Learning to live at the speed of soul, not the speed of sound…
PARKER J. PALMER (thanks to Mary M.)
I. Last week, one of our computers went kaflooey, so Saturday morning found us in a nearby store named after the manufacturer of the failed product. On the advice of counsel, I won’t mention that name. I’ll simply say that their products don’t fall far from the tree.
Knowing that our old computer had to be replaced, we ordered a new one online, and were notified that it awaited us at the store in question. “Great!,” we thought, “We’ll be back in business soon.” When the doors opened at 10:00 AM, we walked in and were soon joined by a tall, 30ish manager wearing a shirt with the company logo. I’ll call him Adam.
Without making eye contact or saying good morning, Adam asked, “Why are you here?”, in a tone one might use with an intruder. I almost said, “To rob the store.” But I summoned what’s left of my maturity, explained the situation, and handed him the proof of purchase and promise of delivery we’d been sent by email, plus my personal ID. Looking back and forth between the documents and his handheld device, he said something so fast I had to ask him to repeat it. Twice. My hearing is fine and my mind is fairly sound. But it quickly became clear that Adam had taken a course popular in his generation: “Talking Faster than the Speed of Sound to Get Things Done Quickly.” (continue on Page 2 or here)