No Time Like the Present
I once saw comedian who did a funny bit about old people driving slowly. He wondered why grandma and grandpa took it so easy behind the wheel when, after all, they didn’t have all that much time left to drive. “When I’m old,” the comedian ranted, “I’m gonna be flooring it all over the place. Outta my way! I’m gonna die soon!”
I was in my twenties when I heard that routine and it made perfect sense to me. I thought of all the times I’d gotten stuck behind some old guy woolgathering as he poked along, making me miss the green light, and couldn’t understand it either.
Now, though, that I’m much closer in age to those folks the comedian was parodying, I empathize much more with slow drivers than ever before.
The difference is that I’m not so much in a hurry to get to the next place anymore. I’m pleased enough to be where I am and to enjoy this moment now as much as possible.
This isn’t to say that I’m comfortable wasting time; I realize that in order to do all the things I’d like to do in the time I have left, I’d better get cracking and not procrastinate. However, I also don’t consider nearly as many things as I formerly did to be wastes of time.
Getting to where I’m going is a destination itself. To some extent, as long as I’m someplace, that’s good enough for me.
Broken record observation: The above is more likely to be true when I’m on my bike than when I’m in my car. On the bike, even when I’m going slowly, I’m still on a bike ride. In a car, when I’m going slowly, I’m stuck in traffic.
Of course, as Jen’s hairdresser once observed, this is probably because I drive a Ford station wagon.
If I drove a Porsche, I wouldn’t be in such a hurry to get out of the car.
I was in my twenties when I heard that routine and it made perfect sense to me. I thought of all the times I’d gotten stuck behind some old guy woolgathering as he poked along, making me miss the green light, and couldn’t understand it either.
Now, though, that I’m much closer in age to those folks the comedian was parodying, I empathize much more with slow drivers than ever before.
The difference is that I’m not so much in a hurry to get to the next place anymore. I’m pleased enough to be where I am and to enjoy this moment now as much as possible.
This isn’t to say that I’m comfortable wasting time; I realize that in order to do all the things I’d like to do in the time I have left, I’d better get cracking and not procrastinate. However, I also don’t consider nearly as many things as I formerly did to be wastes of time.
Getting to where I’m going is a destination itself. To some extent, as long as I’m someplace, that’s good enough for me.
Broken record observation: The above is more likely to be true when I’m on my bike than when I’m in my car. On the bike, even when I’m going slowly, I’m still on a bike ride. In a car, when I’m going slowly, I’m stuck in traffic.
Of course, as Jen’s hairdresser once observed, this is probably because I drive a Ford station wagon.
If I drove a Porsche, I wouldn’t be in such a hurry to get out of the car.
posted by Professor Dave at 9:55 PM
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