HURRY UP!!! … and wait

“Hurry. Hurry! HURRY!!! I’ve got somewhere to go!”

“Where you going in such a hurry?”

“That’s irrelevant, just get out of my way so I can get there!”

“…Asshole…”

This is a conversation I had earlier this week, in front of the elevator at work. Ok, so I didn’t exactly have this conversation, but it’s how I saw it going in my mind. For the third time this week, some guy was rushing to get onto the elevator on the first floor before everyone could get off. And it was only Tuesday. Mind you, I work from home on Mondays. This was all after I saw the lady get her huge purse stuck in the train doors, because she just HAD to make this train. After the kid with the fatigues on damn near took my arm of on 8^th Avenue running to G-d knows where. All this got me to thinking. What are we rushing for?

Think about the typical day in NYC:

• Get out of bed, and hurry to get into the shower because you woke up late.


• You skip breakfast of course.


• You rush to the train station, but of course, you JUST miss that crowded-ass train, so you have to wait a whole THREE MINUTES for the next crowded-ass train.


• Now you’re late, so of course you’re on the train tapping your foot and yelling at the conductor to ‘CLOSE THE DAMN DOORS, ALREADY!!’ – in your head of course.


• You walk into the office a whole 13 minutes late; no one really cares, but you still think everyone is watching.


• You have to catch up with that ‘Mission Critical’ email that came through 5 minutes after you left the office last night (late, of course); so now you’re whole day is rushed.


• Hurry to grab your [expensive sandwich] for the 15 minutes you get before you have to hurry back to the office for that 2pm conference call – where you’re to busy eating said sandwich to open your mouth for the whole call.


• You had to stay late at the office, and finish up yet ANOTHER project, and answer that email that came from L.A. – where it’s still relatively early, of course, so now you have to rush home, and try to find something to eat.


• By the time you’ve gotten home, changed your clothes, put a little bit in your stomach, and you can finally relax … it’s time to go to bed.

Welcome to the life of a Yuppie/Buppie. Never a moment to relax, never a moment to breathe. That’s how it is in “The City That Never Sleeps.” I’m sure it’s like this in a lot of other cities.

At some point in life, I think it’s important that we slow down. Smell the roses, look at a sunrise and all that mishagoss. Life is passing faster now, and that probably has everything to do with not being able to slow down. It’s not the World that moving any faster; its that we’re too busy rushing to realize the value of the time we have.

SLOW DOWN