On the Way to Somewhere… else…
April 24, 2005
There are things that we must do that are never fun. One of those things is grocery shopping. I mean, seriously… the grocery store is no fun. Today I drug my butt down to the store to pick up a few things, and while I could probably rant for a while about how much I abhor the grocery store, that’s not the point of this post.
On the way there I was cut off twice by drivers in a hurry. Once I got there I was cut off by another speedy parker. And as I was leaving, an older woman came flying around me as I was backing out just so she could grab a parking space (as if I was about to pull out of a space I already had and move up two spaces to the one she wanted).
I live down the street from a high school and it never fails that I always seem to be driving by there when school is getting out. Nearly ever car pulling out of the parking lot squeals it’s tires and it never fails that someone pulls out dangerously close to me. You could write it off as people who just got their licenses and haven’t had enough fender benders to know any better… but I think there’s more to it.
Folks are in a hurry these days. Not just in their cars, either. It’s everywhere. People are always in a hurry to be somewhere… or to leave somewhere. Patience is a virtue that most of us seem to have forgotten, myself included on occasion.
When was the last time you ran into someone who was where they wanted to be? You know what happens when you see someone out in public. You exchange small talk about how things are going… and where you’re on your way to. “I’m just picking up a few things before I head to the mall”… or “I stopped to get something to eat on my way to work”… maybe even “I’m dropping off some dry cleaning before I pick up the kids from soccer practice and then head home to make dinner”… etc.
Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t expect the grocery store to be a long term destination for anyone (“oh yeah… I’m just hanging out at Kroger to admire the live lobster”). Nor is the dry cleaner, Wendy’s, or the doctor’s office. While they are just examples, they do illustrate my point. Everyone is always on the way to somewhere else. No one is ever where they want to be… or where they want to end up.
Where is this ultimate destination?
What’s a little funny is the fact that I’m starting to think we’ve replaced the virtue of patience with the virtue of busy. How many times have you heard someone say “at least you’re keeping busy”? As if it’s a good thing to stay busy at all times?
What ever happened to days spent doing nothing? Or at the very least a day of leisure… or pleasure? When was the last time you spent a day doing something you wanted to do without feeling guilty because you put off doing all those other things that are “keeping you busy”?
Maybe it’s not so bad to pull the reins, slow down, and let out an earth-shattering “whoa” to the forces that would have drawn and quartered otherwise.
Posted in Advice, Human Nature, Noteworthy
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April 8th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Yes, I’m impressed with myself right now. I’m spending this long weekend at home with the family and doing what others would classify as “absolutely nothing”. With the occasional chatting on past events, chatting on curent events, helping on food preparation, watching TV, browsing the web and reading blogs (as you can tell from the amount of comments I’ve left in this blog). The feeling is great.
With all the hectic weekday schedules, why should I feel guilty just sitting around chatting and doing “absolutely nothing”? But no-o-o, better not tell your co-workers, or your friends or even strangers. Why? Well, if you don’t want the weird looks, the endless prompting of “Come on, you must have done something exciting on the weekend. Now tell me, what was it that you did?” or the “What!!!??? You just wasted a long weekend!!! Geez, you gotta get a life, man! A real life I say!”, then don’t say “absolutely nothing.” I mean it, all talking from experience.
Yeah, I noticed the amount of impatience people have these days as gone up drastically. A lot more speeding and honking on the roads. *sigh*
If you have ever talked to anyone from your parent’s generation, they will tell you that there was always spare time to do something. The days of the telegram and the snail mail compared to the current email. You could send a project off for approval and wait 2 weeks for it to come back. Now, since the project is delivered in less than a minute, everyone is expected to work on it immediately. Every email is almost always accompanied with one of these terms: ASAP, Urgent, Rush, Due Yesterday, Need Now. No wonder the heart attacks and anxiety attacks are so common these days. We don’t even get time to think!
April 10th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
I think “doing nothing” is a great thing TO DO. In fact, I love spending a day or two doing nothing. I spend the vast majority of my waking hours doing all sorts of things.
So when I get some down time and have nothing to do… I love to do just that. And I say “pppbbttttt” to the people that think it’s weird. They don’t know what they’re missing! haha.