The Art of Doing Nothing: Life in a Culture of Clock-Watchers

This weekend, Mrs. Denmarkguy and I participated in our final arts and crafts show of the holiday season, and of the year 2023.

Today's opening hours were till 4:00pm, and I noticed how many of our fellow vendors were eyeing the clock at around 3:45pm, just waiting to pack up and head on down the road.

Where were they on their way to, with such urgency.

I remember watching something quite similar, back when I was working in the IT industry. I was younger then... but it was much the same thing: people watching the clock, so they could run out of work to head on to... Home? To change, so they could head to the gym, and watch the clock there.

People seemed to always be "on their way" towards doing something else.

I remember I would often be met with eyerolls and headshakes when I would respond "Nothing" in response to the inevitable question of "What are you doing this weekend?"

When I said "nothing," I actually meant it, most of the time... it wasn't just some cover-up to prevent myself from having to give an honest answer. My idea of a perfect way to spend the weekend following a hectic week was precisely... nothing.

Mathematician Blaise Pascal once observed:

"All of men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.”

Sitting alone on a quiet room sounds like a perfect way to spend time, to me!

Some of it might be cultural, I admit. I remember my early days in the USA, after moving here from Denmark in my early 20's. One of the first interesting "culture shocks" was the discovery that most people couldn't stand being in a room with others and not starting up a conversation.

I actually noticed it first on a bus. People (strangers) on a public bus in Denmark just don't talk to each other. They just sit quietly in their own thoughts. That was not my experience, in Texas!

I think about it, as it stands separately from "being sociable."

These conversation is more about "adding content to every moment" than about actually wanting to enter into dialogue with someone.

It makes me wonder whether there is something about silence, sitting still and not doing anything that threatens people. Or have we just been culturally indoctrinated into the idea that time NOT spent engaged in something that might be construed as "industry" is wasteful... and even a sin?

And so, we quietly packed up our vendor booth at the show, and left in no particularly hurry.

We made it home, and agreed that there was no need to empty the truck, so we made coffee and just sat on the back porch and talked, with no particular goal in mind.

And that's where I started thinking about the ideas I am now putting into this blog post.

Our obsession with clock-watching and NOW seems to be growing. We want to order something from Amazon, and we expect it to there, tomorrow morning.

Why the impatience?

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week ahead!

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Created at 2023-12-17 23:45PST
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