TIME WISE
Are we counting the (the hours)(the years) and ignoring (the minutes)(the days and months)
in what seems to be our mad rush into the future?
Are we moving so rapidly into tomorrow that we don't have time to take note of the surroundings at any given
moment along the way?
.
As we witness the crunch in so many of the workplaces of today, we can only agree that there is some truth in
such accusations.We do not, as we have been urged: "take time to smell the roses". So often , far too often, I dare say,
the emphasis has been on speed rather than quality in so much of what we produce - both in products and in services.
The fast food concept, as an example, does bring us food in record times but with definite limits as well. The fast
food diet has fattened the nation the last decade and will continue to make us wider and heavier if it allowed to grow
without more care given to nutritional values and quality. If it is fast it is not, necessarily good as many people seem to
have been led to think.Chances are exactly the opposite, in fact, and better, slower care in preparing foods to be served
might be more healthful in many ways. You might say that haste makes "waist" and we have sufficiently rotund abdominal
areas as it is without adding any more inches.
We have become a nation of clock watchers. Almost everything we undertake to do has time limits fore and aft.
We expect fast service in department stores; we cannot wait in line at the banks or airline ticket offices without nervous
agitation’s and loud complaining and there is a special urgency about shopping for foods and household needs at the local
supermarket. They are also expected to stock everything because we don't have time to visit specialty stores which
feature appliances, wallpaper, paint or gardening equipment and that sort of thing.. Hundreds of such items must be
stocked where you buy them when you buy your foods.One must save time at all times!
Saving time is a national mania with millions and must be undertaken on a daily basis even if it takes longer to do
it
On our highways speed is essential. Few people observe the set speed standards on any of our highways,
including those who will insist they do. I have been one of them and I have ridden with drivers who insisted they drove
slowly at all times. "Except when..." has to be inserted in their line of talk about driving, however, because they too join
the rush to everywhere more than they will admit. TV commecialsl for new cars feature speed above all advantages, too.
Every now and then some "kook" points out that we don't make good use of the time we claim we are saving.
Such helpful guidance usually occurs in printed materials as filler inserted to keep the ads apart a bit but the writers never
seem to have time to develop the idea about what might be done to alleviate the condition.
It is true.We do waste lot of our valuable moments, but the answer is not to be found in new strivings to fill such
vacant spots. Rather, we need to refer to past experiences and earnestly try to revive the concept of doing creating
things ourselves...on our own and without the intercession of electronic gadgetry or other such aides to creativity and
excellence in the management of parts, pieces and placement of things. An idea conceived while swinging in a hammock
was much more valued far mess stressful than the identical concept arrived at by the gadgetry route.
The manner in which we do things today is not always the best. It may be fast, but that does not make it good. In
needs to savor ideas just as one does good foods.
A.L.M. June 30, 2002 [c540wds]
