Everyone knows that someone, who just can’t be bothered to move a little faster, as they shuffle down the hall, push around some papers, walk to the pantry, get around to shoveling, or pick up the phone. But almost without exception no one bothers to ask why? Instead we assume they’re just lazy.

But is it within the human spirit to ‘be lazy’? The Merriam Webster dictionary defines ‘lazy’ as  “disinclined to activity or exertion :  not energetic or vigorous.”  What would cause people to lose vigor and energy or decline activity?

People who are not contributing to the society they live in are either physically sick or emotionally hurting (which is sick, too). They’ve been discouraged and came to believe they are not worthy of contributing, that they don’t have anything worthwhile to contribute. Their talents/skills have probably been denied, criticized, or made fun of somewhere/sometime in their life, and they’ve given up, fearful of the rejection they once felt.

Some are physically sick, their body so weak, so depleted, that it’s all they can do to carry their body around each day, having so little energy they can’t possibly do any more than that. Their maladies may have been diagnosed as chronic fatigue, adrenal exhaustion, depression, fibromyalgia  or something else, or the doctors have unable to identify what is wrong. However, they are sick, struggling each day to drag themselves around, trying to do what they need to do, even though they don’t want to. Sometimes they might manage, and sometimes, without the necessary energy, they just can’t.

Then there are those on the opposite side of the spectrum, the workaholics, which are really the same as the emotionally hurting  described above. They, too, have been emotionally wounded sometime in their life, but they now attempt to compensate for the unworthiness they feel by working, working, working to PROVE they ARE worthwhile. Yet, it is never enough, and no amount of work will ever be able to convince them that they ARE enough, until they actually BELIEVE they ARE worthy human BEings, just by BEing.

Sadly, society feeds the workaholic by extolling accolades upon them, often commenting about how ‘hard working’ he/she is, which drives him/her to work even more. On the other hand, society looks down upon all those others, failing to realize or recognize their woundedness, mislabeling them ‘lazy’. Of course, this only inflicts more wounds, causing them to retreat even further from participating in their community by sharing a gift/talent/skill that they DO have.

No matter which scenario, everyone loses.

The best we can do is eliminate the judgment, the label, and the stigma of that word: lazy. Let’s recognize that every human BEing does the best he/she can do. Let’s reach out and offer when they might need a helping hand. Let’s put that word ‘lazy’ to rest.