I once had the great pleasure of spending a day at Disneyland in Paris, outside of tourist season. It was a real pleasure not to have the place packed with crowds, but what really stood out for me was the relatively low number of children there compared to adults. The fact that the atmosphere was still electric with energy, fun and laughter was not lost on me – I was reminded of the fact that we humans retain our juvenile sense of enjoyment and pleasure right into adulthood.
The life lesson here is that human beings are playful creatures – no other species pursues so many activities simply for amusement or spends so much time enjoying themselves – and we need to be this way. As George Bernard Shaw said, “We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."