Learning to be idle

My father is over 70 now, and shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. He’s just not the retiring type, apparently. He left his job a year ago, but he’s now involved in numerous government and charity committees. To me, hell is an endless committee meeting, but he seems to like it.

Why, I wonder, does he still work so hard? For money? No, he’s earned enough money to go on several holidays, but doesn’t. Is it desire for status and approval? The philosopher Adam Smith suggested we slave away to acquire status to win the approval of the public (real or imagined). It’s a delusion because people’s approval isn’t permanent and doesn’t make us permanently happy. And yet, said Adam