New Years Resolution 2007

It’s late at night on January 1st, 2007 and I’m both thinking about New Year’s Resolutions and listening to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl game between Boise State and Oklahoma. I started to think about how late it was getting and I still hadn’t written down any resolutions for this new year. And while I was thinking about the impending midnight hour fast approaching, I started thinking about the days when a person bought a watch in order to just tell time. Today, people seem to need to own a wristwatch with attitude, an accessory which says something about the life to which they would like to become accustomed.

Timepieces today are skin-thin, made from fossils, luminous and come with clamp on/off attachments. You can wear them in the jacuzzi and they’ll play music to you at inconvenient intervals. If you name is James Bond, they will probably be able to blow up a Chieftain tank. Million dollar industries make genuine fakes of designer tickers to satisfy the desire to impress. View the jewelers in Bond Street, London,Kartnerstrasse, Vienna or in any shopping center in the Gulf, and you see a whole new meaning to the adage ‘Time is money.’

In the developed economies, and many parts of the developing world, this age-old saying has become the signature tune of the latter part of the 20th Century. Many professionals live with a mental timer ticking. Working days are carefully measured and billed, ‘quality time’ is planned for the family, etc. Some people seem capable of telescoping 48 hours into every 24. The world seems addicted to television shows jammed into a 24 hour time constraint.

Time seems to take on a body and personality; we feel cheated by it, threatened by the lack of it, and bullied into submitting to it.  I’ve always thought it appropriate that a watch is worn on the wrist.  It says a lot about how we view time.  Like a handcuff, we are imprisoned by it and pulled in many different directions by it.  Our hands can’t do anything without the watch capturing our attention.  No matter how beautifully we package the hours in gold, diamonds, mother of pearl or designer plastic, we are challenged by how little time we have.

During my time in Africa, I learned that much of Africa is a “watch-free-zone”.  In Africa, how much you can achieve in one day is directly proportionate to how many people you will have to greet along the way.  A ‘meeting’ in Africa means a personal encounter, not an intensive wrangle around a boardroom table.  Enter an African’s orbit, and blessedly, the world seems to slow down for a while.

The story is told about a man who wanted to explore the jungles of Africa.  He hired a group of local people to carry his equipment and personal belongings and set off to places never seen by a European.  For the first four days, the group made excellent progress over many miles.  His porters didn’t seem to be to tired and he was encouraged that they would make the anticipated journey in record time.  On day five, the porters dumped all the equipment, sat down and refused to move.  When the explorer inquired what was the matter, they replied it was necessary for them to stay in one place for a day, so that their souls would be able to catch up with them.

I have a resolution this year and a suggestion to all the watch designers of the 21st Century which will make their creations best sellers: leave off both hands on the watch face.  Then maybe our souls will be able to catch up to us and give the world the rest it needs.