EVERY SECOND MATTERS.

Let's face it: The tech-controlled mindscape of modern life is vacuous. 

Time-squandering in front of moving images on screens sucks tides of time away from the average person in the developed world. Our lives are time, measurable in minutes, seconds and heartbeats. To waste time is to waste one's life. 

I feel fortunate to have lived over four decades before the intrusion of tech into every aspect of life. Those who do not know anything different think pre-tech time was harder, more complicated, more labor intensive. It was, and it wasn't.

Before we were coerced by corporations to rely on digital machines to do almost everything mundane, we had to rely on each other. We knew our bankers, who were real people. We knew our grocery staff. We knew our hardware-store clerks. We knew our bakers and butchers. We actually conversed with them.  

Our mechanics worked out of neighborhood garages and gave us a survey of what needed to be done before doing it. They were the people who filled our gas tanks for us and checked our oil level right at the pump at no extra charge. They even washed our windshields. And we chatted with them as they did all this.

Everything took longer. Yes. It did. But the time expended yielded human connections which bound a community together. It was invested time, not squandered time. Most communities in America, no matter how poor, were livable from the perspective of trusting neighbors to not be violent or aggressive. Neighborhoods were actually places where neighbors knew each other and interacted daily. 

I am old now. I have experienced near-death three times. The last time was nearly twenty years ago. But I have not forgotten. Wasting a minute here or there on something trivial is perhaps the greatest annoyance of my daily life. This doesn't mean I pack every minute with busywork. It does mean that I take the minutes seriously, whether I am giving them over to exercise or meditation or watching a film. 

The other day, I held the elevator for a young man who was sauntering down my corridor some distance behind me with his eyes fixed on his phone. He seemed appreciatively surprised, but squeezed himself in the corner of the rather commodious elevator carriage. Did he actually fear me due to my noticing him? I wondered.

"I wanted to save you some time," I offered by way of putting him at ease. He looked at me quizzically. I thought I needed to explain myself further. "You should learn now that every second is precious. Time is all you have ultimately." He broke into a broad smile and his body relaxed out of the corner. His pause to think flashed over his face. He became quite serious and said, "You're right. Thanks."

I watched him as he left the elevator and headed for the parking lot. He slipped his phone into his pocket and held his chin up as he walked through the outer doors. I wondered if I was feeling the rush of a missionary who believes they have saved a soul.