Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

A tough one to define, but we usually know it when we see it. And then we ask, “Why?” Look to the eyes.

I spent a few days in airports recently. I found myself discouraged. The word “sloth” kept coming to mind. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away I found a newspaper headline exhorting a people to a campaign against sloth and slovenliness. (The second is actually a word, I found the definition online.)

I suppose the word we use today is “sloppy.” Lots of people wandering, and that is how I describe their gait—wandering, through the airport were just plain sloppy. They were the photo you would see next to the adjective form of sloth in the dictionary.

That definition is: a habitual disinclination to exertion.

Hey, comb your hair. Tuck you shirt in your pants. Tie you shoe laces. Stand up straight.

Wait, did my mother write this blog post? No, but I can see her nodding in agreement.

Let’s step past adornment and go to the crux of the matter. I saw sloth in the eyes. Perhaps it was the expression surrounding the eyes. There were people who needed to change their attire, but they were sharp minded and focused. There were people in three-piece suits (yes, some people still wear these at the airport) who displayed slovenliness.

Perhaps the eyes are the light of the body. Perhaps the eyes either shine with the activity of the mind or blur when a mind is … don’t know what to write here, “dull” comes to the keyboard.