This article must begin with a confession. A confession of a sin. For it is a great linguistic sin to take the easy path in writing. And the easiest of these paths in the wood, the road most travelled if you will, is that of the rant. Rants pervade almost everything in our daily life, people complaining about service in a cafe, the price of petrol, public transport, or our glorious leaders. Fill your pen with bile, summon up the blood, let hubris reign and the article will write itself. Alas this is what I have done, but I feel I can’t restrain myself any longer. So I hope you will forgive me this little vice.
Dinner Friday? No, what about the beach Saturday? Still busy? Next week not good for you either? The week after you say. Super, what day? You are busy on all of them? Hmm, ok I get the hint. What it isn’t a hint? You want to spend time with me you are just too busy! Well I understand, life is busy. This oft quoted phrase has gone from the everyday, through the forests of cliche and emerged in the sun lit uplands of meaningless twaddle. This is not to say that I am holier than thou. I am just as guilty of being a grad A twazzer and trumpeting out this line to all and sundry. But this is just the point. It is now so universally accepted that ‘life is busy’, we all bleat it out lest we have it bleated to us. I cast it to you ere you to it cast I.
Then there are those who elevate ‘being busy’ to the worst kind of art form. Not only are they too busy to see their friends and family. But they don’t have the time to call, text or even Twitter an update. A thirty second exercise which instantly informs the entire planet, well the entire part that is not too busy to join, of your happenings. Who are these people? The President of the United Sates is a busy man. But if he did not keep in touch with people, or touch base to use that ghastly management metaphor, then he would not have garnered enough support to run for office. So if we have truly become that self centered that we do nothing unless it is self serving, then we should still be keeping in touch with the people who should matter to us because they may be ‘useful’ in the future.
If this is the case, then maybe it is best we are all ‘busy’. If it is such a chore to say hi, exchange a few pleasantries and then get on with the daily grind maybe we should confine ourselves to a void. Flounce down in front of the TV and remain distant from those who care about us.
But if not, if we really do care but are that poor with our time management or feel that we don’t have enough to say to justify a phone call, then join one of the social networking sites. Create a FaceBook or Twitter account. Or if you have one (as everyone seems to do these days) use it. They even suggest people from your friends list you have not poked, messaged or sent some new and banal Farmville pet. Trust me, you are not that busy you can’t type out a sentence. People do care, but they get frustrated to the point of not caring when there is nothing but a gaping void of silence from you.
There I go, burning bridges, frothing at the mouth and calling my friends and family lazy. But then if you are reading this I can’t be calling you lazy as you have taken time out of your busy life to read that I care about you. What is even more wonderful is that you clearly care about me else you would not have persevered though my rant; which if you have done you are a friend in deed and the world is all the richer for it.
Photo by Elena Shirnina on Unsplash