Slow Down!

Man, I just got back from a little weekend retreat from Gloucester, Massachusetts and relaxing I cannot say that it was. You'd think that a "sleepy" little fishing town on the beautiful Atlantic Ocean would be a relaxed place to hang, but it ain't. Mebbe there were alotta Bostonians there this past weekend (a tribe known for their rat race mentality), but if not, I can't explain it. My lovely wife Jessica and I went into this small little coffee dive in downtown on Saturday morning looking to spend a few quiet moments and we were met with a scene outta a Keystone Kops movie. All of the staff were rushing around with reckless abandon and Jess nearly got close-lined by one waitress sprinting with her tray of dirty dishes. Perhaps I'm overreacting, but I don't think those dirty dishes were screaming to get washed, so I don't see why it was so important to get them to the kitchen yesterday. As a former dishwasher I know they can pile up, but day-yam! The customers were no better, scarfing down their lattes and muffins as if there were no this aftenoon, let alone tomorrow. It was definitely unnerving for this Midwestern country boy.

So it got me to thinking, is this what we've come to? We can't even relax on Saturday morning anymore?

When did this happen? Did I miss that day when the paperwork was handed out? "Thou shalt hurry in all things thou doeth." (Yeah, that's incorrect, gimme a break, I grew up reading Stan Lee's "Thor" comics.)

Seems to me that we need to learn how to relax, particularly now that terrorism is a daily concern. It's never been more important to appreciate the time that we have.

I'm no innocent in alla this (I'm no innocent in anything, but don't tell my Mamma that). I'm certainly guilty of the Hurry Syndrome, as I find myself constantly fretting over the next five things to do while rushing beyond reason on my current task. As I'm writing Gutwallow I'm already worried about penciling and inking it, at the same time I'm concerned with writing these columns and all the stuff I gotta do at the day job. It all adds up to a needless attitude that everything shoulda been finished before it was even started. This, my friends, is a method of madness that must cease and desist.

Has the Bostonian tribal attitude affected me, or has Society shaped the Bostonian attitude, along with the rest of the country? I dunno... but I do know we gotta stop it. We gotta stop buying crap like those Pillsbury cookies that come pre-cut, because we just don't have time to run a knife through some refrigerated dough anymore. Think about that one - we don't have time to run a knife through refrigerated dough. Can it get any sadder than that?!

Time is not the enemy unless we make it so.

We are mortal, this alone should make us embrace our time, not rush through it. I know it ain't easy, but I'm trying to slow down, to make each task enjoyable in and of itself and to appreciate the process of spending time wisely, rather than rushing through it with the mad-eyed abandon of a Hal Roach character. So mebbe my trip to Gloucester will prove to be more relaxing than I thought, in the long term.

Best wishes and Godspeed... er... well, you know what I mean...