Anyone Have the Time?

Written by: Bob Rehak

Edited by: Matthew CK Bradwell

Joboja Staff Writers

How would you (and do you) normally answer the following question (be honest): “Do you have time?”

Even though you may not know what the person asking that question wants or just how much time is involved, more than likely your honest answer (at least to yourself) is, “God, no.”

No one has time anymore, for anything, that goes beyond his routine. When someone asks us a favor or wants us to do something that wasn’t pre-scheduled, pre-arranged, or absolutely required, we tend to freak out. The life train that we’re on starts to jump the tracks. I think that’s why everyone looks back on childhood with such misty-eyed longing: we think about all those days when we complained, “There’s nothing to do today!"

I believe that there is cycle to this busy-ness business. Up until about age 14, we find ourselves with nothing to do. Then the homework gets harder and the extra-curricular activities start to add up, and by the time we hit graduate school, we don’t know where we’ll find enough time to fit everything in. Then adulthood hits like the predicted perfect storm it is: too much to do, too many bills to pay, too many kids to keep alive, etc. I think (and hope) that things start to slow down towards age 60, though most of us start counting down the year to retirement at about age 48. Then, of course, we try to hurry along the years, and start calculating the fiscal possibility of retiring early, at age 62 or younger, all so that we can get off the busy train and happily exclaim, “There’s nothing to do today!”

Even after retirement, there are still those who will go back to work, claiming that they were going stir-crazy with so much free time. In my house, we have a word for those people: insane.

For those of us currently in that 14 to 62 demographic, we need to learn how to handle our busy lives better. And, yes, I do put part of the blame on the proliferation of cell phones. The other part goes to laptops. No one practices being alone anymore, even when there’s no one else around. We all have to be wired in, which leaves us wired in general.

I’ve witnessed quite a few meltdowns recently, and naturally they made me laugh. The funniest meltdown I saw was at a Metra stop this past winter. It was 6:07am and I was on the inbound side of the tracks, waiting for the 6:11 train to Chicago. Normally, the train gets into the station around 6:09 so that it can leave at 6:11 (makes sense to me, but not to the Blackberry crowd, who think that the 6:11 should arrive and leave at 6:11. They crack out the Blackberry every time and proclaim, “it’s early”). Occasionally a freight train will block the walkway, and if you’re on the wrong side of the tracks, you’re out of luck. Especially during rush hour, though, the next train is only a cup of coffee away (about 10 minutes).

On this particular day, the gates came down at 6:07, preventing about a dozen riders who were cutting it close from crossing to the inbound side of the tracks. An outbound Metra train was running late on that morning and was coming from the other direction.

The reaction of the dirty dozen was priceless. As the outbound train passed in front of them, and the 6:11 rolled in on my side, one of them raised a gloved hand and gave the outbound train the finger. More than half of the others joined in, so that all you could see were all those middle fingers raised in unison, railing against “the man” for forcing them to miss the 6:11 and catch the 6:22 instead. I have never personally given the finger to anyone at any time (you could look it up), so I always find it a silly, amusing and incredibly rude gesture. (For more about the middle finger salute, visit www.therighteousman.com.) As I watched the crowd hold up that salute, I had 2 questions: exactly who were they giving the finger to, the train or the engineer; and what good did they think they were doing, especially those who gave the salute a few pumps for emphasis? I also wondered whether or not they would have made that same gesture if their kids were with them.

If you find yourself pacing every time you make a call and it rings more than 3 times; if you keep looking at your watch at the drive-up when there’s only one car in front of you; if you give the finger to inanimate or animate objects; if you’ve never been alone since you were grounded by your parents in 6^th grade for giving the neighbor the finger; take my advice. Turn off the cell phone, shut down the laptop, go to your room, and take a time out.