Quotable Quotes: Speed
by Miki Saxon
Unlike many people I like slow. I don’t like my days jamb-packed, I don’t over-book myself and am very good at saying no when necessary. I enjoy conversation and have found that real communications can’t be rushed.
In short, I believe as Gandhi did when he said, “There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.”
Computers have sped everything up, but as common wisdom says, “All computers wait at the same speed.”
I also chuckle at David Ferrier’s view of the technology, “Computer: a million morons working at the speed of light.”
Two thoughts from Edward R. Murrow are worth sharing. The first is, “The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.”
Sadly, the old problem is often solved as it always has been, by saying whatever comes to mind without consideration for its clarity or even its veracity. Murrow had something to say about that, too, “The speed of communications is wondrous to behold. It is also true that speed can multiply the distribution of information that we know to be untrue.”
Isaac Asimov said “I am not a speed reader. I am a speed understander,” but that’s only true for those who take the time to actually listen. These days most folks are so busy multitasking that I doubt they listen with more than 20% of their mind.
Finally, listen and take heed of a very wise woman (not me).
Maya Angelou said, “Since time is the one immaterial object which we cannot influence–neither speed up nor slow down, add to nor diminish–it is an imponderably valuable gift.”
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pikerslanefarm/3226088712/
