About Time

Have you noticed that ‘time’ is featuring prominently in these observations of mine concerning communication again. From the ‘time’ children need to communicate, to how media is presenting ‘information’ in the ridiculously brief spasm of commentary. Even commercials are generally 30 secs, so why are news comments so brief? Like a military commander to the ‘grunts’ (infantry soldier – old school), or your parents, when wanting an answer to a question, they do not want to give you ‘time’ to think about what has been said. They want an instant reaction. Unquestioned. Do you recall your parent’s response, in answer to your question of “Why?”, when they asked you to do something?  Their response was “Just do it”? (Just remember it probably wasn’t a Nike boss who said ‘Just do it’, it was probably an advertising salesman. In fact it was probably an advertising salesman whose parents had said it so often it was ingrained in his ‘pysche’, who said, to a Nike boss, “How about, ‘Just Do It’? And a Nike boss (because his parents had probably said the same thing to him, when he was a child and asked ‘Why?”) who said to the advertising salesman …Sounds good. ‘Okay’).

Even in ‘criminal offences’ time taken to react to something is brought into account. Assaults for example. In many defences they claim the person reacted instantly. They did it without thinking (seldom, it has been my experience to observe, without drinking though). But it is ‘Time’, which the defence use. They say that things would have been different if their client had had ‘time’ to think about their reaction to something, before committing the assault. Perhaps if their ‘client’ had taken the time to think how much alcohol they were consuming, before they chose to commit the assault, the situation would have been different too. Time. Do we use it effectively? Seldom.

I have a dentist, who made a decision a few years ago. He halved his client list. Just like that. He got rid of those clients who ‘wasted his time’. Who failed to pay on time, who ignored his advice, and used up his time getting repairs, that would have been unnecessary if they had done as he had told them. And do you now what he discovered? Yes, he earned less money. A lot less. But, he finds he does things with the time he freed up. He now stops for lunch during the day. He reads during his lunch hour. He has learnt to play an instrument. And best of all? He smiles. He is now twice as happy as he ever was. That was making use of his time. Some years ago, in my travels, I met a ‘journeyman’ of Japanese Bunraku puppetry. A wonderful traditional art form. I asked when speaking with him after a stunning performance, when had he learnt to ‘master’ the skill. He told me he was not a master, he was an apprentice. He told me had become an apprentice when he was eighteen years old. He was now fifty five years old. He said he would become a master, when he thought he was ready. He understood time better than most.

(Continued tomorrow)