A small booklet used to grace the shelves of one of my bookcases. Interestingly, I purchased the book before I even had a bookcase. It subsequently graced the shelves of the first bookcase I ever built. I was a newly married student at the time. The General and I got married in the summer of 1968. I graduated from college the following May.
For the record, I still have the same wife and I still have the bookcase. Across the years, the bookcase has been stained, painted, stripped and re-stained. I tend to prefer wooden surfaces that are unpainted.
I suspect you might be hard pressed to find that at IKEA. That may not be true. I said that only because I have two friends that bought kitchen cabinets from IKEA. Both friends chose white cabinets. I have only been in an IKEA store one time. An hour later when I emerged, I promised not to go back. Once you are inside the store, finding you way out is a challenge.
For the record, having a wife was good for my GPA. My senior year in college, I made straight As. I could say that explaining something other than As to my parents was easier than explaining my grades to the General. Truth be told, my college courses my senior year were all dedicated to subjects I enjoyed. I can assure you that physics and algebra were not part of that year’s curriculum. Had they been my grades would have been significantly different.
In 1967 Charles Hummel wrote a small thought-provoking book entitled: “The Tyranny of The Urgent.” In a nutshell he suggested that our lives are out of whack because we allow what we perceive to be urgent to replace things that are important. He maintained that life was intended to be lived unhurried and focused. Can you imagine?
As I recall the book only took a few minutes to read. What I remember most about the book is Hummel’s assertion that the telephone was the most intrusive invention to negatively impact our lives. This was decades before cell phones were even a consideration.
Today I have many friends who have family cell phone plans so that all their children can have one. For the record, each kid was issued a cell phone while they were in grade school.
I had a difficult enough time keeping up with a Big Chief Tablet and #2 pencil. I can’t imagine being in the fourth grade and keeping up with a cell phone. Getting back to Hummel’s book, would you describe your life as focused and unhurried?
Focused and unhurried are two principles it would serve me well to embrace.
All My Best!
Don
Carpe Diem 