To be fully human

The argument for everyone to have a hobby, Rotary 4 way speech contest

         

To be fully human

         Molly Rinker, a female spy for George Washington, during the revolutionary war, would pretend to knit while spying on British soldiers. She would hide notes of sensitive information in balls of yarn. Only to give it to American soldiers.
         Theres a longstanding tradition of female spies sharing information in this manner. Even knitting encrypted codes into garments themselves.
          The prevalence of knitting itself is what allowed for this. The sight so unexpecting that spies easily got away with it. Now, conversely, they may stand out.
         Theres this gap, this critical lack of hobbies. And it's not just kids my age, since I've grown up, my mother has stopped sewing. My father, stopped reading.
         To truly get the most out of this human experience, I believe, we have to do things, go out of our way to learn. And hobbies, are just the pinnacle of that.
         Today, using the Rotary 4 Way test, I will urge you to pick up a hobby. Proving the benefits, proving that we must have hobbies to be truly fulfilled as an individual and as a community. Proving, that we must have hobbies to have the full human experience.
         So, first of all, is it true that people must have a hobby? In 2021, a handful of professors at the University College London wrote an analysis titled "How leisure activities affect health".
         There are dozens of studies that prove the benefits of hobbies. They support mental development, and positively affect behavior. The professors found 600 ways hobbies were proven to affect our health. Their analysis aims to tie these things all together into one major framework.
         Hobbies prompt a slew of psychological, biological, social, and behavioural processes, which in turn affect each other and improves the overall health of the individual.
         All this to say, hobbies are healthy. They're especially important as we get older. Multiple studies i saw focused on the effect of hobbies on the elderly, allowing them to keep mental clarity and prevent illness.
         Therefore, hobbies improve our well being and having one is more beneficial than not. And it is true. We must.
         Secondly, Is it fair to everyone to say that we all must have a hobby? When coming up with this idea for my speech, I hesitated. It felt too intense to say that we must have a hobby. But really looking at the facts, i really do believe that we must.
         When people ask me, oh what are you doing for your speech? And i respond with the need for hobbies. The main response back is, oh. but not me right? Its accusatory, and overly critical to say- you have to change your behavior.
         But Im not trying to judge people, im trying to encourage them. I would bet everyone here would agree, having a hobby is better than not. And yet I know so many people without one.
         This summer, I volunteered at the Friends of the [TOWN] Library. I love books, and being near books.
         The Friends sells used books for cheap, to further fund the library. They also fund programs to encourage reading, and provide books to low income families. All this to say, the community comes together in efforts to provide people with the opportunity to have a fulfilling hobby.
         The library is the home of this, you can borrow instruments, board games, cookie cutters, and portable tire inflaters. This is a resources out there for folks who cant exactly buy a telescope right now.
         It is fair. Hobbies are too beneficial to dismiss, and making the library a free and accessible resources makes this claim fair.
         Third, does the requirement of hobbies foster goodwill and better friendship? I knit a lot at school, and every time, from friends, acquaintances, people I've never spoken to, I get asked what are you making?
         Its a passive curiosity, but mainly a conversation starter. I get asked updates on projects. I think its sweet, even if they don't actually care about the project, they care about me. Its simple connection.
         We are encouraged to develop new hobbies in our communities. Schools promote clubs, the library hosts workshops. And while we partake in our hobby, we are surrounded by like minded individuals. Having something in common immediately sparks conversation.
         So if it be people who share the hobby or not, having one drives connection in the simplest manners. Its common ground.
         Hobbies also improve us as people, the previously mentioned 2021 study shows the behavioral and social benefits of hobbies. If we are better as people, we are better in relationships.
         And lastly, is it beneficial to everyone to require hobbies? During the start of covid, i started drawing. With the new vacancy in my life i needed something to fill it. This created a spiral of hobby collecting, and my newfound love of trying out new skills.
         Im now a serial hobby collector. I had to adapt. I felt tired and lazy, sitting at home, so I was forced to pick up art.
         I know the benefit of hobbies because i've felt it change me. I want to learn new skills, and i put hours into it. Thats why i care so much. I want everyone to feel this.
         Hobbies are skills lost to time. I never learned how to sew. In the past, sewing was an essential skill. But with industrialization, I never needed to.
         We should encourage hobbies, because we should encourage learning. Encourage the preservation of these skills. If no young people learn how to sew, then it'll be forgotten. Its beneficial to everyone, because it makes a society.
         Urging people to have a hobby successfully passes the 4 way test.
         A UK charity, Heritage crafts, made a 'red list' for hobbies. Its an ever expanding list of crafts that are going extinct. No one will practice them.
         We watch this monolith, and we watch it crumble. Hobbies, these talents, are engrained in our culture. From spies to Jane Austen characters. From cave men to Banksy.
         Hobbies make the human experience. If they go extinct- what are we doing here? Living to work? To go on our phones?
         Please, just hear me out. Go to the library, go to a Michaels. Just pick up a hobby. Do it for yourself, because you know to be fully human, is to have a hobby.
         Thank you.