Fast,
faster, fastest! We all are running very fast, we have no time to
slow down, look back, ruminate or think about others. Where are we
headed, by the way? As technology is making things easier and faster
for us, logically we ought to slow down and enjoy life. In earlier
times, almost everything was done manually and our forefathers still
had time to enjoy life. It is not that they did not enjoy their walk
through paths of life. They did. Also, we cannot say they achieved in
life less than what we have been able to achieve. If we define
achievement against material benchmarks we have erroneously set for
ourselves, then their is a fundamental problem. Earning heaps of
money and accumulating wealth is not success by any yardstick.
Success is what many great people, who lived very simple and austere
lives, achieved and who are remembered today by their deeds, and not
by how much materialistic success they enjoyed.
It
has been ages since even I heard or saw the birds chirp, trees sway
in cold morning breeze, rains lash the earth, water flow down in a
stream or sun and moon rise and set. I haven't even smelled wet earth
in years. We all do understand the importance of such simple
indulgences and the pleasure they give but somehow we have a notion
that we are very busy and cannot spare time for such leisurely
activities. Well, we are fooling ourselves and wasting our precious
time. E
Hoffer in “Reflections on the Human Condition” wrote that,
"The
feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full
life and having no time. It is, rather, born of a vague fear that we
are wasting our life."
Be
that as it may, what is of essence is to slow down. Do not stop, but
slow down. For if you rush through life you will end up having a near
life experience, but you will never live life to its fullest.
"The
trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you are still a
rat."
Lily
Tomlin
