Play with a lovely baby! Play is just play!

Last Friday, I went my friend’s home in order to celebrate her baby’s 100^th day from birth. At that time, I really enjoyed playing with her baby, Suri. I hugged, kissed, contacted eyes her and sang a song for her. I felt it seemed like play, joyful play to me. Her smiling and communion with baby made me was happy like as feeling in heaven. However, other friend said me that he never has enjoyed playing with babies. He said when he was being with babies, he just felt like this time is stressful or hard to him. In contrast, time to play with babies is always enjoyable and playful to me. I thought that a standard to judge whether this is play or not might be depending on personal perspective, not common value.

Moreover, after reading chapter ‘the rhetoric of fate’, I also have a question about play: “where are the standards of the value of play?” either in own self as individual, internal or norms of community as external.

According to the book, entitled The Ambiguity of Play, some lottery players say that, despite the fact that they know  will lose, they so enjoy the fantasy of winning, and dreaming of what they will do with their winnings, that it is well worth the price of the lottery ticket. In other words, lottery players might enjoy playful not reality, but rather imaginative satisfaction. For me, advocates of the rhetoric of progress of play seem to emphasize on rational or reality of play, whereas advocates of the rhetoric of fate of play seem to have values on illusion or fantasy of play. I think both perspectives about play are reasonable to understand meaning of play. Just it could be different depending on different value standards to perceive what the play is. Finally, I wonder it is possible in class of play, hierarchy in play, quality of play. If so, who can decide what the better play for human life is.