that not all of the brain-body goes dormant during first state; there are many facets of it that work in the background to rejuvenate the being.

It stands to reason that there may be situations that transcend the daily wake-sleep cycle and these are reconciled by the day of rest.  It is important to  follow this idea by being involved in some activity that is completely abnormal, has little or no stress involved with it, and resist the temptation to get involved with activities that are taken up during rest of the week.

The timing of once a week is interesting.  Did we evolve into it after we decided to measure time by seven-day periods or did we start using weeks after it was innately discovered that the brain-body needed a day of rest in addition to several hours of sleep every day?  There is a lot of conjecture about how the seven-day week was adopted; the upshot is that it fits nicely in almost all aspects of our understanding of life and living.  Ancients had five visible planets plus the sun and the moon, the number seven is special in almost all mythology, and it fits our personal needs if we let it.

The concept of a day of rest, for me now at this time of my life, is an emphasis of the other side of that coin.  One day of rest and six days of activities, working in Aim.  It would be too easy to allow myself to have several days of rest during the week and not work on Aim.

The conclusion to which I am coming is that a day of rest is as necessary as is a night of sleep but only if one’s days are taken up with obligations which impose some form or other of stress.  It should be noted here that stress build-up is a personal thing and not to be judged by anyone else.  Some people are able to cope with incredible situations and keep a perspective while others get overwhelmed by seemingly minor issues.  Only the bearer of stress can know the extent of concern that exists.  A day of rest allows the mind to reset itself.  A day of rest opens six to activity.