Scene 1 - "Not Doing"

This is my first post in a new category I call, "SCENES". As you will see, Scenes is an imagined, extended dialogue about an overheard phrase, question or exclamation. I use that as impetus to simply free-associate a dialog. The dialogue has little to do with the intent of the original comment or context in which it was said. I take whatever interests me and use it for my own purposes. It is purely a figment of my imagination.

These vignettes return me to my playwriting days, particularly a performance piece I wrote and performed in 2002, called "Surviving Pearl", in which I acted my mother for an hour and a half. Now that's courage...and cathartic for any of you who might have experienced early childhood trauma at the hands of your mother. I assume the same cathartic effect would apply to play acting fathers. 

In any case, what follows is Scene 1 of what I hope to be a series of dialogs. As usual, I would very much appreciate your comments and reflections. 

Scene 1

Written in an email: "I for one do not envy your days on the beach..." I took this to mean the individual's disinclination to sit in the sun for extended periods. Then, stretched the thought to the concept of boredom and "doing nothing".

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"What do you do?" 

"We do  'not doing'.

"So, you do nothing?" 

"We do the opposite of nothing." 

"Like what?"

"Not much" 

"You don't do much?" 

"Correct"

"That sounds like a lot of nothing to me" 

"I know" 

"If I do nothing, am I doing the same thing you're doing" 

"No." 

"But, you're not doing anything" 

"Not exactly"

"Wait just a minute. If I 'don't do' and you 'don't do', is there any difference?" 

"Only if you're doing nothing. Otherwise, if you're 'not doing', you're 'not doing' exactly the same as me."

"You're saying, I shouldn't do nothing." 

"Right" 

"But, I can 'not do'." 

"Perfect." 

"Perfect?  I don't understand."

"Doing nothing is an unconscious human default setting. It is negative and passive, a place holder, an escape hatch. 'Not doing' is aware, intentional, and active, a place to seek out. Doing nothing puts your life on hold, standing on the sideline. Not doing puts you square on the fifty yard line in the last seconds of the game."

"You're choosing not to do"

"Exactly. Unlike doing nothing, not doing is a positive, affirming act. You ought to try it." 

"I think I will. What do I do?" 

Sigh...