Huge coincidence: just before I read this post, I replied to 3 day old email and I consciously deleted the apologetic preamble. My logic: 3 days is fast. The sender is in Oregon. Before email, our exchange would've taken two weeks (1 week each way by US Post). Speed obsession has negative impacts throughout the entire culture. The faster something is, the more it is prone to being inaccurate, ill conceived, callous, and perhaps even pointless. Slower is often gentler, calmer, wiser, and more accurate. Hurray for slow!
Yes! Such a great point- we adjust to what is available to us (email) and forget what a miracle it is that we can communicate across the world without it taking weeks/months like it would have in the (truly, not all that distant) past. I also agree that a slower response allows time for that very important pause that leads to the more gentle, calm, wise, and accurate response. Hooray for slow, indeed!
Huge coincidence: just before I read this post, I replied to 3 day old email and I consciously deleted the apologetic preamble. My logic: 3 days is fast. The sender is in Oregon. Before email, our exchange would've taken two weeks (1 week each way by US Post). Speed obsession has negative impacts throughout the entire culture. The faster something is, the more it is prone to being inaccurate, ill conceived, callous, and perhaps even pointless. Slower is often gentler, calmer, wiser, and more accurate. Hurray for slow!
Yes! Such a great point- we adjust to what is available to us (email) and forget what a miracle it is that we can communicate across the world without it taking weeks/months like it would have in the (truly, not all that distant) past. I also agree that a slower response allows time for that very important pause that leads to the more gentle, calm, wise, and accurate response. Hooray for slow, indeed!