Hurry Up and Wait

Today I’m sitting at the dealership waiting for my car to get serviced. For a while now I’ve noticed how little patience people seem to have these days. I’m not excluding myself. Is it just where I now live or is this a trend that is more widespread? For example, I remember when I was a kid riding in my parents car. If an emergency vehicle came down the street with its sirens on everyone pulled over, I mean all the way over to the side and waited until it was well past them. Now whenever this happens it seems it becomes more of an opportunity for people in a hurry to pass up everyone else who tries to get over. And most who do pull over rarely come to a complete stop but rather coast down the road until the second that the emergency car passes them. How often do we sigh while we stand in line at the grocery store, bank or post office? Maybe I’m getting old but I remember standing in line with adults when I was younger and they would make small talk with each other. My mother would thumb through the tabloids or write out her check. If you really think about it, our whole way of life has now taken on a “hurry up and get it done” approach. If it’s not automated, then it’s mobile. We bank at machines, online or even on the phone when it’s convenient for us. We shop online and take advantage of attractive offers for overnight delivery. Hell, how many of us are done with our personal phone calls before we even get home from work these days? These thoughts run through my mind while I anxiously wait in the lobby of the dealership for my car. I have my laptop, my PDA and my mobile phone with me so that I can be productive while I wait the 90 minutes I was told this would take. I’m watching the clock and you can bet I’ll be talking to someone if I’m not called in an hour and a half. So what will the next generation do to lengthen its lists of accomplishments at the end of each day? Will we ever get back to the days where people actually take a Sunday drive or have a leisurely picnic in the park or even have the time, if not the money, to watch a double feature at a theater? It seems to me that at some point we won’t be able to continue to get faster so maybe there is some hope for life to slow down again.