The other day as I stood in line at the grocery store, I scanned the cover headlines of all the magazines. I was struck by all the titles pushing speed and ease in every day life - "30-second Hairstyles," "Dinner in No Time," "Eight Easy Steps to Lose Weight," "15 seconds to Glowing Skin," "Quick Confidence Builder," "Fast Family Dinners," "Put Your Career on the Fast Track."
Have we lost the value of a Long Hard day at Work? Whatever happened to the accomplished feeling of putting effort and time and care into a job and then standing back and admiring? I don't understand why we are so enamored with how fast we can do our hair and eat our dinners. Why are we running so fast through life? We're going to miss the satisfaction of a job well-done. And who said a job should be easy in the first place? What makes it worth doing if it's so easy and fast? What's the point of it if it's not grounded in investment?
Why are we running in the first place? Where are we going and what are we leaving behind in all these 15- and 30-second blinks of life?
I feel like starting my own magazine and emblazoning the cover with glossy headlines like, "Good Things Come to Those Who Wait," "STOP: And Smell the Roses," "No Pain, No Gain," "Quit Whining and Do Your Job, You Big Pansy-Ass."