Chapter 39 dance with things

2000/04/29 Sanlian Life Weekly Author: Liu Fang People have to make the bed, wash the dishes, and clean the room every day, and often do the work without thinking. The Frenchman Jean-Claude Kaufmann was obsessed with housework and was fascinated by brooms and rags. Ironing a shirt and wiping a piece of glass is full of passion.Kaufman, a sociologist, said in his new book "The Theory of Housework" this year: "In the kingdom of rags and dust, everything is not as simple as it seems, because the details of daily housework contain the essence of what makes a human being. People’s driving force.” According to his point of view, people have to wipe the table after eating, and put the rice bowls in the sink. It is on the basis of these habits that people form an extremely complex behavior and thinking system.Housework, which may seem trivial, is actually the cornerstone of civilization.

Kaufman cites the views of historians and anthropologists to convince people: At first, the cave-dwelling primitives only needed to kick away the bones and husks that got in the way of the bed before going to bed; until one day, he realized that eating Leftovers should not be left "at home".Just bent down to pick up the bones and shells and threw them out of the hole one by one.This is a little effort, but it is also a leap in our brain organization-the concept of "tidying up" was born, human beings invented the trash can, and discovered the necessity and troubles of housework.

The primitive man threw the bones out of the hole, spread out the hides and lay down, and felt at ease.Modern men and women have thousands of things waiting to be placed, the physical things are in the room, and the conceptual things are in the mind.Most of the time, people pick up and put down unconsciously like an automated machine. For example, when we fold the bed in the morning, we just do it without telling ourselves that this action is stacking the bed.The wonderful thing is the unconsciousness, which makes housework like dancing with things, rising and falling with brooms and rags, expressing people's wishes silently, everything goes to where it belongs, and happiness arises spontaneously.

Of course, this kind of dance cannot be crashed.The daily mess of dirty dishes can be annoying, and playful young couples can eventually find themselves doing the dishes after every meal and thinking that’s exactly what they are supposed to do – as chores Become involuntary, and dance enters life. The family is a world of things and people.When some wives do housework, they prefer to let their husbands and children stay aside and experience "dancing with things" by themselves. Every movement in the dance is an expression of love.In some families, things sometimes make people have another kind of involuntary.Kaufman wrote about a woman who had to use an iron after using a rag for 8 consecutive years. She knew it was unreasonable to do so, but she just couldn't control herself.

According to Kaufman's theory, chores really become an annoyance to dancers who can no longer dance.Unfortunately, Kaufman doesn't know how many people don't want to be this kind of dancer.