Taking Time, Version 1

I am going to preview this post with a warning and a summary. First, the warning: this will be a long and rambling post. Next, the summary: I will tell a story about high school; I will link it to a tendency I have when approaching a project; then I will lament the feeling of a lack of time to do something which inspired me from a recent NY Times series-- I will post a reference to this article from the series; next, I will blame the "McDonaldization" (link provided) of the industries and institutes of the world for heightening this feeling of pressed time, and lastly I will contrast that state of mind (McDonaldization) with excerpts from Lord of the Rings and the characters' ethical decisions.

***Also, I want to note that I might try re-writing this post several times in several different ways to experiment with saying something effectively. I want to balance an "effective post" with a "patient post." So this is more of a self-conscious exercise and isn't for the readers benefit, so they may skip it if they wish.***

I. The Story

In high school, I took a photography class. The curriculum was based upon the "old school" version of film development: that is, the dark room, the chemicals, the canisters, the whole nine yards. I was excited to be in the class, proud of my clunky camera from my mom's college days. Soon into the semester however, our art teacher had her first baby and faded fast to mother-land, not to return for another semester. We had a substitute, but like many subs, she did not know the subject. We photography students were left to languish in unproductive woe. It wasn't that bad actually. We sat around during class and talked or worked on other assignments. I was, for the most part, easily one of the more disappointed students. I took my camera out anyway. I took lots of pictures. I figured that I could experiment with my camera, and that way if Ms. L returned, I'd have rolls worth of experience to show for the time. But I didn't know the way of things. The dark room was a mystery to me, and before I learned how to develop pictures to see what worked and what did not I had too many canisters to know what to do with. I was left with film that (once developed) showed poor picture taking ability and no memory of what aperture or focus was what.

This high school experience of "jumping the gun" and "half-baked ideas" is an allegory for similar problems that I fear now. I see from experience that I have this tendency to become really excited about something jump in an effort to produce something, anything. This personal habit may tie to larger things at a work, namely "Mcdonaldization" discussed below. Even with this blog website, I feel a mounting pressure to produce blog entries, one and then another. I keep several ideas on the back burner so that I will always have the momentum to write. I do not think this is a bad thing, but I fear that by rushing to produce something I will neglect to give an idea its proper time to germinate and unfold. Given, the whole point of this blog is to have an informal "space" to write. So I'm not trying to produce a finished thesis here or anything. Ultimately I guess I am trying to negotiate the area in between off the cuff impressions and polished rhetoric.

II. Lament for the Incessant Pull of Time, NY Times Link

I still am amazed by this sense of rush, however. As cited in a recent NY Times opinion series, (credit to Keaton for the link) to philosophize means to take time. To paraphrase, A philosopher, unlike a lawyer, slows things down to consider them at leisure. Many people, including myself are uncomfortable with this idea. I am actually nervous that if I slow down now, things will move fast past me. Is it a symptom of a "McDonald Age" or "McDonaldization"? I was talking about this with some theatre students a few weeks ago, how the rise of the fast food industry and its standards of assembly, cost efficiency, and productivity are now echoed everywhere in many industries and institutions. For example, schools now could be argued to run like little McDonald's. Students must be effectively sent the through the system, systematically achieving suitable grades in a cost efficient way. Indeed progress is measured in a break down of points, levels; teachers meet quotas. This normalized way of functioning further heightens that distrust of lingering, the sort of lingering that philosophy calls for.

III. Lord of The Rings

I would like to consider how far now we have come. In a time where stillness and silliness seem more and more marginalized, reading Lord of the Rings is a breath of fresh air. Sam and the

other hobbits often sing songs to mark an occasion or entertain for an event. Even in the midst of a strenuous journey where time is of the essence, time is still frequently made to tell stories or sit guard over a campfire. Lastly, and importantly, it is the way that the characters make decisions that I most admire. Among the chapters, the need to choose a course of action arises constantly. The characters, be it Gandalf choosing to trust Sauruman in Book I or Aragorn choosing to ride out in battle with the king of Rohan (in book II), all make decisions not based on the consequences, but rather what is in line with their duty and what is right.

I will maybe write a longer post on the Kantian ethics at work in LOTR, but for now the main point is, is that when Sam, believing Frodo to be dead at the end of Book II, decided to take the ring from Frodo, he turned back. Not because it made sense. In fact, the journey of the ring demanded that it be kept from the enemy and destroyed. Turning back to watch over his "dead" friend's body made no sense to Sam's assumed position, but he did it any way because it was the right thing for him to do. (As Tolkien loves to do, there is a karma-twist to this Kantian take, where doing the right thing in the face of defeat (Kant) yields unexpected rewards (Karma). Tolkien throws versions of this scenario all over the pages and of course the over-arching narrative of the ring is one master-version of the Kant-karma-twist). Either way, these decisions, based on virtues like kindness and bravery seem to be lacking today. Often now, decisions are made seemingly in purely terms of consequences (think cost efficiency and results). Maybe this is how it has always been, and "McDonaldization" is made up. But does that make it the best way?

I am trying to tie this together by saying that I wish for the wisdom to conceive of time as something I may manipulate and slow. I want time to tarry with me, so that I may have the leave to discern and philosophize without the consequences of debt and bills, lineage and expectation. This anxiety to choose, and to choose efficiently and quickly and reasonably, are weights to the leg, a heavy gold ring, a hamburger off the dollar menu, an anxiety in the night.