The Present Tense is Killing Us
Why are we dying in the US? The CDC has completed their mortality report for 2003. The top three reasons are:
1- Heart disease
2 – Cancer
3 – Stroke
Two of these three diseases are brought on by the stress, struggles, strain, and tension of life in our modern world.
Driving 55 is more dangerous than 95!
Recently, a movie entitled “A Meditation on the Speed Limit” won the Campus Movie Fest award for best comedy in Georgia.
They knew it was dangerous.
“We could have really been hurt,” said one of the Atlanta college students after their experiment.
“I was pretty sure that I was doing something stupid,” said another.
They were not driving 100 miles per hour on the Interstate. These students drove 55 mph (the speed limit) on I-285 around Atlanta. The Article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution says:
“There was little doubt what the students' companions on the road thought that sunny Friday in January. The video shows drivers' steadily mounting hostility to the blockade. Cars honk. They drive onto the shoulder to speed around the students. Obscene gestures are made.”
Here, we are lashing out, not at those who are not abiding by the law but at those who refuse to break the law. We are in such a rush that it doesn't seem to matter who we kill in the process! Even if it is us!
I'm too busy learning to think!
I've often wondered why many of the greatest works of literature were written in prison. What is it when we are alone?
Perhaps we don't want to be alone because we don't like ourselves? Perhaps we don't want to grapple with the goblins that haunt us? I wonder?
I live in rural Georgia by choice. My husband and I chose to move from a major metropolitan area because we wanted to be close to family and not get sucked into the “Keep up with the Jones' mentality.”
However being busy isn't inherently in a place, it is an attitude. We cannot live our lives on Jolt Cola. We cannot lengthen the worth of our lives by cramming more into it!
It comes down to this:
My reward for teaching is not what I get out of it. It is what I become.
If a person gasps for air quickly, he will hyperventilate and faint. We are made to breathe slowly and rhythmically. Listen to the quiet moving of your own breath. That is how we are to live. (Get out of the present tense)
Keep the faith.
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Never miss an episode
Get the 10-minute Teacher Show delivered to your inbox.
2 comments
I think we can all remember times when the driver behind us has honked because we’ve stopped at an amber light. We live in an age that must push the envelope on everything, and we’re suffering the consequences. We work long hours, stealing time from family, hobbies and friends. We drive too fast. We eat too fast (often in front of the telly, ruining any chance of conversation).
It has reached the stage where we need to make conscious choices not to go that route. It can result in our being unfashionably out of step, but the payoff in improved quality of life is inestimable.
On a professional level as well, we have got to be a better long term investment when we are healthy, content and balanced.
Karen, you are so right! We must choose the better way. It is a decision to slow down. To smell the roses. To take a breather. To live the life we were intended to live.
Comments are closed.