WE ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET, LIKE NEURONS IN A GIANT BRAIN.

STEPHEN HAWKING

Remember when computers became commercialised. Those big square boxes that filled the desk with green writing on black screens. Then colour screens came in, dial up internet that sometimes worked, floppy discs, and then CD roms. Wireless and the cloud seemed so futuristic. You could turn on your computer, go and do some odd jobs and come back hoping that it was finally loaded and ready for use. Over time computers and parts changed so we would replace them with newer, faster models as technology developed.

What we once thought was the greatest thing ever; being able to type a document, play minesweeper, and connect to the internet now seems so insignificant.

What we now expect of computers has actually gone through the roof. What we thought was fast has changed to frustration when a computer does not boot up straight away or when, for some reason, the internet is down and we do not have instant access. We have grown to become impatient with technology and in fact, impatient with things that are not as fast as we think they should be. Sometimes it feels as though we get out of bed and time begins. We have to get through absolutely everything we planned in the day. Time is a matter of getting through the minutes, getting through the hours, getting through the tasks. Are we missing out on what time really is?

Time is about the seasons. Winter is different from summer, autumn different from spring, morning different from night. I wonder how many of us gauge our activities, according to that kind of thinking.

The tasks we perform in the morning have their own momentum and then as the day rolls on we begin to sense a certain depletion of spirit and energy, so our attention focuses to different tasks. Afternoon tasks are different again, the sun’s starting to set, your clothes that started crisp in the morning are now crumpled and the afternoon tasks are beginning to slow down, hopefully.

So many of us try to squeeze as much into a day as we can and sometimes, we are still running at high speed in the evening. We jam pack our days, our schedules, our weeks, our years and before we know it time has passed, and we still do not know where the time has gone. Our days are finished and then our nights begin. Let us jam pack them too.

How different would life be if we lived day by day, not hour by hour. How different would your life be if you placed yourself in the world of 15/20 years ago when life seemed to move at a slower pace.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

• Do you have enough hours in your day?
• What is one thing that you could do to make the most of each day?

From: Firewood for the soul, vol. 1, A Reflexion Book for the Whole Vincentian Family
St. Vincent de Paul Society, Queensland, Australia.
Text by: Samantha Hill.