True story. No I wasn't doing the 'walk of shame' and I hadn't recently escaped from some institution that denied me the use of scissors or well...my arms for that matter.
Nevertheless there I was was, nightgown in hand.
It's easily explained away, I sit in a cubicle that is situated directly under an air conditioning vent which means that despite the fact that it may in fact be April or August, you will probably find me with my arms covered in some kind of 'shrug' or wrap. My favorite one is this little stretch black cotton number that has 3-quarter sleeves and is in fact the same color and fabric as my nightie. So running out the door, I grabbed my 'shrug' and ended up at work with my night-gown.
This all led me to think that maybe, just maybe, I needed to slow down a bit.
I've always hated the term multi-tasking. Probably because I am not one of those people who easily does it. For MASH fans, I've always subscribed to the Charles Emerson Winchester, III methodology, (must be said in a condescending pseudo-British Boston accent) "I do one thing, I do it very well and then I move on".
However, I live in this world that insists that we go at everything with breakneck speed and somehow the iconoclast in me is roused and I feel frantic at the loss of peace, quality, thoroughness. The truth is, you just can't rush everything.
I've always liked to say I am analog in a digital world but of late, I feel more like I'm unplugged and acoustic!
Non-company just moved everyone to a new social networking interface called "Yammer". Probably some of you Millenials are familiar with it. It's like Facebook...only instead of updating people on how much you love your husband, what you had for lunch or how your trip to Disney went, people on Yammer, well, yammer about how much they love their job, how they wish they could step out for lunch but are stuck completing their end of the month reports, and how that trip to visit X-Customer in Scranton went.
Once again, the dissenter in me rears her ugly head and bemoans the fact that people have quit writing letters, having face to face conversations, and relating to people. The other morning, I found myself yammering to my team who were sitting inches away that I would be in training all morning and my self-loathing reached epic proportions.
What's more ironic is that the training was all about engaging in respectful dialogs with one's colleagues! Basically, Non-Company could have saved itself several grand if they had just yammered out one 'tweet' outlining the Golden Rule, "Do Unto To Others As You Would Have Done To You". When I mentioned this to one of my colleagues, he sniffed derisively and huffed to me, "Not everyone's religious!" I tried but failed to restrain myself from saying that it was not a Bible verse as such, but a universal maxim that has similar application in, but not limited to Judaism, Confuscism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Zoroastrinism, and Christianity.
It's hard to observe the Golden Rule though or any rule for that matter when you're safely ensconced in your cubicle pecking away at your keyboard. Or in your home for that matter. I cannot even count the times when I've read the 'comments' section after an article and felt my stomach roil as I read remarks from otherwise seemingly benign, well-adjusted human beings who when roused could rival the meglomania of Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Pol Pot and Adolf Hitler put together. Or possibly the late Kim Jung Il, Sadaam Hussein,Yasser Arafat and Hugo Chavez put together. Sometimes it's as if, not hearing the words aloud prevents us from being able to filter, to restrain our malice, to temper our words with kindness. One of my favorite theologians and humorists, the late Jamie Buckingham once said words, that I've quoted not once but hundreds of times "Sometimes it's better to be kind than to be right".
The next time you want to weigh in on an issue, Yammer with your colleagues, Facebook with your friends, maybe get up and walk to see them, pick up the phone, uncap the pen and relate personally. Okay, perhaps I reached a bit on the last one, but I've always been drawn to the fact that the Apostle Paul (and yeah, maybe I am being a bit 'religious' here) stressed the fact that he wrote his letters 'in his own hand' (probably depending on the era, his own hand might have meant a Royal Typewriter, an IBM Selectric, or a Mac) but the point is, he underwent considerable trouble and pain to obtain the parchments, the quills, ill to the point of death, Paul went out of his way to communicate, to relate. And his words form approximately half of the whole New Testament not to mention becoming the basis for the early Christian church.
So slow down a bit, get out from behind the PC, switch off your 'droid for an hour, and talk. Or you too might find yourself clutching your nightgown over your arm and wondering where it all went wrong.
It's easily explained away, I sit in a cubicle that is situated directly under an air conditioning vent which means that despite the fact that it may in fact be April or August, you will probably find me with my arms covered in some kind of 'shrug' or wrap. My favorite one is this little stretch black cotton number that has 3-quarter sleeves and is in fact the same color and fabric as my nightie. So running out the door, I grabbed my 'shrug' and ended up at work with my night-gown.
This all led me to think that maybe, just maybe, I needed to slow down a bit.
I've always hated the term multi-tasking. Probably because I am not one of those people who easily does it. For MASH fans, I've always subscribed to the Charles Emerson Winchester, III methodology, (must be said in a condescending pseudo-British Boston accent) "I do one thing, I do it very well and then I move on".
However, I live in this world that insists that we go at everything with breakneck speed and somehow the iconoclast in me is roused and I feel frantic at the loss of peace, quality, thoroughness. The truth is, you just can't rush everything.
I've always liked to say I am analog in a digital world but of late, I feel more like I'm unplugged and acoustic!
Non-company just moved everyone to a new social networking interface called "Yammer". Probably some of you Millenials are familiar with it. It's like Facebook...only instead of updating people on how much you love your husband, what you had for lunch or how your trip to Disney went, people on Yammer, well, yammer about how much they love their job, how they wish they could step out for lunch but are stuck completing their end of the month reports, and how that trip to visit X-Customer in Scranton went.
Once again, the dissenter in me rears her ugly head and bemoans the fact that people have quit writing letters, having face to face conversations, and relating to people. The other morning, I found myself yammering to my team who were sitting inches away that I would be in training all morning and my self-loathing reached epic proportions.
What's more ironic is that the training was all about engaging in respectful dialogs with one's colleagues! Basically, Non-Company could have saved itself several grand if they had just yammered out one 'tweet' outlining the Golden Rule, "Do Unto To Others As You Would Have Done To You". When I mentioned this to one of my colleagues, he sniffed derisively and huffed to me, "Not everyone's religious!" I tried but failed to restrain myself from saying that it was not a Bible verse as such, but a universal maxim that has similar application in, but not limited to Judaism, Confuscism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Zoroastrinism, and Christianity.
It's hard to observe the Golden Rule though or any rule for that matter when you're safely ensconced in your cubicle pecking away at your keyboard. Or in your home for that matter. I cannot even count the times when I've read the 'comments' section after an article and felt my stomach roil as I read remarks from otherwise seemingly benign, well-adjusted human beings who when roused could rival the meglomania of Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Pol Pot and Adolf Hitler put together. Or possibly the late Kim Jung Il, Sadaam Hussein,Yasser Arafat and Hugo Chavez put together. Sometimes it's as if, not hearing the words aloud prevents us from being able to filter, to restrain our malice, to temper our words with kindness. One of my favorite theologians and humorists, the late Jamie Buckingham once said words, that I've quoted not once but hundreds of times "Sometimes it's better to be kind than to be right".
The next time you want to weigh in on an issue, Yammer with your colleagues, Facebook with your friends, maybe get up and walk to see them, pick up the phone, uncap the pen and relate personally. Okay, perhaps I reached a bit on the last one, but I've always been drawn to the fact that the Apostle Paul (and yeah, maybe I am being a bit 'religious' here) stressed the fact that he wrote his letters 'in his own hand' (probably depending on the era, his own hand might have meant a Royal Typewriter, an IBM Selectric, or a Mac) but the point is, he underwent considerable trouble and pain to obtain the parchments, the quills, ill to the point of death, Paul went out of his way to communicate, to relate. And his words form approximately half of the whole New Testament not to mention becoming the basis for the early Christian church.
So slow down a bit, get out from behind the PC, switch off your 'droid for an hour, and talk. Or you too might find yourself clutching your nightgown over your arm and wondering where it all went wrong.
So... should I save up all my blog comments and send them in a handwritten letter instead?
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you got from the walk-of-shame to MASH to Paul, but, uh, nice job.
As the great Howard Jones once said, "Don't try to live your life in one day. Don't go speed your time away."
Dear Sir:
ReplyDeleteI would indeed deem it a great honor if you would do me the favor of a reply in ink and on watermarked stationary, but we live in the real world and as you seem to be my only 'fan' who comments at all, I'm quite content with your electronic witticisms.
It is quite a segue from Walk of Shame to Paul the Apostle. Sometimes I'm even stunned at the words on the screen after I see them! Probably not my best post, but...
Sage words indeed from HoJo, but I'm also partial to, 'And do you feel scared - I do. But I won't stop and falter. And if we threw it all away Things can only get better! Whoa, whoa whoa whoa oh oh' Especially the whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa's! In fact I defy you to feel depressed after listening to that song!