"Patience is a virtue"
"Slow down and smell the roses"
All of these well-known and frequently-used quotes extol the virtues of slowing down. So why is it in the 21st Century, we all want things to happen NOW? Cell phones let us communicate with our friends, family and work wherever, whenever. We can Tweet the whole world our current status. Hungry? There's probably a fast-food joint right around the corner or if that's too unhealthy you can grab an organic meal-replacement bar instead. Marshall McLuhan would have a field day in 2009 ... (if you are not familiar with Marshall McLuhan or his philosophies, I encourage you to check out the link. You may find it interesting!)
I received a Thank-You card in the mail the other day ... The mail!!! It sat there quietly amongst various flyers for take-out restaurants and carpet cleaning waiting to be discovered. The same words could have been emailed just as easily. The fact that the sender decided to use this method of communication says as much as the message itself - the author took her time composing her message without the benefit of a delete key, addressed the envelope and took it to a mailbox. Quite different from "firing off" an email. And, the card still sits on my fireplace mantle.
I resisted buying a digital camera for some time. I have had my old-school film Canon Rebel TI for 6 years now and I wouldn't trade it in for even the most sophisticated digital SLR. I love spending time composing and shooting my photos, which I realize you can still do with a good digital SLR. What I love just as much is picking up my photos from the processing lab, getting them home, looking at them and reliving the experiences all over again.
So why did I give in and get a digital camera? Well, there are times when I would like to have a photo quickly, to post on my blog, for example. There are also times when it is not convenient to pack an SLR, 2 lenses, film and other accessories around with me. So when I saw this camera in a points catalogue, I couldn't resist. The clincher? It's waterproof ...
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of things that frankly we can't move fast enough on - finding cures for life-threatening, -altering and -ending diseases; agreeing on solutions for seemingly senseless wars and securing alternate fuel sources, to name but a few. But there are many instances in daily life where faster does not necessarily mean better.
