Expedite

ex . pe . dite/ verb/ accelerate, hasten, step-up, quicken

Time, you old Gypsy Man, will you not stay?

Put up your caravan just for a day.

                                                                                                             Ralph Hodgson

Isn’t it ironic that people want Old Father Time to slow down, but at the same time they want things to move at a fast pace? Individuals today tend to be impatient with slow.

This week’s word, expedite,  is quite  popular nowadays. It is most often  used in the commercial world and fits in well with the stepped-up version of life that we are experiencing. “Free Grocery Pickup– Save Time”  read the sign I saw in front of a  nearby grocery store,  part of a nationally known chain. Customers may order their groceries online and pick them up at the store. People are eager to expedite  grocery shopping and other  activities in order to save time, but what do they do with the time they save?  The more pertinent question is, What have they done with all the time they have saved over the years?  I asked myself the question one day last week when a driver rushed past me on the road as if my car was simply  parked in the right lane. He zig-zagged in and out of traffic, and blithely went on his way. As an islander, I watched the performance and thought, That driver has “dead pon board.”  Translation: he or she (most likely a he)  has a dead body on board the vehicle and is hurrying to a burial, something the old folk would say when they saw someone  driving  in a mighty rush for obviously no good reason.

Expedite means “to make an action or a process happen sooner or be accomplished more quickly.” So when we have to wait, we are impatient because we want the situation speeded up. For instance, when  you have to wait at the doctor’s office, how many times do you check your watch or your smartphone for the time? And when the nurse comes to the door and calls somebody else’s name, do you deliberately look at your watch again to give her a hint? When the traffic is backed up on your main traveled road, do you dart into a side street and wind your way through a quiet neighborhood to skirt the delay? At the supermarket, do you watch the lines to see which one is the shortest and dash for it the minute it seems you will get through more quickly there?  We don’t tolerate waiting very well.

New to the  supermarket where I shop are banks of self-checkout  kiosks.  Where there used to be one or two, now there is an explosion of them, with very few aisles tended by a live cashier. The idea is to help the shopper get through faster, but I think that having a basketful of groceries to take out and scan item by item and replace them in the bags and in the basket is quite tedious. A lot of  people don’t seem to mind though. They think they are in charge and are getting through faster.

In 1854, Henry David Thoreau, in his book Walden, posed a question that is at the same time an indictment: “Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?. We are determined to be starved before we are hungry.  Men say that a stitch in time saves nine, so they take a thousand stitches today to save nine tomorrow.” Does this sound like 2018 when the business world runs on fast, and  businesspeople are trying to transfer the speed to consumers? Entrepreneur Adam Fridman, founder and CEO of Mably, a marketing agency, says, “companies have to do whatever it takes to stay relevant,” and  he adds that “maintaining speed” is one  of the ways to do this. In maintaining speed, Fridman says, “a culture of speed is naturally formed.”  Yes, and  that culture is projected onto  us.

It appears that everyone  is in the fast game. FedEx and UPS provide “expedited service.”  Even the Post Office seems to be committed to fast.  When next  you go to mail a package, listen to the clerk’s spiel about the array of options–and prices–available to get your package to arrive at its destination speedily. They are doing their part to satisfy our love affair with fast.

However, it seems to me we are going about this matter of saving time the wrong way. Instead of succumbing to inducements to expedite matters and  save time, we should look at time as an ally and appreciate its value as a talent we can use wisely. Regarding  our time,  we  can decide what our priorities are, then  set goals and work toward them as we would do with our other talents.  Here are a few pointers to help us manage our time and avoid being caught up in today’s quest for fast.

1.  Live against the backdrop of eternity. See beyond the everyday, the things-to-do  list, and realize that

this life is not the whole of existence. Instead of always trying to save time, make time for the

essential things, those things that really matter.

2.  Make use of fragments of time.  While waiting your turn  at an appointment, write a note to a friend or to someone who may be experiencing a loss. Always have pencil and paper handy. This might be hard to imagine in our technological age, but it works. As long as we are thinking and have ideas, they are worth capturing for our own use later or  for sharing with others.

3.  Take your hobby with you whenever possible. The older generation did knitting and crocheting, and some people still do. It slows things down a bit. Knit and think—a good combination.

4.  Read. This is a tried-and-true solution for using time wisely and to decelerate. Take along a book on your next doctor’s visit. Read and be inspired, informed, or entertained.

In the rush of life, when the world seems to be moving too fast, let us slow down and get into that quiet place mentioned in Ralph Carmichael’s  song that the group Take 6  made popular. “There is a quiet place, far from the rapid pace, where God can soothe our troubled mind.”  We can go to that quiet place whenever we wish, and there we will always  find renewal to return to face  the  world with calm assurance  and an understanding of what saving  time really  means.

Blessings,

Judith

*****

“Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).