Wednesday April 1, 2009
Pruning time
Time zones do not like me. When I was younger, I bounced back fairly quickly from jet lag. At my more advanced age, I\’ve become increasingly aware of the ways that zipping around the globe knocks me off my equilibrium.
The last trip wasn\’t major – just three time zones. I got up at 5:00 a.m. Ottawa time, 2:00 a.m. B.C. time, to get to the airport in time for a 7:00 a.m. flight that reached Kelowna at 11:10 a.m. — which was 2:10 p.m. in the time zone I had just left. Had I been up for 12 hours already and hadn\’t even had lunch yet?
I get too befuddled to do the math correctly…
By that evening I\’m on B.C. time so I go to bed as usual at 11:00 p.m., which would be 2:00 a.m. where I got up, so had I really been up for 24 hours? Or did it just feel like that way?
If my mind gets confused by time zone changes, so does my body. I go to bed on B.C. time, but my body still wakes up the next morning on Ottawa time. It\’s 8:00 a.m. there, but it\’s only 5:00 a.m. here. Arrgh!
Failing to love neighbour
It affects my senses, too. I feel disconnected for a day or two. People\’s voices seem to have a faint echo. Food tastes as if it had been boiled in yesterday\’s socks. The world seems slightly tilted. I feel as if I\’m watching myself from a distance. Or maybe as if I\’m observing everything with a slight delay through a video camera strapped to my forehead…
The feeling passes, fortunately. But the experience makes me realize how vulnerable I would be to the simplest interrogation techniques practiced at “rendition” centres such as Guantanamo Bay — sleep deprivation. Break up my sleep patterns, keep me awake for extended periods, and I\’d quickly run out of the mental acuity to remember my own name, let alone defend myself against unjust accusations.
I\’d probably confess to almost anything, eventually, just to get a good night\’s sleep again.
Failing to love self To receive this column regularly via e-mail, send a request to [email protected]. E-mail subscribers also get excerpts from correspondence about these columns. Please forward a copy of this column to anyone who might be interested in subscribing.
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For a lighter look at ethics, faith, and life, I recommend Ralph Milton\’s weekly e-newsletter Rumors. You can subscribe to it at the Wood Lake Books home page in Ralph Milton\’s Site, or by sending a note directly to [email protected].
It\’s also worth pursuing Charlene Fairchild\’s United Online site. Another site worth visiting is David Keating\’s \”SeemslikeGod\” page.
I am, of course, appalled that humans can deliberately inflict suffering on other humans to extort confessions. But I\’m also appalled at the suffering we inflict on ourselves, voluntarily. To save a few hours of travel time. To cram an extra meeting into an already busy schedule. To weasel out of an uncomfortable situation. To earn a few extra dollars…
Why? What benefit do we derive from irrational behaviour?
It\’s pruning time in our gardens here. We thin the crowded stems of the lilacs, open apple trees up to sunlight, cut the roses and the pampas grasses back almost to their roots…
So that we can encourage more growth, more fruit, more flowers.
We humans are supposed to be intelligent. Why do we find it valuable to prune our plants, but so rarely to prune our schedules?
Over-busy plants look untidy. So, I fear, does an over-busy life. =====================================
Copyright © 2009 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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